Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff P
His motivation was wanting to write a book where the ideas presented were backed up by data.
Imo, he did that and then some.
A year or so before he decided to write the book Barry invited a small group of players and myself over to his place.
We spent a wonderful afternoon out on his back patio with live video of the day's races (if I recall correctly TVG and RTN) streaming in the background talking about anything and everything under the sun including handicapping, making oddslines, and betting.
What I'm about to say is from the gut, and something I'll only say about a small handful of horseplayers:
Barry is the real deal.
When it comes to handicapping and betting Barry knows his shit.
-jp
.
|
Let's look at the original thread posted in 2019 and what Barry had to say..
http://www.paceadvantage.com/forum/s...2&postcount=44
Hello PA people, and thanks to Replay Randall for sending me a note about this thread.
The 445-page Skeptical Handicapper not includes dozens of computer studies (the vast majority by Ken Massa of HTR) on many handicapping topics, but also my views on various handicapping methods and topics based on my more than twenty years of playing full-time. I believe that many of the results will prove surprising to many players. Just a few:
Looking at more than 44,000 favorites, those ridden by jockeys with more than 20% wins performed just about identically vs. jockeys with fewer than 10% wins.
Are first-time starters intimidated by starting from the rail? Not according to the results we found.
In every category, no matter how far the class drop vs. a class raise, droppers recorded an ROI more than 5% better than risers.
Old-time handicapping angles such as best last-race speed figure, earnings per start calculations, and form-consistency ratings have been thoroughly analyzed by the crowd and won't get the money in 2019.
I think that experienced players will get much more out of the book than beginners. For instance, I explain how to watch replays correctly (looking for trouble is a waste of time), how to find vulnerable favorites and live longshots, and which questions to consider in different types of races. But it's no fast read or get-rich-quick book.
The book is scheduled to be shipped March 21, and I'll be happy to autograph the book for anyone ordering through my website, trpublishing.com. You can read a copy of the Introduction there, or look at early chapters on the Amazon site if you have a free Kindle Cloud Reader.
__________________
@
