A little late to this thread (been working on software and customer support ...). Yes, the Sartin Methodology is still around, in spades. I first met Howard in 1993 in Toronto (along with Jim Bradshaw and Tom Brohamer) and pretty much got on the bandwagon. Went to numerous seminars through the 90s: Saratoga, Baltimore, Las Vegas. Living in Canada, I never really got to know the personalities - just the tools. I became friendly with Jimmy and later with Tom Ainslie (Dick Carter), with whom I shared (and got valuable feedback on) some of my early programming efforts. I only really got to know Howard after he had retired due to ill health. A group of us shared with him our collective early results from RDSS, comparing it to his later software, and he was pleased someone was carrying on his effort. (I fully acknowledge Sartin's influence on Brohamer and thus on Ken Massa, thus HTR. And Sartin and Bradshaw's influence on Pizzolla, though he certainly doesn't like to elaborate on that. Certainly Dave Schwartz has acknowledged Doc's early influence.)
These days, with most of the old core gang gone or retired, it's up to the new gang: the students and students-of-students as mentors and teachers. RDSS is a pretty good tool, incorporating pretty much all the previous phases of the Sartin Methodology, plus some new stuff to try and stay ahead. Anyway, the utility of any handicapping software is in how it prepares you to make (or pass) wagers. Unless you LOVE the handicapping puzzle, that only takes you so far. I'd say the value of Sartin's Methodology and RDSS as an implementation of it is only as useful as how it points out those horses which when you find a way to build them into Win Dutches or Exacta and Doubles or other horizontals - gives you your profits on the day. Sometimes these horses are hiding in plain sight. IMO, the 'whales' have not killed the game yet - just made you have to work harder (and that's partly why the older software doesn't pay off as much as it used to).
One of the perks I get in being at the centre, like a hub connected to many spokes (users), is I hear lots of success stories and get lots (too many) of methods by which people use the tools. Some of these people have paid me annually for RDSS for 15 years now. Aside from the betting proofs people sometimes send and my acceptance of their results from knowing their character over years, I take it that people do not repeatedly renew their subscriptions for years for no reason. Some are weekend or seasonal 'warriors', some supplement their retirement pensions, some are children of parents who closed down the bars with Doc and Jimmy. A few are professionals or semi-pros.
So, still in use by lots of people. I'm not looking for customers but I won't say no to anyone who's interested and sincere. It is absolutely not a black box by any means and it is a
lot of work: first finding out how to use the tools, then keeping models (successful users seem to keep at least minimal situational models of what factors to pay attention to in one way or another). I am deeply grateful to those on our website who daily post their Selections and recaps, and for some races do a more in depth analysis with screen shots, decisions made and wagers executed. These are the former students turned teachers.
If Doc was not a big bettor, in my mind he made up for it by being a good
teacher - partly of handicapping process but more so of psychological self-image, self-actualization. Horse race handicapping may be a minor skill - but '
knowing thyself' unlocks the keys to the kingdom in life in general. His invocation in 'Pace Makes the Race' Edition 1 - 'Know thy Horse, Know thy Track, Know thy Self'. It helped me. But FWIW, at every seminar I attended, I always saw him going to and from the mutuel windows. I don't know his success rate or how much he bet. I think the story of buying tickets on all the horses is actually about Jim 'The Hat' Bradshaw, who freely confessed that desperation prior to meeting Sartin.
RDSS is highly interactive - chooses paceline/s or let's you choose and override. It exports CSV and Excel data for modeling. It has live tote odds including APIs to TwinSpires and AmWager. It imports BRIS Prime Power and ProfitLine figs and uses them in a high-level odds line. It has tools to do Bradshaw's Matchup technique, Brohamer's MPH velocity, % Median, Hambleton/Schmidt/et al's Total Pace Ratings, workout form analyses. If I have a couple more years left, I have a whole list of great stuff I want to add (integrated Modeling, full Exacta and Double tote grids, wager construction including hedging, dutching, wager upload, numerous usage videos, etc)
Anyone is welcomed to browse PaceandCap.com (or SartinMethodology.com) and check out the daily
pre-race Selections and
'Races of Interest' Forums of post race analyses. These are there as learning tools, not freebies - it's part of the 'mission' of our site. If you once used the older software from Doc's days (Energy, Kgen, Synthesis, Validator, etc) - sometimes people post their picks and analyses using these too. No free RDSS trials any more, but 30 day money back on both RDSS software and TrackMaster data. Although you'll get a taste, you likely won't learn to use it in 30 days.
The Sartin Library contains almost everything Doc published, numerous seminar audios and some videos (including younger versions of some of us ...). If you thought highly of Jim Bradshaw's Matchup (a tough challenge, IMO) there's hundreds of pages of documentation on that, plus years of RichieP's work with with Jimmy himself. All free, all part of the service, as they say.
If you're going to Saratoga this year on Alabama Stakes weekend, feel free to join us. We've met there since 2008 (early on concurrent with the old PA 'Toga parties) and the first year taking a phone call with Howard. After a 3-year hiatus for the plague, we're back August 18-20 including the usual Friday night seminar. Could be a few really interesting speakers this year (including Bob Cochran and Bert Mayne if we're lucky), reviewing the latest in RDSS and handicapping the Saturday stakes. Plus pizza, beer, meeting the people you know from online.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ranchwest
My software rates the horse. And, yes, to see how the race shapes up. To continue my process…
In keeping with Sartin, among my calculations are TE, the 7 primary factors, a composite of the 7 factors, VDC and Balance.
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One thing -
Ranchwest: congratulations on your new software! You've been a longtime member at P&C and I presume you've learned a lot there (and elsewhere, I know). A lot of the Sartin Factors are in the public domain (some explained in detail on our site) - but some are
NOT in the public domain, they are proprietary. Specifically the
V/DC factor (Velocity relative to Deceleration, or DC/V the converse label but same thing) - arguably one of Doc's and RDSS' signature factors. You have mentioned your Quick Grid software with Sartin Factors contains V/DC - but knowing what's in that formula, I highly doubt that people using what you name V/DC are getting the same thing as what Doc created and what is implemented in RDSS.
I request you NOT use the term V/DC, lest people be confused that they don't need RDSS (or the older Validator software) to get that. In return, I promise not to use the term 'Quick Grid' in RDSS. Fair?
And congratulations to DanBoals and Ranchwest for some of their Aqueduct hits today. Everyone is welcomed to check the pre-race selections and post-race analyses of today Aqueduct 4/20 at P&C by one of our premier teacher/students (Lt1). A profitable day most days, in whatever few or many pools possible, is what we hope and work for.
So - yep, people still use the Sartin Methodology today. As Doc would say ' Good luck, good skill!'
Ted
