A+ Thoroughbred Handicaper

[John]

A+ Thoroughbred Handicaper.

I hear this past Sunday, This software picked a $83.00 horse at Hollywood.

Also it is a no brainer. easy to use. but expensive to buy.

I would like to hear from anyone that has it and what success if any they may have had or not had. Some software works well at certain tracks and not so well at others.

There is an new version of A+ and I would like to get involved with it. I Know that A+ has been around awhile according to thier website But would like more information if anyone is willing to share with me. I will appreciate this....Thanks

" Most success comes from ignoring the obvious. "

[kitts]

I tried it way back in the olden days when it was on a 5.25" floppy. It did not seem to do much for a computer program then but it might have gotten better. Their longevity speaks volumes.

[JimG]

If you want to check out the software at no charge, I would recommend going to the Trackmaster web site and check previous days selections for A+ software for all tracks. Do it for several days for the tracks you follow.

This may give you a feel for whether the software may fit into your betting plan.


Jim

[andicap]

I've never used it although I did check out a few days past results and it seemed to do an OK job of picking overlays. The one small problem in going over past days cards is it doesn't allow you to account for scratches in changing the betting line and the program is best used by picking overlays not its top choice. For example in an eight-horse field, it might tag a horse at 5-1, but if there's a scratch the horse in theory could become a 4-1 horse.
Still, you can get a general idea. I never tried it because it just didn't look like any fun.


The guy who runs it did return my emails in short order and seemed pretty nice.

The program I wish someone else would try and report back is Mike's Handiman. (ITS calls it its most popular third-party software.) I can't belive Topcat or Lefty have never used that one.

[Lefty]

Rocajack, tried to e-mail you but you're not receiving. E-mail me I have A+ newest ver for sale as I have never even installed this ver. on my computer. it uses $1.00 files and I use Tsn .50 files.

And yep, I used the Handiman a few versions ago but never updated it because not interested in ITS $1.50 files either.

[Lefty]

Hmm, I did something wrong and my reply not here. Strange things happening to my computer all day.
Rocajack, I have newst ver. A+ for sale less than half price. Never put it on my computer as it doesn't use TSN files.

Yep, tried the old Dos ver of Handiman but never updated as not interested in $1.50 ITS files either.
So many strange things happening today i'm about to go back to doing things manually.

[John]

Lefty,

Thanks, I found a friend at the track that has the old version of A+ and is going to e-mail me the selections if I pay for the$1.00 Bris file. sounds fair....

Lefty what about that "Quick Horse" that is free for 30 days on the SOFTWARE board. Anyone work with that. I tried to download and could not get it to run.

[Lefty]

Roca, I did the same for Quickhorse and quickly deleted it. Then he sent me some e-mails with links to correct the difficulties but I had already lost interest. If you're still interested you might try e-mailing him and asking for the corrections.

[andicap]

Lefty,
Was Handiman any good in finding overlays? I've read most of the newsletters and I know it gets confusing. LIke "Pass" doesn't necessarily mean pass the race, but that it looks kind of murky. He says lots of good longshots come in when it says "pass."

And he uses BRIS files. Maybe that's a new development and you tried it back in V. 1 or 2?

I'm sure it's a bit different now.

[Lefty]

It's been quite a while since I used it, it was using $1.00 bris files then and I was testing Contenders about the same time. I didn't have it long when he updated it to a windows ver. I was under impression that now used ITS files only but I could be wrong. Whether it's a 1.00 or 1.50 not too interested when there are good prgms that use Tsn .50 files. Call me cheap, the wife does.
I really don't remember much about overlays but did get quite a few 8,9, 10 dollar horses. Prob. a pretty good little prgm. Mike says he makes money with it and I have no reaon to doubt him.

[Topcat]

I'm not currently using it but i can say I have A+ software and I ran it through a small test of about 500 races. I fully expected it to do poorly. It comes up with an odds line and order of selection based on what i consiered to be a simple approach using about 5-7 factors and they are weighted in a linear regression fashion. o

I tested it against other software using the same races and days and even the same Bris files-software such Aodds could use the same files.

I was surprised at how well A + did. I thought it would do very poorly. I tracked all the software the same way- on paper using just a selection orientation. For A+ it did well with it's top selection, 2nd selction and third slection. Playing blindly the top 2 slections they won about 50% which put it on par with some of the better software. The real surpise was that the ROi bested almost all of them and if you passed races where there were more than 1 first time starter then you only lost about 8% on the dollar-which beat the track take and most of the software I have.

It is not the most flexible software out there, although you can change the default weighting of factors such as speed, earnings etc. the best bet with this software is probably to track how it does on types of races and/or with some sort of value orientation.

[John]

Topcat,

I too have 7.0 version of A+. Just got it. I have not done research yet.What tracks have you worked A+ on. The old version did alright at Saratoga last year. A+ hit some big prices on the Turf.This program is not afraid to put a 20-1 on top.

Please let me know if you find out more with Your A+ research

Thanks

[JimG]

Rocajack,

Any update on how it is going with A+ software. I plan to give it a try soon.


Jim

[John]

Jimg.

I am going to run A+ Saturday at Saratoga. will let you know.

If you go to A+ website He boast of a exacta 3 horse box hit.that paid $590. I don't know what day that was .....

"IF WISHES WERE HORSES,WE'D ALL RIDE."

[andicap]

Remember Roca, in my limited tests with A+ (using prior day results), it did best at picking overlays. Betting its top pick was not good, but betting say 50% overlays off its oddsline showed potential.

[John]

Andicap

Thank you sir , I will keep that thought in front of me......