THE contest

[Derek2U]

The top 5 leaders all played great yesterday. Cant wait until we
see the track-by-track stuff from PA. I guess the Thorotech squad
all use Equisim and from what was said here the ESPN squad
doesnt use puter programs? I'm keen to know if thats all true
or do squad members vary?

[Fastracehorse]

Relax man,

It's not over 'til the horse loses his jock.

fffastt

[Derek2U]

Relax? whats that got to do w/ anything. I'm a new yorker how
can I relax?

[Fastracehorse]

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

lllastt

[Derek2U]

i see u never learnt goft . i did only 2 years ago & its a great
relaxer & great 4 doing business.

[Fastracehorse]

As you probably already guessed that sport ticks me right off - so I don't play it.

I relaxed last night over GP PP's and a bottle of blush wine.

lllastt

[Early]

I am picking GP for About. I don't use any programs. Always thought there were too many factors for a program to really work. I mean, how can you tell from one race to the next or one day to the next which factors may be relatively more important? All I use is the DRF (hey, its good enough for Frankel).

I think maybe one person on our team uses a program.

[exodus@about.com]

I assume I'm the lone program user from About.com :)

I use my brother's program which generates his own pace and speed figures. This is no black box that spits out picks but one that gives me numbers far superior to what are found in the Racing Form. I have found these numbers to be excellent.

It's not uncommon to find horses with high odds that by his numbers are standouts or strong contenders. The 9th race at Hawthorne last week is a perfect example as the winner's pace figure from his last race towered over the competition AND he had a solid final figure.

-Justin

[Early]

The %&#$ net. You can run, but you can't hide.

[Tom]

Originally posted by Early
I am picking GP for About. I don't use any programs. Always thought there were too many factors for a program to really work. I mean, how can you tell from one race to the next or one day to the next which factors may be relatively more important? All I use is the DRF (hey, its good enough for Frankel).

I think maybe one person on our team uses a program.

First of all, welcome-always nice to hear from new people.
I would suggest that using a program gives you a better idea of what factors work day to day than not using one because, at least with my software (HTR), you can run models every night after the results are in and look long-term or short term trends.
I can look at the last 20 races, the last 200 races, the last two years, whatever I want to, and in seconds, I know what factors are strong or weak.
Not to say you can't so this by hand, but it limits you to a few tracks. With every track in the country in my daily downloads, I can (and do) spend a few minutes every week looking for tracks where factor that fit my style of play are winning and avoid those where I see confusion. I no longer am limited to "bad" tracks-I can go where the cash is flowing, so to speak.
Which, unfortunately, was not Aqueduct last Saturday <G>

Good luck in the contest-nice to see so many new people on board.

[Early]

Hi Tom. I guess I just proved my total ignorance of handicapping software. I admit I spend a lot of time looking for any track bias and trends re pace vs closers. You've perked my interest.