Archive for the ‘Thoroughbred Products’ Category
Equibase Speed Figures Rule in Breeders’ Cup Classic – By Ellis Starr, National Racing Analyst for Equibase
Written by trackmasterplus on November 8, 2012 – 12:37 pm -When it comes to handicapping, consideration of the horse and his/her athletic ability is the most important factor. Even though a horse is fast, there is still the matter of how fast it can run on race day. Handicapping involves looking at each horse’s history and trying to determine which will be a contender in the race if they can repeat certain efforts from their past races. The handicapping process continues by trying to determine which horse will be faster than the others based on those efforts. Speed figures, which indicate in a single number how fast a horse has run in its past races, are the perfect tool to assist in making those determinations and hopefully to help make a profit.
The benefit of using speed figures to handicap was never more evident than in this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, as pointed out in pre- and post-race articles written by Matt Gardner on the “And Down the Stretch They Come” blog, part of SB [Sports Blog] Nation.
In Matt’s post which appeared on October 17 (and was recapped on November 7) in his Divisional Standings & The Classic blog, he pointed out that among the Classic division contenders, the highest Equibase Speed Figure earner was Fort Larned, who earned a 123 figure in the Whitney Handicap. Additionally, the two horses tied with the next best Equibase Speed Figure of 121 that ran in the Classic were Mucho Macho Man (earned in the Suburban Handicap) and Flat Out (earned in the Jockey Club Gold Cup). The Classic resulted in an Equibase Speed Figure exacta and trifecta, with Fort Larned edging Mucho Macho Man for the win in a thrilling stretch battle and with Flat Out third.
In speaking with racing fans at various seminars and presentations, I am constantly asked for the top things to look at when handicapping a race. The first step is asking the question “Are there winning races from each horse’s past that if repeated today would make him/her competitive?” The second step is looking at the Equibase Speed Figures among those horses to determine which horse should run faster, and to put those horses in order accordingly.
Using that process when handicapping this year’s Classic would have yielded excellent results, as the $2 exacta combining Fort Larned and Mucho Macho Man returned $125.40 and the $1 trifecta using the three top Equibase Speed Figure horses (from the key races as pointed out in the article referred to above) returned a healthy $306.90. Unfortunately, I did not heed my own advice. However, as with most things related to the art of handicapping there is the opportunity to learn from your mistakes, which I will most certainly do when handicapping next year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic.
You can follow Ellis on Twitter @Ubercapper
We want to hear from you! Leave a comment by clicking the “Comment” link directly below.
TrackMaster, an Equibase company, is your complete source for Thoroughbred, Quarter Horse and Harness Racing information. Products ranging from Thoroughbred Past Performances, Harness Racing Programs, and Thoroughbred Handicapping software to Horse Racing Picks from our experts, are provided for all levels of handicapping sophistication.
Comments (0) »Posted in General Industry, Thoroughbred Products, Thoroughbred Races, Thoroughbred Racing
News From WagerMate – An Exclusive TrackMaster Software Partner
Written by trackmasterplus on September 12, 2012 – 12:45 pm -Editors Note: The following Blog was written by Dan Ligett, developer of the WagerMate Software Program
It’s been over a year since we partnered with TrackMaster and introduced WagerMate in this blog, so I want to bring you up to date on the WagerMate news.
In last year’s blog entry, I pointed out that I was pretty much a novice at handicapping, and that WagerMate was better at picking winners than I was. I like to think I’ve gotten to be a little bit better — and I know that WagerMate has improved.
Here are the recent highlights:
- Using WagerMate, I made a (tiny!) profit for my real-money betting in 2011.
- WagerMate has been updated about a dozen times. WagerMate now downloads near-real-time scratch info, and has a “View Card” mode that lets you browse the past performances, etc.
- I started a blog to describe WagerMate features.
- I won a bit of cash in a handicapping contest at BetPTC last week.
Back Testing Experience
If you follow WagerMate’s out-of-the-box betting advice, it will do a reasonable job of handicapping — but, you’ll be placing the same bets as every other WagerMate user.
I hope you learn how to use WagerMate’s filters to develop your own strategies and how to save them as WMST (WagerMate STrategy) files. Strategy files let you bring your own personal experience and wisdom into the WagerMate handicapping process — you’re customizing the process. It’s easy.
Better yet, if you download cards & charts from TrackMaster, you can do back testing, and experiment to find an optimal strategy.
Here’s what my back testing (on about 4 year’s worth of data) looks like using the default WagerMate strategy:
If you blindly followed all of WagerMate’s suggestions, you would have won about 22% of your bets and got back 96% of the money you bet (i.e. a 4% loss).
In one sense, that’s terrible — we’d lose money! But in another sense, this is incredibly encouraging — before we’ve even applied a bit of our handicapping skill, we’ve changed the rules of the game. Everyone else is playing a game with a 20% takeout, but WagerMate users are playing a game with a 4% takeout.
If you can use your own experience and wisdom to sort through WagerMate’s selections, you should be able to improve on these results. If you have enough data to do your own back testing, you should be able to develop a better strategy than the default strategy built into WagerMate.
The Future
I have hundreds of ideas to improve WagerMate. For example, I’ve noticed that once in a while it will recommend a really crazy bet — a horse with 15 starts and no wins. If I can cut out a few more of those bad bets, the ROI should get even better.
I hope you’ll download WagerMate (still free), and check out the improvements for yourself. If you like it, you can sign up to download the data files from TrackMaster.
Comments (0) »Posted in General Industry, Thoroughbred Products, Thoroughbred Races, Thoroughbred Racing, Uncategorized
Everything Old Is New Again
Written by trackmasterplus on November 14, 2011 – 5:55 pm -Twenty years ago, TrackMaster started as a tiny company that provided a small computer to help provide handicappers with a faster, better way to handicap. Although not quite pocket-sized, it was a nifty little device that handicappers loved to take to the track with them. At that time, I was one of the early customers and took advantage of using the product. It was a device ahead of its time, and now, TrackMaster, an Equibase company, is a leader once again in the mobile device market, with the TrackMaster Pocket Handicapper app.
The Pocket Handicapper uses the capability of an iPhone or Android powered smart phone to provide an impressive amount of data in a mobile device. Now you can literally have a wealth of information at the ready in your pocket. The data used in TrackMaster products has become more and more refined, and engineered to be more profitable for users over the years. You now have access to information to help your ROI wherever you are and for whatever tracks you play within just a matter of seconds.
The Pocket Handicapper features the following handicapping information (complete details here):
* Power Ratings
* Equibase Speed Figures, Class Ratings & Pace Ratings
* Detailed Jockey & Trainer Stats
* Sire & Dam Stats
* Past Performances in a PDF format
All of this powerful data in the palm of your hand for the current introductory rate of just $0.99 per race card. As an added bonus, for TrackMaster Plus & Plus Pro Subscribers, if you have a regular or unlimited subscription and you download a race card using your software, you can download the same race card on the mobile app for NO additional charge. Think of it as, “Plus Pro On The Go!“
You can download the FREE TrackMaster Pocket Handicapper app from the iTunes App Store or the Android Marketplace. It includes a sample race card and the app also allows you to download a single FREE race each day.
Whether you have been a loyal, TrackMaster customer for a number of years, or are a newcomer to the exciting world of horse racing and handicapping, the TrackMaster Pocket Handicapper app is the choice for helping you have a winning day at the races.
Craig Walker
TrackMaster Senior Product Development Specialist
We want to hear from you! Leave a comment by clicking the “Comment” link directly below.
TrackMaster, an Equibase company, is your complete source for Thoroughbred, Quarter Horse and Harness Racing information. Products ranging from Thoroughbred Past Performances, Harness Racing Programs, and Thoroughbred Handicapping software to Horse Racing Picks from our experts, are provided for all levels of handicapping sophistication.
Comments (4) »Posted in General Industry, Thoroughbred Products, Thoroughbred Racing
