Switcheroo

There was an interview with CJ from TimeformUS on the Paulick Report yesterday. It was pretty well done. CJ is an interesting dude, and what they are doing at TF is never uninteresting either. One comment caught my eye, however. which was related to old versus new ways to handicap a horse race.

Handicapping can only be done with paper and pencil, and your knowledge, experience, and most importantly, your observations and interpretations of the horses involved in any given race.

Leaving aside the fact that using Timeform (or other new ways to handicap that looks different than a printed DRF page), still allows you to use your knowledge and observations, this comment is prevalent in the space.

When we pull a switcheroo from the printed page with 8 horses in front of you, in your hot little hands, to something different, it eliminates what we're used to.

When I handicapped for years and years (especially in harness racing) I felt if I did not see the race on one page I was missing out. I wasn't seeing the race, I was not seeing the whole field and making my interpretations. What I learned when I finally branched out to other tools is that the exact opposite was true. I was missing out on almost everything.

Today I do not have to "see a race" with preconceived biases in my handicapping, I can see a race visually through things like a pace projector.

Today I do not have to be married to what is on a printed page, say, seeing the top three from last time and wondering if they are good or bad horses, I can click a mouse and see a figure array of what they ran, and have run since.

Today I do not have to be married to the trainer stats listed below the horse, I can datamine what I want, in a certain time frame, or hundreds of other factors most with a mouse click.

Today I do not have to write down the odds at open on my piece of paper, to see the early money, now the odds are updated beside my horse in dynamic PP's.

Guess what, no, the above is not pen and paper - it's better than pen and paper.

Changing the way we do things in life is difficult at times. I like Excel 2005, I like Windows 7, I liked growing up in the 1970's and kneeling on the hump in the back seat instead of buckled in. But the alternatives tend to be a lot better than what we're used to. Most just have to be given a chance.