When French psychologist Alfred Binet invented the now ubiquitous IQ test, one of his chief measures of intellect has always been patter recognition.

There’s little evidence that Binet was a known fan of harness racing, but it’s fair to suggest, that in the current environment, his theories could certainly assist punters and form analysts alike.

Depending on your perspective there are myriad potential factors contributing toward the increasingly situation-specific nature of Australasian trotters and pacers.

On one hand these idiosyncrasies are part and parcel of international breeding and the finer, fickler nature of post-modern standardbreds.

On another, they’re possibly linked to the increased workloads of our current racing populations through lack of metropolitan-class numbers.

And never were these factors or the consequences of these factors more evident than Saturday night at Melton Park.

In the first event, Sly Terror started the $2.10 from his pole-marking draw and, despite being crossed early, Andy Gath’s Kiwi recruit comfortably affected the planned re-take and led through most of the contest.

Sectionally speaking, the race was his to win. But for the second time in four starts, Sly Terror was beaten when leading as popular elect, indicating that potentially he’s far better suited to playing hunter than hunted.

Our next point for prosecution arrives in race four.

There, Its Ebonynivory blasted the gate and led as second favourite before blowing her rivals away.

Recently, that John Yeomans-trained mare has been racing well without breaking through, but in contrast to Sly Terror, she relishes dictating terms.

Despite rarely leading in her races, Its Ebonynivory has triumphed the last three times she’s assumed control at the head of affairs.

In the fifth, Yambukian extended his record when leading to six successes from eight attempts, which becomes far more meaningful when you uncover his record away from the lead is just five wins from 21 tries.

In the sixth, Our Vinnie looked a different, better horse when chasing despite winning his prior start in front, while in the seventh, Ultimate Vinnie relished a return to peg-line, short-course racing after a slightly plain previous effort off the pylons.

Finally, in the get-out stakes, over 1200m, Mister Mclintock broke his run of poor form simply by leading for trainer/driver Mick Stanley.

Three of that bloke’s wins have come in front and he’s only had five successes overall.

Some will suggest that most of these stats simply confirm an age-old standardbred rule; that the chances of glory grow exponentially when you’re in control.

There’s more to this, however.

These days, like never before, distance matters, personal preferences matter and understanding those preferences matter as well.

Binet was onto something, you see.

Follow the patterns and profit will follow – at least that’s what we hope.

The opinions expressed in The Forum are those of the author and may not be attributed to or represent policies of Harness Racing Victoria, which is the state authority and owner of thetrots.com.au.