LOL‼️ I was really expecting something like well, it is just too high a factor rating to be able to explain it. I don’t know is in the same neighborhood.

Thanks for taking the time to explain all this.

May I ask what goes into computing stretch run (SR) and best horse (BH)?

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year to everyone!

Thanks gang.

You could also rank the values in ascending order and then

IF RANK = 1 then OddsValue = 100*
ELSEIF RANK = 2 then OddsValue = 90
ELSEIF RANK = 3 then OddsValue = 80
ELSEIF RANK = 4 then OddsValue = 70
.
.
ELSEIF RANK >= 12 then OddsValue = 1
END IF

* These values can be any value you want. A Fibonacci series would probably work better.

I’m not sure how I would handicap that one. Early speed or sustained pace?

This heart stuff is nothing to sneeze at. Really glad Ranch is doing okay.

FWIW, I usually just play via Amwager so I use their feed and just use it to view, no copy paste.

I am on probably my fourth or fifth version (hopefully a final version) of my software. I found that as I become more knowledgeable and better at programming, my code became less and less clunky. However in order to get to "less clunky" programming, I had to abandon hundreds of hours of code in order to write better code. I'm still not much more than a hobby programmer but I've not found anything I can't do or get done in some round about manner.

I don't get away with zero documentation/notation but I am pretty much to minimum documentation/notation.

It would seem to me (when I say that, it probably means "I don't do this but off the top of my head")...

There should be some correlation between how many dutches you win and what your percent return should be. Just like you need to win 25% of your races at 3-1 to break even, dutching would require a minimum return to break even so based on some history, you may not dutch a race if it did not return your minimum dollar amount.

Thanks!

This is a little document I wrote and sold on eBay, many, many, many years ago. I think I charged $6 for it and said the cost was the same as a $2 win, place, show bet so how can you pass this up. At the time it was my approach to dutching but I'm sure there are a couple of more out there. This was written with the pencil and paper handicapper in mind but lends itself easily to spreadsheets.

Hey Ray! We're all glad you're here. This place is a great example of the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. Or something philosophical like that.

I'm self taught too but while I was learning, I never considered time to be an issue. It takes what it takes. I consequently became a major "trial and error" type programmers. I have gotten much better but I still don't think I can (or should) write undocumented code and I still have so much I need to learn.

I am trying my best at this time to try and emulate the information that Dave showed us in the KY Derby video. The closest "blueprint" that I have is the Practical Handicapping workshop (1-2-3 System) with the "other" developed PSR1 and PSR1x. If I can't get to the point where I am confident in my program I suspect that I will be one of the first buyers of the Studio and further suspect that my programming will slow way down.

I agree about Raybo's AllData. It is the epidemy of spreadsheet handicapping. I work well with CSV files and can export a substantial amount of calculated data to a huge spreadsheet for analysis.

Hey gang. I'm a hobbiest too. I started with Power Basic for DOS way back when it first came out, moved on to PowerBasic console compiler and then onto PowerBasic for Windows. It's in version 10.03 and still 32 bit (no issues for me).

That's about all I am familiar with although I have a couple of UDEMY courses in C# and Python. Neither of which I have progressed all the way through. I also own Pure Basic which looks pretty powerful and it is 64 bit.

I like programming in that to me, it's sort of a cross word puzzle and Sudoku all rolled into one.

Thanks Dave.

Dave, did you set up the coders group? If so, may I join it? I do not seem to be able to find it under Categories.

I can't remember how many of these kind of things I have bought in the past. For several many years, I would order one of these things, test it out on a few cards and then send it back in for a refund. I think almost everyone sent my money back to me.

My favorite was "Super Horse". That's what I used to make and win my very first bet+. I'll did it up and describe it later.

+Of course it never hit again like that very first bet though.

Question:
If you had (say)...
20 people doing studies for you
5 statistical analysts (Master's Degrees or PhDs)
2 quants
20 people to watch races and fire the bets
4 programmers
... Do you think your results might get better? — Dave Schwartz

Right there is why we can't be like the whales and bet like the whales.