Exacta Software?

[JimG]

Is there any commercial software out there that specializes in handicapping exactas? In other words, analyzes horses that place as well as win? Guess what I am looking for is something that helps locate key horses to play in exactas and then gives probability on other horses in the race, if the key finishes 1st or 2nd.

I have used software for years that is good at identifying key horses (HSH and All-Ways come to mind) but have not found anything helpful in identifying the likely "other horse". As we all know, the "next best horse" is many times up the track.

Jim

[Lefty]

JimG, MD Kram has exacta and trifecta software but think i'd avoid it llike the proverbial locust attack. Dave has outlined a way to use Collective speed in HSH to get exactas. Have you tried it?
Another way is if your key horse is say, an E or EP horse then use SP and LP horses bottom part of exacta. I don't play exactas much as i'm mostly a win bettor but these are methods I use when I play the darn things.

[Dick Schmidt]

Jim,

If you want to double your work (and fun???), you can model second place finishers in Synergism or have the ants train to pick only horses that run second in HSH. Both are just as much work as picking winners. In fact, if you want to go overboard, you can use both programs to look for third place finishers as well. Go nuts and have fun.

Dick

[JimG]

Originally posted by Lefty
JimG, MD Kram has exacta and trifecta software but think i'd avoid it llike the proverbial locust attack. Dave has outlined a way to use Collective speed in HSH to get exactas. Have you tried it?
Another way is if your key horse is say, an E or EP horse then use SP and LP horses bottom part of exacta. I don't play exactas much as i'm mostly a win bettor but these are methods I use when I play the darn things.

Lefty:

Forgot about the collective speed. Thanks for the reminder. Kram sounds too much like a used car salesman to me, I'll pass on his stuff.

Jim

[JimG]

Originally posted by Dick Schmidt
Jim,

If you want to double your work (and fun???), you can model second place finishers in Synergism or have the ants train to pick only horses that run second in HSH. Both are just as much work as picking winners. In fact, if you want to go overboard, you can use both programs to look for third place finishers as well. Go nuts and have fun.

Dick

Ants to pick just place horses huh....now why didn't I think of that?? Perhaps I go to bed too early at night. Thanks.


Jim

[GameTheory]

In one sense, picking place horses is easier than picking winners because half the question is already answered (I'm assuming we're trying to pick the place horse to complete our exacta.).

In other words, you're normally asking: what's the pace gonna be like, who's it gonna set up for, etc, but once we have decided who the winner will be, we don't need to do any of that. (Being right about the place horse only matters when our win horse comes in.) So we say, ok, HorseA wins, which means the race likely DID set up the way we imagined, and if THAT happened, then picking our place horse seems mainly a question of logic, not "who's second best?" (which tends not to work well).

Who's the logical horse to come in second given a certain win horse? Usually one of a contrasting style, unless there are only really two contenders...

[JimG]

GT,

What muddles this up for me is many times I have more than one win contender and more than one way the race may set up. I tend to think with different potential scenarios, different place horses are likely for the same race.

I am looking for something that does more that rank horses in liklihood of winning based on certain factor or factors.


Jim

[GameTheory]

Well, I don't have an answer for you on the software front, but what I am getting at is the the horses should be picked in pairs.

If you've got A & B as your win contenders, and A, B, C, & D all potentially in 2nd place, horses C & D might be good place horses to go with A (high probability if A wins) and bad (low probability) choices to run second to horse B. Maybe horse A is the only logical choice to play under horse B. Maybe B is a do-or-die who shouldn't be put in the second spot at all, etc. etc.

None of this is helpful in choosing those horses, of course, but I like that is what the results ought to be structured like. In general, horses with contrasting running styles go better together in the exacta rather than like horses. Of course, this is muddied by the fact that often there isn't much constrast in a race, or the difference in basic ability is too great to overcome, etc. etc...

[Topcat]

i think there was a speilicized software out there just for the exacta. i beleive it was written by Randy Kovach who wrote Aodds.

I don't have any experience with it and the last i heard Randy was on to new ventures.

Exactas aren't my speciality but I would think tracking your top 5 or 6 picks would reveal some interesting patterns. For example look at the top 2 net pace horses in HSh over the top 5-figur out a way to cut the ticket price or bet proportinonately and bingo there you go you'll be so rich you'll be rubbing shoulders with bob Baffert!

[Lefty]

Topcat, Yeah, forgot about that one. Never did buy it but it was called Workhorse. Don't think it's still available. Someone correct me if i'm wrong.

[JimG]

Lefty, TC,


You guys are right. In fact, I wanted to buy it and Kovach e-mailed me back and said it was no longer for sale. I place an ad in the software section a few months ago offering to buy if anyone had it...but I got no responses. The software is Workhorse Pro 2


Jim

[nucsub]

Hi,
You can take a look at my self-tuning software. If has win, exacta box, and trifecta box options. You can look it up at www.jzambuto.com.
joe

[Slider]

I set up the Horsestreet Handicapper Program Artificial Intellegence (Ants) for the Place horse as mention above. Got good results. The Place ants and the Win ants do give different answers. Very seldom are the top two win ants the same as the top two place ant selections. Posted my results on the horsestreet.com message board in the systems section under the Exacta thread. There is some good info there about exactas for those who are interested. A lot of it is related to the HSH user, but you may be able to learn something anyway.