10 races of the DRF past performances doesn't tell it all

[fishorsechess]

I remember 25 years ago , the first person I ever met
who was seriously into handicapping horses(he later
turned out to be a crook) mentioned that the 10
races in the Form's past performance doesn't tell the
whole story. At times, with the aid of records, if you
went back 15-20 races you would have a clearer
"picture" of the horse's racing history that lot of
folks at the track won't see. Has this worked for anyone?

[stuball]

Funny that you should post this thread as I am now working on an additional weapon in my arsenal...horse history...I can now go back 2 1/2 years --- some horses may have as many as 45 races in their pp's also I can add in works to calculate the complete work and race history.....project still in infancy but has proven to be very very helpful.....also tracking trainers from track to track...
requires a huge database but potential is there and needs to be
mined...good luck

Stuball

[Tom]

DRF Formulator lifetime PPs is a powerful tool. Even I can't complain about this one! LOL

Seriously, it is important to know not only what tracks a horse has performed well at over off tracks, but what kind of off tracks they were-I think there is a difference between MY and Sly and Gd track, and I like to see just what kind of off track the horse really ran over. That's just one thing.
At FL , we have somtthing not a lot of other tracks have - a season! When horse come back from winter layoffs in the spring, the running lines showing from last year in SEpt-Nov are hardly relevant - the sheaper horses are spent late in the year and run a lot differnet in the spring when they are fresh. This is good to know.

[Figman]

I've been handicapping since 1953 and believe I have gotten better year by year. So with all that I experience, I am quite satisfied as to my results.

I have switched from the Morning Telegraph in the '50's & 60's to The Daily Racing Form in the '70's & 80's to the BRIS and The TSN PP Generator since that first became available in the '90's. I use the TSN & BRIS PP Generator daily and have it set to print only a maximum of the latest FIVE PPs on each horse.

[The_Knight_Sky]

Wasn't it author Mark Cramer in Fast Track to Thoroughbred Profits who advocated The Garage Bet ?

It would have been labeled as such in his ledger
if a wager materialized after a trip to his garage,
where his chronologically organized stack of Forms
lay in peaceful slumber during 99% of the racing meet.

I take a number out of the the air like 99%
because in order to make it all worthwhile,
the work should be done in advance of a meet,
and golden nuggets organized in a methodic fashion
for that unique situation that converges on race day.

[ceejay]

Originally posted by Tom
Even I can't complain about this one! LOL


Sure you can!!! :D

[Turfday]

The Turfday.com database has every single race run in North American and Canada since Jan. 1, 1995. That's right, with some other information dating back to 1991.

One of the sites many features is an available Performance Activity log for every horse entered on a given raceday across North America and Canada.

The Performance Activity log is a chronological history of every race, workout (date, time, surface, track) and scratch (what the horse was scratched for) for that horse.

Not only that, in the case of each race, a user can click on that race and go right to the complete chart of the race the horse came out of.

I find it very interesting to find out when a horse is entered and scratched and the distance/class the horse may have been scratched from.

The gaps in workout/race activity are apparent. The work tab goes all the way back in a horse's life...not just the workouts shown in the Racing Form.

[Zaf]

Like Figman, I set the PP's to the last 5 or 6 lines.

ZAFONIC