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A speed ratings study was done in I believe 1998-1999, proposed and managed by Jim Bayle. Jim Bayle produced a regular horse racing report for his company SportStat and was an obvious person to initiate such a study.
We were contacted by Jim Bayle and were eager to participate. The subtext of the comment "so they are safe..for now." seems to me to be that speed figure makers are somehow dubiously avoiding scrutiny. At least that is what I read, whether it was intended that way or not. I'll set the record straight
HDW was just one entity involved in that study. Ragozin Sheets and Thorograph were both involved, as well as Beyer. I think BRIS was involved but I may be mistaken. Possibly Pizzola too but again, I am a bit hazy on that.
All parties were willing participants. Nobody was ducking into a "safe" harbor, trying to avoid scrutiny The work involved by everyone associated with the study on a daily basis for about a year was considerable and there were no interruptions in our data flow. I cannot speak to the experience of the other participants. Numbers had to be posted to Jim Bayles and time stamped BEFORE that day's races. I believe everyone was allowed to define a custom algorithm for testing and all the numbers would be tested by whatever custom algorithms were submitted, as well as a standard set of metrics.
So, the envelope please...oops, no envelope. After almost a year of daily grind by all parties involved, Jim Bayle, who had amassed a lot of data by then, stopped answering calls and stopped communicating. We subsequently found out, from our own customers, that he had started a long shot service! He broke off all communication with all the parties involved. And believe me, there were some pissed off parties.
Months later, Jim kept trying to track Jim Bayle down and somehow managed to get him on the phone one day. He had no explanation, just hemming and hawing. Since he had zero interest in completing the study, i.e. processing all the data and doing the analysis, Jim Cramer asked if he would release the data to an independent objective third party who could hire out the data processing and analysis. We would foot the bill along with anybody else who wished to contribute. Jim suggested Barry Meadow as the independent third party. Definite maybe.
I don't recall all the people Jim was able to contact but I specifically remember him calling Len Ragozin to explain the situation and pitch the idea of an independent third party, overseen by Barry Meadow, finishing the study with the data. He was all in and, being the good communist that he was, even offered to pay a bigger share of the bill since he made more money!!!
Nothing ever came of that - Jim Bayle was incommunicado again So ended the great speed ratings shoot out. We have our theories about what happened but I won't contribute to internet pollution by posting speculations.
Ron Tiller
HDW
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