Can BRIS Files Be Altered?

[raybo]

Originally Posted by Woodpicker

Just as I suspected. There is no reason to start any development on my end. It
is not worth the effort. The programs I wrote in about the 1987-1995 period did show a
win bet profit when the takes were 15% with a 5 cent breakage. After about 1995, the game changed, takes started to increase, and every program was useless. With 17%
win bet take in the US and 20 cent breakage, win bet has been eroded.
I now play Woodbine with a 14.9%

I only meant that "software sales" are probably not worth the effort to create and market the product. I did not say one couldn't create software that shows a profit, for win betting or any other wager type, because one can.

The sales profits these days are in data subscription sales and online software subscription sales, not in computer software sales.

[Woodpicker]

Originally Posted by raybo

I only meant that "software sales" are probably not worth the effort to create and market the product. I did not say one couldn't create software that shows a profit, for win betting or any other wager type, because one can.

The sales profits these days are in data subscription sales and online software subscription sales, not in computer software sales.

I do believe you, but I still prefer to play Woodbine for other reasons besides the
take. I like the synthetic surface and US tracks are moving away from it. Also,
they run in cooler weather and I find the horses seem to run better.
I do not live in Canada, but in southeastern USA.
Glad to hear about the new way to utilize computers. I am not
interested in writing any more sofware. I had 40 years as a professional
computer programmer. Now I do my own work at my own pace.
I attended the seminar in Las Vegas put on by DRF and at the time I
worked for a few people.
Woodbine closed last Sunday so I am idle till April. That's why I
looked at this forum.
By the way, I saw your post on the DRF speed ratings. I only use the
Bris numbers which are marked bris. The ones below it I never use and
since it did not specifically say DRF, I ignored it for 15 years. Thanks
for the correction. I appreciate it. If I ever need DRF, I know where to
find it.

[raybo]

Originally Posted by Woodpicker

I do believe you, but I still prefer to play Woodbine for other reasons besides the
take. I like the synthetic surface and US tracks are moving away from it. Also,
they run in cooler weather and I find the horses seem to run better.
I do not live in Canada, but in southeastern USA.
Glad to hear about the new way to utilize computers. I am not
interested in writing any more sofware. I had 40 years as a professional
computer programmer. Now I do my own work at my own pace.
I attended the seminar in Las Vegas put on by DRF and at the time I
worked for a few people.
Woodbine closed last Sunday so I am idle till April. That's why I
looked at this forum.
By the way, I saw your post on the DRF speed ratings. I only use the
Bris numbers which are marked bris. The ones below it I never use and
since it did not specifically say DRF, I ignored it for 15 years. Thanks
for the correction. I appreciate it. If I ever need DRF, I know where to
find it.

I am jealous of anyone who has been programming for 30-40 years. I am not one of those, not a programmer at all, really. Sure, I use VBA in Excel, but I seldom write my own code, if I need some code I just visit my favorite Excel forum, post the problem, and someone writes the code for me. If I had had a PC, and Excel, and the internet, and Excel/VBA internet forums, and data files back in the 70's, I would have become profitable long before I did, that's a fact. I worked on computer hardware, among other things (computerized navigation and weapons delivery systems, Low light level TV, IR, laser targeting and laser target designation (for laser guided weapons), forward and side looking radar systems, etc., all the high tech stuff back then that became what we occasionally get a glimpse of on TV today), in the 70's, but never the software side. I do a little racing Excel work for people occasionally (more recently), but most of my computer work is on my own "stuff" (and the never ending support functions for my program). I'm retired and have nothing but time to spend, so it's just what I do.

[Woodpicker]

Originally Posted by raybo

I am jealous of anyone who has been programming for 30-40 years. I am not one of those, not a programmer at all, really. Sure, I use VBA in Excel, but I seldom write my own code, if I need some code I just visit my favorite Excel forum, post the problem, and someone writes the code for me. If I had had a PC, and Excel, and the internet, and Excel/VBA internet forums, and data files back in the 70's, I would have become profitable long before I did, that's a fact. I worked on computer hardware, among other things (computerized navigation and weapons delivery systems, Low light level TV, IR, laser targeting and laser target designation (for laser guided weapons), forward and side looking radar systems, etc., all the high tech stuff back then that became what we occasionally get a glimpse of on TV today), in the 70's, but never the software side. I do a little racing Excel work for people occasionally (more recently), but most of my computer work is on my own "stuff" (and the never ending support functions for my program). I'm retired and have nothing but time to spend, so it's just what I do.

I started coding in Basic and then got trained in Cobol. I worked for a comapany on Wall Street in the 1970's. When I became interested in HorseRacing, I learned C which is better for calculations. I always bought the latest computers and calculators in the early days. I took them to the track with simple programs and made money.
When the IBM PC's started, it was a dream come true.
I used books by Burton Fabricand as a guide and wrote the code to improve his
ideas. I made a lot more money when the industry was hot. In the 1980's the game got harder and my profit dwindled. The longer distances seemed to have a negative bias. I made a shift into coding for big companies. The wages for progarmmers were more than I could do in racing. When the really fast PC's came out, I started progarmming in Unix and Perl with better data bases. Back to profit. I started using Bris single files using Perl and Awk as coding tools. I like the scripting because the game is still changing.
In the last few years the game changed. My favorite tracks increased "takes" and
the fields got smaller. As more and more favorites started coming in, I had to change strategy. After playing almost all of the tracks in the US, I found a gem in Woodbine. It is a wild track, and the winners pay a lot more to win. I play a few exotics mainly
exactas. I don't need the Pick 6 etc, because I actually enjoy the game and I get paid very well when I win.
I am retired and I don't like computers anymore except for Horse Racing.
I might play a few races during the winter waiting for Woodbine to open in April. But I really like the break US racing is not what it used to be and I don't ever play the Kentucky Derby anymore.

[raybo]

Originally Posted by Woodpicker

I started coding in Basic and then got trained in Cobol. I worked for a comapany on Wall Street in the 1970's. When I became interested in HorseRacing, I learned C which is better for calculations. I always bought the latest computers and calculators in the early days. I took them to the track with simple programs and made money.
When the IBM PC's started, it was a dream come true.
I used books by Burton Fabricand as a guide and wrote the code to improve his
ideas. I made a lot more money when the industry was hot. In the 1980's the game got harder and my profit dwindled. The longer distances seemed to have a negative bias. I made a shift into coding for big companies. The wages for progarmmers were more than I could do in racing. When the really fast PC's came out, I started progarmming in Unix and Perl with better data bases. Back to profit. I started using Bris single files using Perl and Awk as coding tools. I like the scripting because the game is still changing.
In the last few years the game changed. My favorite tracks increased "takes" and
the fields got smaller. As more and more favorites started coming in, I had to change strategy. After playing almost all of the tracks in the US, I found a gem in Woodbine. It is a wild track, and the winners pay a lot more to win. I play a few exotics mainly
exactas. I don't need the Pick 6 etc, because I actually enjoy the game and I get paid very well when I win.
I am retired and I don't like computers anymore except for Horse Racing.
I might play a few races during the winter waiting for Woodbine to open in April. But I really like the break US racing is not what it used to be and I don't ever play the Kentucky Derby anymore.

I hear ya! I started writing in Basic on a TI-99-4A (?), graduated to a Tandy ColorTrac II, and finally found Excel. Have not done anything racing related in anything else since. Have not needed to, really. I've never found anything I really needed to do that couldn't be done in Excel.

I too, gravitate to those tracks that have higher than average payouts, DeD, EvD, OP, FG, etc.. It's just easier to profit when you can count on some big payouts every meet. I play both win/exacta for cash flow in support of superfecta play, but most of my profit comes from the superfectas.

[Woodpicker]

Originally Posted by raybo

I hear ya! I started writing in Basic on a TI-99-4A (?), graduated to a Tandy ColorTrac II, and finally found Excel. Have not done anything racing related in anything else since. Have not needed to, really. I've never found anything I really needed to do that couldn't be done in Excel.

I too, gravitate to those tracks that have higher than average payouts, DeD, EvD, OP, FG, etc.. It's just easier to profit when you can count on some big payouts every meet. I play both win/exacta for cash flow in support of superfecta play, but most of my profit comes from the superfectas.

Thanks for the link to HANA. They are doing some great service. I will join so that I can get more involved. I am one inch away from a boycott of all US tracks. I still play Saratoga so I will stay out of the boycott. Also I will play a few races this winter at Aqueduct and maybe Tampa Bay Downs. My friend and I co-own a mare who is giving birth in February. That's another reason for no boycott. We will just be hurting ourselves. We plan to point the horse to the Tampa Bay Derby if he turn out with
any class. His daddy won the race in 2012.


He and I have been

[raybo]

Originally Posted by Woodpicker

Thanks for the link to HANA. They are doing some great service. I will join so that I can get more involved. I am one inch away from a boycott of all US tracks. I still play Saratoga so I will stay out of the boycott. Also I will play a few races this winter at Aqueduct and maybe Tampa Bay Downs. My friend and I co-own a mare who is giving birth in February. That's another reason for no boycott. We will just be hurting ourselves. We plan to point the horse to the Tampa Bay Derby if he turn out with
any class. His daddy won the race in 2012.

No problem, I am very proud to have been one of the original small group (5 or 6 people here on PA) of players who decided to try to take just a bunch of dissatisfied players (read "customers") from complaining (and saying that such an organization would totally fail) that they have no word in the way racing is conducted, into an organization that has grown beyond any of our expectations and one that is taken very seriously by some of the movers and shakers in the industry.

Now, if they can just get the average win payouts, for all tracks, into that dang worksheet, I'll be a very happy camper!

[Woodpicker]

Originally Posted by raybo

No problem, I am very proud to have been one of the original small group (5 or 6 people here on PA) of players who decided to try to take just a bunch of dissatisfied players (read "customers") from complaining (and saying that such an organization would totally fail) that they have no word in the way racing is conducted, into an organization that has grown beyond any of our expectations and one that is taken very seriously by some of the movers and shakers in the industry.

Now, if they can just get the average win payouts, for all tracks, into that dang worksheet, I'll be a very happy camper!

When you say you want the average win payouts into the worksheet, who is "they"?
By the way, I spoke to my partner today and told him about HANA. He is going to
join and tell whoever wants to hear. I am going to add to the rolling letter.

[raybo]

Originally Posted by Woodpicker

When you say you want the average win payouts into the worksheet, who is "they"?
By the way, I spoke to my partner today and told him about HANA. He is going to
join and tell whoever wants to hear. I am going to add to the rolling letter.

"They", of course, is HANA. In case you haven't seen it yet, they produce a spreadsheet containing various data for every track, from which we can make more informed decisions regarding which tracks we will support/play.

My feeling is that "average win payouts" should be one of those data points, and IMO, it would be one of the most useful for us as players to know. For example, if you knew that a certain track has a very low average win payout, wouldn't you automatically know that that track is very "chalky" and leaves very little room, if any, for making a profit? Of course, the opposite is also true, another track with a higher average win payout would automatically mean that that track was less "chalky" and leaves more room for profit making.

[Woodpicker]

Originally Posted by raybo

"They", of course, is HANA. In case you haven't seen it yet, they produce a spreadsheet containing various data for every track, from which we can make more informed decisions regarding which tracks we will support/play.

My feeling is that "average win payouts" should be one of those data points, and IMO, it would be one of the most useful for us as players to know. For example, if you knew that a certain track has a very low average win payout, wouldn't you automatically know that that track is very "chalky" and leaves very little room, if any, for making a profit? Of course, the opposite is also true, another track with a higher average win payout would automatically mean that that track was less "chalky" and leaves more room for profit making.

I support the fact that the average win payouts by track are extremely important. As a matter of fact, I kept detailed records about four years ago for an entire season.
It included NYRA, Santa Anita and Del Mar. Someone else paid for the Bris data which was reasonable. We did great at Saratoga, as I recall, because it was the highest. Del Mar was wild that year. I would never do it again because I now notice the cutting knife of higher takes and breakage. My logic is as follows. Why bother anymore with high take US tracks when I have the gem of North America at 14.9% for win? These people in Woodbine simplify my life. I think now that US tracks just need to get it together. Tampa Bay Downs at one time advertized the highest payouts. Then - WHAM - they had a bad couple of years and have been very chalky. They never talk about themselves. In fact, a few years ago
they lost the community trust when they went to 20% win take with 20 cent breakage. They had to relent from that madness and eat crow. They went back to 17% with a very lot of small fields and chalk. However, I do support the fact that all players should know
the average payout. Thirty years ago, the DRF always reported % of winning favorites for all tracks.

[raybo]

Originally Posted by Woodpicker

I support the fact that the average win payouts by track are extremely important. As a matter of fact, I kept detailed records about four years ago for an entire season.
It included NYRA, Santa Anita and Del Mar. Someone else paid for the Bris data which was reasonable. We did great at Saratoga, as I recall, because it was the highest. Del Mar was wild that year. I would never do it again because I now notice the cutting knife of higher takes and breakage. My logic is as follows. Why bother anymore with high take US tracks when I have the gem of North America at 14.9% for win? These people in Woodbine simplify my life. I think now that US tracks just need to get it together. Tampa Bay Downs at one time advertized the highest payouts. Then - WHAM - they had a bad couple of years and have been very chalky. They never talk about themselves. In fact, a few years ago
they lost the community trust when they went to 20% win take with 20 cent breakage. They had to relent from that madness and eat crow. They went back to 17% with a very lot of small fields and chalk. However, I do support the fact that all players should know
the average payout. Thirty years ago, the DRF always reported % of winning favorites for all tracks.

"% of winning favorites" is nice to know, but that can just mean that the "public" at that track is smarter (or dumber) than at other tracks. If that track is not heavily bet by whales and syndicates then the average Joe has a greater impact on determining the favorite, which means that most of those favorites are obvious to more people. By looking at the "payouts" at a track, and which horses contributed the most to those payouts, one might be more able to lock in on more of the horses that have a better chance of winning than their odds predict.

[Woodpicker]

Originally Posted by raybo

"% of winning favorites" is nice to know, but that can just mean that the "public" at that track is smarter (or dumber) than at other tracks. If that track is not heavily bet by whales and syndicates then the average Joe has a greater impact on determining the favorite, which means that most of those favorites are obvious to more people. By looking at the "payouts" at a track, and which horses contributed the most to those payouts, one might be more able to lock in on more of the horses that have a better chance of winning than their odds predict.

Over the last four years, I had a lot of very good information about the winning chances of specific horses at several tracks. I came to the conclusion that the classical definition of the favorite and the public does not really apply anymore. The traditional public that I used to know is gone at least at the tracks I play. I notice that especially at Aqueduct. I can tell this because sometimes I was getting two different sources from my network. You can also take Tampa Bay Downs as an example. You get one trainer - Jamie Ness - totally dominating. I like to call racing now a sport which is more like "barn betting".
I think just the opposite. I don't think that the higher percentage of favorites today is due
to a sharper public. It is due to a sharper inbred elite.

[jimmac]

talked to BRIS - they will not modify Infotran to work on a 64 bit processor.
Any other way to take DRF files and select info

[DJofSD]

Originally Posted by jimmac

talked to BRIS - they will not modify Infotran to work on a 64 bit processor.
Any other way to take DRF files and select info

What is important about it working on a 64-bit processor?

[jimmac]

I used to be able to take the DRF files and select fields that I wanted to process rather than wade thru all the data.
There also was a program DRFPP.BRS - control file that used DRF file to create individual records. This program might have belonged to Glenn Foote