Record Keeping

[Irish Boy]

Hey guys, I'm a bit of a lurker, but I'm getting ready to start playing semi-seriously over the summer. Everything you read always says that record keeping is an essential part of profitability and I agree; I already keep fairly thorough records for all my bets elsewhere. But what do you think is important to keep track of, and what is less so? I don't want to record every tiny detail of every race that I bet on, and I find that restricting myself to doing only what is valuable and helpful ensures that I'm more likely to keep up on my records, whereas iif they include too much I'm more likely to get lazy/discouraged. I did a few searches in the forums and I couldn't find any direct answers. What do you guys record after each bet?

[jasperson]

THey guys, I'm a bit of a lurker, but I'm getting ready to start playing semi-seriously over the summer. Everything you read always says that record keeping is an essential part of profitability and I agree; I already keep fairly thorough records for all my bets elsewhere. But what do you think is important to keep track of, and what is less so? I don't want to record every tiny detail of every race that I bet on, and I find that restricting myself to doing only what is valuable and helpful ensures that I'm more likely to keep up on my records, whereas iif they include too much I'm more likely to get lazy/discouraged. I did a few searches in the forums and I couldn't find any direct answers. What do you guys record after each bet?
What ever you record you will find that it isn't enough. I record the win place show horses with their payoff along with 20 other parameters that resulted in my selection like speed, earnings per start,class up or down etc and that is not enough. I still need more.
Jack

[BillW]

Irish Boy,

Do you keep a database of PP's and results? I simply link a table of my wagers into my standard database and don't have to worry about what to keep. Entry is easy - date/track/racenumber/runners/wagertype/wagersize/(rebate :) ). All other data is already there. If you're doing it by hand it is much more difficult.

Bill

[Irish Boy]

I keep all the results sheets in PDF form. I'm planning on keeping a spreadsheet with wager info, and I was wondering whether it is worth it to re-record the things in the spreadsheet so that I could organize them or whether this is unnecessary. I can't think of an easy way to link one to the other. Is there a way to, say, link a saved document in a cell in Excel so that I can open the results sheet instantly? That may be the easiest way.

I don't want to sound lazy, and I'm willing to take the time to do anything worthwhile. But between taking track notes, handicapping, etc., not to mention school and work, there's only so many hours in the day to do these things.

[BillW]

Lazy is good - you get rewarded for the amount of work done, not the effort it took to accomplish it. I'm not sure about fancy spreadsheet tricks, maybe you could post a query over in OffTopic-Computer section and get some advice. My guess is that a database is the real answer though.

Good luck.

[JustRalph]

make sure whomever you play with online (ADW) provides a good records function. I actually got notified of an audit (IRS) when I was using two different ADW's and one of them provided a much nicer record keeping function than the other. guess which one I don't use anymore..................

Don't over do it. I did this one year and realized it really didn't help too much. Most of the stuff you need can be had online down the road. Or you can archive stuff. I have an external hard drive with tons of stuff on it from the last five years. I have only had to use it twice. And neither of those instances was that important. Just for fun really.

[bigmack]

I'm too lazy/busy to read the other responses so I don't know if it's been covered but Jeff Platt had a wonderful suggestion a spell ago about including ones reason for a wager. It's "heped" me get a handle on my handle and the thought process that lead to it. ("handle on my handle" jokes unwelcome) :rolleyes:

[proximity]

some stuff i keep track of: track, distance, surface, #turns, general type of race (msw, mcl, clm, ocl, alw, stk, str....) , different aspects of horse's "pattern", general grade of trainer's "ability", .....

obviously tailor it to your own game. after several months of this stuff you can start to see strengths and weaknesses. then you can begin to chop and change based on what you've learned.....

[SeattleSlew@BP]

This is a very unpopular opinion around here, I'm sure, but unless you have gobs of extra hours after the races are over "record keeping" is a colossal waste of time.

If you bet online your history is all there anyway.

The only reason record keeping is that important is for income tax, and again, that is usually there in your online records.

[JohnGalt1]

This is a very unpopular opinion around here, I'm sure, but unless you have gobs of extra hours after the races are over "record keeping" is a colossal waste of time.

If you bet online your history is all there anyway.

The only reason record keeping is that important is for income tax, and again, that is usually there in your online records.

I find it important to know where my strengths and weaknesses are. At the end of every year I go through all my records and record every bet in all categories and dollars won and lost.

In 2005 I won with 47% on my md clm route win bets, but only won 20% of mdn turf races.

I won $2572 on my superfecta bets, $2345 on my pick six bets, and $720 on my pick 3 bets, but lost $2910 on my win bets, $538 on tris and $1170 on pick fours for the year.

[ljb]

I keep all the results sheets in PDF form. I'm planning on keeping a spreadsheet with wager info, and I was wondering whether it is worth it to re-record the things in the spreadsheet so that I could organize them or whether this is unnecessary. I can't think of an easy way to link one to the other. Is there a way to, say, link a saved document in a cell in Excel so that I can open the results sheet instantly? That may be the easiest way.

I don't want to sound lazy, and I'm willing to take the time to do anything worthwhile. But between taking track notes, handicapping, etc., not to mention school and work, there's only so many hours in the day to do these things.
I use Youbet and copy/paste my daily wagers to an excel spreadsheet. I then manually add reason for bet and trainer/jockey. This allows me to do some analysis of my plays and keep a running total of ROI etc. Most of my plays are on claimers and maidens. I do not record sprint/routes or turf/dirt. May do so in the future if I deem it necessary.

[rufus999]

Everything you read always says that record keeping is an essential part of profitability

Only if you work for the IRS.:D

Half seriously, though, I keep temporary trip notes of the races I watch plus any track bias that might be evident on any given day at any given track I cover. These two elements can work in tandem or independently.
I also keep a set of updated speed par figs for all the tracks I cover.
Finally, I make mental notes of j/t combos that are hot at the moment.
None of this can be considered record keeping... but its what I do so I hope it helps.

rufus