formula handicapping by Jayce Killaen

[topgun]

Hello,

I want to know if anyone on this website have read this book by Jayce Killaen,if so what are your thoughts of this book. The is price very high for a handicapping book ,but it may have something there.

Topgun

[dav4463]

I used to have it. I gave it away to somebody. I remember you had to do a lot of figuring to arrive at your picks. It was OK, but not for me...

[so.cal.fan]

I read the post on HorseStreet.....about the out of print old handicapping books....I recall this book.....and I don't believe at the time it came out, I was impressed enough to buy it, or even look at it....I can't remember, but I must have heard something negative.
They also mention an old book by Robert Elias......I knew Robert Elias......he was a nice old man who has long passed away....but I could never recommend his book, which I read because he gave me a copy and asked for my opinion....which at the time.....I really couldn't tell him what I really thought....like I said, he was a nice old man.

[banacek]

I had that one (probably still do somewhere in all the boxes). I paid $50 for it must be close to 30 years ago when I was a teenager. So $50 was a lot for me. Hard cover, fairly large format. He lived in Ontario Canada, if I recall correctly. It used pace - even had a supplement that converted fractional times to a rating (or was it feet per second?). All the examples were from Florida if I recall and he played early speed horses in sprints. If I recall correctly, he even said that he made money playing all of the top 3 early speed horses to win. Not any more, I'd wager.

I liked some of the concepts and my copy has probably got more of my writing in it than any other book I owned. I still remember the cover which simply said:

KILLAEN'S FORMULA HANDICAPPING

A PROFESSIONAL CAREER

Boy that sounded inviting for a 16 year old horseplayer!

[iggy]

Hello,

I want to know if anyone on this website have read this book by Jayce Killaen,if so what are your thoughts of this book. The is price very high for a handicapping book ,but it may have something there.


Topgun

Killaen lived in Oshawa not far from Toronto. Believe the price was $50 and user supposed to send another $950 from winnings. Killaen and Huey Mahl had some explosive exchanges, in writing, as Mahl ripped the book apart as only he could.

[so.cal.fan]

Many of these old guys who wrote handicapping systems/books did so, not to make money but they wanted to share a life's worth of knowledge, probably none of them ever made any serious money at race betting, but put their hearts and souls into the game, and they felt they had made some significant discoveries......and wanted to validate their time and effort (and money) they had spent over the years.
I have known several of these men over the years, and without any exceptions (at least the one's I knew) this was their primary motive.
One sweet old soul, prepared a book (or more of a manuscript) of all his "secrets" right before he died.....he came around the paddock at Santa Anita and gave several copies out to anyone who had been nice to him, I got one....in fact I still have it......I just couldn't throw it away. I never saw the old fellow again.
He actually had a few good ideas. In fact, a lot of good information I have gathered over the years has been from these old men who have spent their lives at the track and were generous enough to share information.

[dav4463]

The book that contained examples from Calder wasn't Killaen, it was Mike Fiora (spelling?), it was a big RED book... hardcover..the Killaen book was the same size, but the cover was BLACK. I also remember Killaen said when you can bet $200 to win on your horse, you are set for life !

[ken wislocky]

I purchase the book and tried it for a while. It bet only on sprints and assigned point values for how many beaten lengths a horse was running at each of four points of call. You multiplied these together and used each of the last three races a horse ran adding the value earned from those three races.Then he had a figure for class based on money earned ranking and a speed rating figure that also was added. In the days before PC's this involved a huge amount of effort to do all the computations. There was some logic in the method as it did mainly focus on early speed horses to some extent. However he then showed various ways to bet and showed several methods where the top rated horse would not be bet and you would focus on horses at 4/1 or greater odds. He did have a full months workout which might have been selected by backfitting for all I know. I never had that much success and gave up after the being discouraged by all the work that was required to manually do the computations. And yes he did all the examples based on a $200 win bet.

[NoDayJob]

The book that contained examples from Calder wasn't Killaen, it was Mike Fiora (spelling?), it was a big RED book... hardcover..

"How to Beat the Horses" Michael A. Fiore LC Cat #77-72535
Published by Lane & Young, 128 Mallory Ave., Jersey City, N.J. 07304

NDJ [AKA Troll #1]

[Dave Schwartz]

I read the post on HorseStreet.....about the out of print old handicapping books....I recall this book.

Killian's book? I do not recall ever seeing it.

I REALLY do not recall liking it, but if there was something good in it, I certainly would have (except for the price). There needs to be a lot of good stuff in a book for $50.

BTW, I have the Fiore book. Nothing earth-shattering today, but maybe there was when it was new.

Supposedly, Fiore had a "special" book - a system he claimed would make you rich. LOL He sold it for $2,000 per copy. Never saw that Fiore book.

[thaskalos]

I bought the book some years ago...and it embarrasses me to admit how much I paid for it. I had seen it offered for sale at a consistently high price for years...and wrongly concluded that the abnormally high price-tag had to mean that the book would have at least SOME redeeming value.

I have vowed never to make the same mistake again...

[Racey]

If you want a top notch book buy Pandolfo's Pace Handicapping Longshots it is a fantastic book using Brisnet pace figures and analysis of Plus & Minus Pace shapes..... I just bought the wife a Gas fireplace with all the trimmings for our home...Thanks to the powerful angles in this book.

[Pensacola Pete]

If you want a top notch book buy Pandolfo's Pace Handicapping Longshots it is a fantastic book using Brisnet pace figures and analysis of Plus & Minus Pace shapes..... I just bought the wife a Gas fireplace with all the trimmings for our home...Thanks to the powerful angles in this book.

That's all well and good, but does it belong in this thread? Just curious.

[Racey]

No need to have it ruin your day. I always take suggestions that could make me money. next time I will keep it to myself. :sleeping:

[Pensacola Pete]

Or you could do what most of the others do and start your own thread instead of tacking it onto somebody else's thread.

[Racey]

Or you could read a book that is far above the book being discussed in this thread... and gain some insight.

[antigeekess]

An :8:-year-old thread, revived by Schwartz :2: days ago?

This is a strange place, indeed...

[Dave Schwartz]

How strange. This thread popped up as "new." That was why I responded.

Didn't even notice the date. Is it possible that someone made a post that has been deleted now?

[PaceAdvantage]

Is it possible that someone made a post that has been deleted now?Not just possible. Dead-on accurate.

[Pensacola Pete]

Or you could read a book that is far above the book being discussed in this thread... and gain some insight.

I bought and read that book and 2 or 3 others by Pandy. That doesn't have anything to do with you bringing it up in a thread about another book. But the Chief's been here and didn't say anything, so I suppose it's okay.