"Not in a handicap last time" isn't the same as a handicap debutant. One checks a single run, the other the whole career, and that changes your list. The video builds Irish Flat handicap debutants rated 55 or lower in the System Builder, one rule at a time.
The pool
Course Country: Ireland, and tick Northern Ireland too, or Down Royal drops out. Race Type: Turf and All-Weather, which is the Flat. Handicap: Yes. Official Rating: at most 55.
The test that looks back one run
The obvious way to find debutants is LTO Race Handicap set to No: the last run wasn't a handicap. But horses drop into claimers, maidens or jumps races between handicaps. Add All Hcap Runs (career), which counts every handicap the horse ran before that day in every code, set it to zero, and about half the list goes. Every one of those had run in a handicap before, just not last time. The last-time-out rule then has nothing left to do, so take it out.
The dates start in 2021. Our results begin in 2018, so in the first seasons a horse's earlier handicaps are not on file, and it would be counted as a debutant when it isn't one.
An honest verdict
Run the full analysis and the verdict is plain: the market prices these horses about right, and backed blind to win, they lose. It's a list to study, not a bet. The Runs tab shows every one with where it finished, and on Proform Premium the CSV button takes the whole list away as a spreadsheet.
On the declared cards, or from one sentence
Every rule here is known before the off, so the Qualifiers tab runs the same system on the declared cards up to two days ahead: each horse having its first run in a handicap. Or type the question into Ask RaceMetrics at the top of the System Builder ("Irish Flat handicap debutants, rated 55 or lower, since 2021") and it builds the same five rules for you to check and run.
In Add Rule, search "handicap runs" to find the whole family of career handicap counts: all runs, Flat, Turf, All-Weather, jumps, chase, hurdle and National Hunt Flat. The System Builder is included with RaceMetrics Pro and Proform Premium. See the plans.
