COMPU TRAK

[pandy]

I just found Compu Trak 2.0 in my software pile. But it requires manual input. Rubin was ahead of his time with the "friction" (late fraction) number. When I created my Diamond and Formula systems I put in my own late speed ratings that really make a huge difference in route races. For instance, in the Preakness, Afleet Alex had a late Kick rating of 111, 5 points higher than Giacomo's. That was the difference in the race. My Kick rating is not final quarter, which I feel is too limited. For a 9 furlong race, for instance, the rating is for the final 5/8's, so it really shows sustained speed.

[thoroughbred]

I just found Compu Trak 2.0 in my software pile. But it requires manual input. Rubin was ahead of his time with the "friction" (late fraction) number.

Pandy,
Thanks for the gracious compliment.
Also want to make sure you know that the latest version, "CompuTrak Handicapper 2005" is completely automatic, i.e. not a manual input program. While 2.0 was DOS, the latest has a Windows interface. You can learn much about it at www.revelationprofits.com

[46zilzal]

Leibnitz and Newton BOTH needed a way to describe what CALCULUS tells us, so INDEPENDENTLY they came up with what they needed. Happens in this arena too

[Lasix1]

Pandy,
Thanks for the gracious compliment.
Also want to make sure you know that the latest version, "CompuTrak Handicapper 2005" is completely automatic, i.e. not a manual input program. While 2.0 was DOS, the latest has a Windows interface. You can learn much about it at www.revelationprofits.com
I hate to pour cold water on this mutual admiration society, but your program might be tried out by more handicappers if you would give them a decent trial instead of making them front the money first and then try to get it back if they didn't like it.

[HEY DUDE]

Ditto. What good is the trial if you have to pay first? I know that I wont be trying it out.

[thoroughbred]

Hi Lasix1 and Hey Dude,

I can see that some clarification may be useful.

You can download the demo of CompuTrak free. That demo has a number of sample Data Files which you can run.

Then, if you choose, i.e., if you like what you see, you can sign up for a 30 day use of the full program for $30.

This $30 can be applied to the cost for a permanent license which is only $129.

In either case, whether you purchase the $30 trial, or the $129 permanent license, the stated money back guarantee holds.

[headhawg]

thoroughbred,

I must admit that I am a recovering software junkie. I used to buy software simply for the sake of getting something new. But way too many poorly spent dollars later, I no longer do that.

I was interested in CompuTrak for a while (and now again after the recent "friction" thread), but -- money back guarantee or not -- I personally can't justify spending any money up front for a program's trial period. The fact that you have a demo version that let's you play around with the program's functions/interface on sample data is all well and good, but I would prefer to test on current data to see if the program works for me in the real world. (Which is also why I wouldn't even think about buying any software that doesn't have a full-featured demo version.)

You must have your reasons for doing things the way you do. Hopefully you will change your policy so myself and others who feel the same way could give CompuTrak a decent workout without any up front costs.

HH

[Misteranthropic]

HEADHAWG,

May I suggest taking a look at Jeff P.'s Jcapper? It's an amazingly fine piece of software that has revolutionized my handicapping.

Jeff offers a MINIMUM 15 day trial, which in my case he stretched to 45 days. This time allowed me to become familiar with the program, as well as downloading enough data to begin a workable db.

Even after I told him I wanted to send him a check, he suggested I use the program for another 30 days, just to be sure.

Jeff P. is, in my opinion, a man of complete integrity and will answer any and all questions you may have concerning Jcapper quickly and completely.

You can get info at www.jcapper.com (http://www.jcapper.com/)

Regards,

Brian


thoroughbred,

I must admit that I am a recovering software junkie. I used to buy software simply for the sake of getting something new. But way too many poorly spent dollars later, I no longer do that.

I was interested in CompuTrak for a while (and now again after the recent "friction" thread), but -- money back guarantee or not -- I personally can't justify spending any money up front for a program's trial period. The fact that you have a demo version that let's you play around with the program's functions/interface on sample data is all well and good, but I would prefer to test on current data to see if the program works for me in the real world. (Which is also why I wouldn't even think about buying any software that doesn't have a full-featured demo version.)

You must have your reasons for doing things the way you do. Hopefully you will change your policy so myself and others who feel the same way could give CompuTrak a decent workout without any up front costs.

HH

[Hosshead]

HEADHAWG,

May I suggest taking a look at Jeff P.'s Jcapper? It's an amazingly fine piece of software that has revolutionized my handicapping.

Jeff offers a MINIMUM 15 day trial, which in my case he stretched to 45 days. This time allowed me to become familiar with the program, as well as downloading enough data to begin a workable db.

Even after I told him I wanted to send him a check, he suggested I use the program for another 30 days, just to be sure.

Jeff P. is, in my opinion, a man of complete integrity and will answer any and all questions you may have concerning Jcapper quickly and completely.

You can get info at www.jcapper.com (http://www.jcapper.com/)

Regards,

Brian
I agree about the customer support from Jeff (JCapper). He will answer all questions promptly.
You can use the demo with current files, no up front fee, and Jeff will almost certainly give you an extension on the 2wk trial. In my opinion you HAVE to have at least a 30 day trial with JCapper, because there are so many functions to play with, and learn. Jeff has made it very easy to download/scratch racefiles into the program, and it WILL work with $59/mo Procaps.
Finding a way to make money with it, is another story, will take time. But JCapper will let you do it "your way".

[thoroughbred]

thoroughbred,

I must admit that I am a recovering software junkie. I used to buy software simply for the sake of getting something new. But way too many poorly spent dollars later, I no longer do that.

I was interested in CompuTrak for a while (and now again after the recent "friction" thread), but -- money back guarantee or not -- I personally can't justify spending any money up front for a program's trial period. The fact that you have a demo version that let's you play around with the program's functions/interface on sample data is all well and good, but I would prefer to test on current data to see if the program works for me in the real world. (Which is also why I wouldn't even think about buying any software that doesn't have a full-featured demo version.)

You must have your reasons for doing things the way you do. Hopefully you will change your policy so myself and others who feel the same way could give CompuTrak a decent workout without any up front costs.

HH

Headhawg,

Thank you for your suggestion.

We have listened to you, and others, and now have a full featured CompuTrak trial version that you can use for free.

It has taken us some time to come up with this, because, after all, to offer a free, full featured version requires that we, obviously, have to include some protection to prevent possible abuse.

You can download this trial version at our web site:

www.revelationprofits.com

Here's how it works.

When you download the program, we provide you with a free license.
During the first three days, you can use the program in a completely unlimited way, i.e., you can run the program for as many times as you wish, for whatever tracks you are interested in.

After three days, on a random basis, you can run the program two days a week, for one track on each of those random days. The program will let you know, at the begining of any week, on which two random days you will be able to use the program.

You will always be able to run sample files, if you wish, on any day.

We believe this is a fair compromise between being able to provide you with the means to run the program completely, at no cost, and the need for program protection.

Thanks again.

[NoDayJob]

Sounds more than fair to me. They should be able to pay for it out of winnings, so it might truly be "free".

NDJ [AKA Troll #1]

[headhawg]

Headhawg,

Thank you for your suggestion.

We have listened to you, and others, and now have a full featured CompuTrak trial version that you can use for free.
Damn Thoroughbred, you are about bring out the software junkie in me again. Thanks. Thanks a lot. :)

[Zaf]

I tested the software briefly quite a while ago. The results were very decent in a limited trial. I will check it out again. I think the software has some very unique and intriguing concepts. I have been a CJ / Equisim user for 2 years now and am very satisfied. If I can find some useful elements in another program, I would be happy to add it to the mix.

Thanks to Thoroughbred for offering a free trial !

ZAFONIC

[analyzer]

Thoroughbred- Could you please tell me how to scratch horses? I can't seem to figure it out. Thanks.

[thoroughbred]

Thoroughbred- Could you please tell me how to scratch horses? I can't seem to figure it out. Thanks.

Analyzer,

If you are referring to the "Scratch" utility on our web site: www.revelationprofits.com I should point out that it is not part of the CompuTrak program. It's a tool we provided for use by anyone who has an oddsline regardless of the source, Morning Line, CompuTrak, one's own, etc. and wishes to update the odds after a scratch.

When handicapping with CompuTrak, you, generally, do not have to make any changes to the output after a scratch.

When a horse is scratched, you can still use the CompuTrak output. Just erase, (cross out), the scratched horse.

Why is this so?

While the odds do change after a scratch, the values, and the ranking of the values, for all the other outputs do not. That is because, for those other output values, they are derived specifically for each horse, based on their own individual pacelines, without reference to any of the other horses in the race.

So the numerical values, and the ranking for the remaining horses, for items such as Early Speed, Recent Predicted Finish Time, Friction, Form, etc. are still valid after a scratch.

Of course, the odds for the remaining horses after a scratch do change. But even here, since, in essence, odds are a direct reflection of winning probability, for the remaining horses, the original odds value rankings, will, in general, still reflect the rankings of the winning probability.

But if you do want the new odds after a scratch, invoke the utility on our web site and follow the instructions given there, keeping in mind, as mentioned above, that the scratch utility is separate from the program.

If there is anything else I can help you with, please let me know.

[analyzer]

T'Bred- I did not think there was a way to scratch horses output, which is OK. I prefer to get the clutter of scratched horses out of my way instead of having to continue to land on them and have to remember they are not in the race. I understand the other outputs do not change but the ability to scratch horses is a change I would recommend for you to add so those of us who do not want to deal with the clutter don't have to. Just a suggestion for you to consider. Thanks.

[thoroughbred]

We apologize to those of you who went to our site:
www. revelationprofits.com over the weekend and could not find the Free, Full-Featured, Trial Version, discussed in this thread.

It is now there again for downloading.

[banacek]

lI was looking at the On-line demo and had a couple questions before I download the trial. I am looking for a program that gives a somewhat accurate odds line. But the ones I see in Computrak seems strange to me. Is this supposed to be an odds line that reflects Computrak's estimate of their probability of winning or is it just a rating?

For example, in race 1 of the tutorial the odds line varies from 5.50-1 to 7.13-1. Race 2 from 4.28-1 to 5.92-1, race 3 can't see all the horse but what's there are almost all the same. Why is there not some separation in the horses? Does Computrak give odds line of 6-5 or 80-1 sometimes? Also in race 7 of the tutorial the odds vary a little bit from 5.62-1 to 10.68-1 and it says the 5.62-1 horse won and paid $10. If his fair odds are 5.62-1 why would I bet him at 4-1?

Thanks

[thoroughbred]

lI was looking at the On-line demo and had a couple questions before I download the trial. I am looking for a program that gives a somewhat accurate odds line. But the ones I see in Computrak seems strange to me. Is this supposed to be an odds line that reflects Computrak's estimate of their probability of winning or is it just a rating?

For example, in race 1 of the tutorial the odds line varies from 5.50-1 to 7.13-1. Race 2 from 4.28-1 to 5.92-1, race 3 can't see all the horse but what's there are almost all the same. Why is there not some separation in the horses? Does Computrak give odds line of 6-5 or 80-1 sometimes? Also in race 7 of the tutorial the odds vary a little bit from 5.62-1 to 10.68-1 and it says the 5.62-1 horse won and paid $10. If his fair odds are 5.62-1 why would I bet him at 4-1?

Thanks

Banacek,

The odds line is a direct reflection of the probability of winning.

As to the small separation you noted in the tutorial. The tutorial, while still generally correct, has, not yet, been updated to reflect what we have experienced by testing and user feedback in the past months. The latest CompuTrak versions use different default settings than what we had in the past, i.e, what was shown in the Tutorial. Now, the default values are 1.0 for "Distance/Range", and with "Surface Enabled." This leads to the program only processing previous pacelines that are like "today's" race in both distance and surface. Of course, by changing the settings, up to all previous pacelines can be included.

These default values have led to even better results. For example, it is with these default values that Brad Free got those great results he reported in his Daily Racing Form Column. He only chose the horse with the lowest CompuTrak odds shown in the oddsline.

With the new default values, the odds values, are, in general, separated more.

Of course, from time to time, there will be a race where the horses are pretty evenly matched, in which case, of course, as expected, the values will be closer to each other.

If there is anything else I can help you with, please let me know.

[banacek]

Thanks for the info. Is there any place on the website that gives some printouts of the "new" oddslines to see for myself if they are a bit more realistic? And one thing you didn't answer - would Computrak ever give an odds line of 6-5 or 80-1?

Thanks

[Hosshead]

Also, are there any plans yet to design Computrak to use Procaps ??

[thoroughbred]

Thanks for the info. Is there any place on the website that gives some printouts of the "new" oddslines to see for myself if they are a bit more realistic? And one thing you didn't answer - would Computrak ever give an odds line of 6-5 or 80-1?

Thanks

Banacek,

If you email me: rube@revelationprofits.com, I will capture a picture of the actual output of a recent race for you to examine and email it to you.

There is no lower limit to the value of the odds. There is an arbitrary upper limit of 50/1.

[thoroughbred]

Also, are there any plans yet to design Computrak to use Procaps ??

Hosshead,
The TSN ProCaps files are compatible with CompuTrak.

[Hosshead]

TB, Good to hear, but have you done any evaluations of the results using Procaps ? As I recall, one of the problems you related with using Procaps with Computrak, was that track variants are an integral factor in Computrak, which Procaps don't have. Was the use of TV's (in Computrak) changed, or left out (and thus the results different), to accomodate Procaps ?

[thoroughbred]

TB, Good to hear, but have you done any evaluations of the results using Procaps ? As I recall, one of the problems you related with using Procaps with Computrak, was that track variants are an integral factor in Computrak, which Procaps don't have. Was the use of TV's (in Computrak) changed, or left out (and thus the results different), to accomodate Procaps ?

Hosshead,

Here are some details to reply to your variant question.

The way CompuTrak obtains Track Variant, is to calculate it from the Speed Rating. It is done in a manner similar to the way Beyer, as shown in one of his books, calculates variant from his speed rating.

Both BrisNet and TSN supply a Speed Rating in their data files. They are usually slightly different which makes the Track Variant slightly different between the two. When you run CompuTrak, the output numbers will differ, also very slightly, between the two, for those outputs where the variant is part of the calculation. No discernable differences in overall effectiveness has been detected when using BrisNet or TSN.