NetCapper
Thoroughbred Handicapping:
Learning, earning and loving the track.

Home
NetCapper Store
New Stuff

The Grandstand
Capper Demo
Spot Play Demo
New Features
Track Tracts
TTs Archive
Contact Info
More Books
Headlines
Capper Email
Links

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Track Tracts

Player's Supplemental Data
by Gordon Pine

The important part of the internet is the "inter," as in interaction. On the NetCapper site, the most popular areas have been those with the greatest interaction, such as The Grandstand message board and the Player Picks on-line database. I�ve actually had another interactive feature online for a few months, but I haven�t had time to explain it.

The Player�s Supplemental Data page contains a free interactive online database where you can share information about certain races or horses with other handicappers.

Why share your information with other handicappers? Isn�t this a parimutuel system, where the more people that know something, the less value it has? Here�s why: say we get 20 good handicappers giving out one piece of relevant information a week. You may reduce the odds on your one play, but you�ve just received 19 other bits of information from expert handicappers, guys who may be focusing on tracks and races you haven�t had time to look at. See the advantage? Besides, I�m highly skeptical that there will ever be enough traffic on any handicapping website to significantly affect the odds of your typical race.

Here�s how it works: Go to the Player�s Supplemental Data page.  (There's also a link to it called "Player Data" on the left side of most pages in netcapper.com.)  When you get there, you�ll see some links on the lower left side of the screen. Click on the Input Records link. That�ll take you to the Input page. This is where you enter your stuff. The first four fields are required:

  • Handicapper
    Type in your real name or screen name and press Tab to continue.
  • Track Abbreviation
    Type in the track abbreviation for the horse or race and press Tab to continue.
  • Race Date
    Type in the race date in mm/dd/yyyy format and press Tab to continue.
  • Race Number
    Type in the race number and press Tab to continue.

The rest of the fields are optional. You can skip any of them that you want to. For instance, if you have some trip information that you�d like to share, you could just go down to the Horse Trip Notes field and type in your info. There are fields for the horse�s body language, warm-up notes, and an "Other" field which you can use to enter any data you like. There are also some fields that take numeric data on a scale from 1 to 5. If you want to rate the difficulty of a horse�s trip or the amount of effort the horses expended in the race, you can enter a 1-to-5 number there. For instance, a horse who ran gate-to-wire on an easy pace would get a 1. A horse who tripped, did a somersault, threw the rider, got back up, and then ran backwards on the track would get a 5.

You can also enter information about a race in general rather than about the particular horses in the race. There are fields where you can enter important but generally unavailable information about races. You can record relevant weather information such as the temperature, the humidity, the wind direction and the wind speed during the race. There are 1-to-5 numeric fields where you can rate the race quality for the class and the race pace pressure. And there�s another "Other" field where you can enter any additional information about the race.

After you�ve typed in your information, click the Submit button at the bottom of the page. You can then view your data by clicking on either the View Horse Records link or the View Race Records link on the lower left part of the page. These pages allow you to query the online database. To view horse records, just type in the name of a horse and click the Submit Query button. (To see all records, click the button without entering anything in the Horse Name field.) To view race records, type in the track, date and race number and click the Submit Query button.

Remember, the Player�s Supplemental Database is for information you�ve created and compiled yourself. Please don�t enter speed figures, etc. from other commercial sources. If you don�t want to give out your best piece of information for the week, try posting your third-best tidbit. With the caliber of handicappers we have on this site, a handicapping leftover here and there may soon turn into a full-course gourmet meal. Hopefully, together we can create a good resource for serious handicappers which will allow us to share information not available elsewhere. NC

Copyright �2001 NetCapper Inc. All rights reserved.

Back to Top