Great story Dave and how applicable to what we do.

Well done Steven! Thank you for sharing

Welcome aboard Ray. Great introduction!! Look forward to exchanging ideas

Thanks to all for your input. It's fascinating to me watch someone's analysis. Always seem to learn something. I apologize for the scratch. Dave your use of HSH is top notch! You are definitely one of the most prepared players I know.

You guys totally amaze me!!! Ranch you are so creative, Coley do all this work for every track by hand and Dave always looking for a way to make the process easier.
When it comes to negative factors, it seems to me that Pickmaster was used in HSH to identify negative factors some years ago. I don't recall the outcome but it felt like a worthwhile venture. Dave do you remember that effort?
Could there be an opportunity to report these items in a good news/bad news function?

Tom is a very intuitive player. I have no idea how he does at the windows but I have to believe he's a winner

Thanks Dave. I recall this or similar research from a few years ago. It's amazing how much solid information is forgotten when you resume your regular handicapping.

Off the turf races in NY today ran to form. Extremely low payouts.

Hope you got some of that Ranch. Good work!!!

I can't say that I have any data to support that. When I come across a vulnerable favorite I have to make a decision, Do I ignore him on all my horizontal tickets or do I include him as a B level horse if I have strong opinions in other legs? Seldom do I believe a vulnerable fav can't win but it's that I think he will be overbet based on the way I see a race playing out. Sorry as I dont believe I had the answer you were looking for.

There are some outstanding thoughts being exchanged here! Now this is what a handicapping forum is all about.
I agree 100% that we have to be 'different' from the whales to uncover opportunities that they may miss. They play a highly sophisticated game that overcomes the take. And they are assisted by tools like batch wagering that most of us can't afford access to. So how do we compete?

• Here are some ideas:
• Make your game more artsy. Avoid commonly used paceline selection methods like 2 best of last 3. Instead, don't be afraid to select multiple pacelines, weigh them differently and perhaps factor in subtle changes to them.
• Always project improvement or decline in a horses form. I'm not recommending wild swings but something different than the last performance.
• Build and maintain something exclusive to yourself. Perhaps notes about prior races that are not widely available. Not just about the slow start that everyone else saw but maybe the pack position a runner found themselves in that is different than normal.
• Focus on a few venues and become expects there. You will find nuggets of data that are not available to the general public.

Any feedback is appreciated

Wow- I never saw CJ's performances before. Thanks.

According to a quick internet search it is the same product. Good job Tom

Not familiar with Equisim Ranch. I remember a sheet like product that a friend of mine used. If memory serves me correctly it was owned by Cary Fotius. It incorporated pace into the final numbers. It was named Equi 'something' lol

Has anyone ever tried Thorograph? Can you offer any comments on the layout and the data presented? How do you deal with pace in the product? Just curious

Dave, I can't say that I do like the plot approach. I just presented it as an alternative to RanchWest topic here. The position of the squares and circles are based on numeric ratings. The product suite also presents the numeric data in a spreadsheet.

IMO- it's hard to criticize a trainer for opting to give a horse a little more rest between starts, especially if they fully intend to run him back in a few more weeks. I applaud having the guts to skip the Preakness when industry pressure exists.
From a fans and Pimlico's perspective it would be great to have an opportunity for a Triple Crown winner.

Team,
I did a little research and found this on the OpTixEQ website. It provides an alternative view of PP data.

Tom- I looked at something similar years ago in BRIS. I believe that when you edit a style you can select what to display on your PP's including some user defined fields. I honestly didn't give it a good effort as I didn't want to move away from the DRF PP's. If you have the PP Generator you can probably look it up.

I came across a product named OpTix which is to present an alternative to traditional handicapping. I took a brief peek at it once but never really spent time researching it. If I recall it plots the projected positions of all runners in a graph of sorts. Looked like an alternative to traditional PP's