Pay Heed to Speed
POSTED Nov 16, 2013
By
Derek Simon
Earlier
this week, my colleague Ed DeRosa, noted that, like the death of Samuel L. Clemens,
the demise of speed figures as a meaningful handicapping factor has been
“greatly exaggerated.”
Ed
pointed out that, during the Keeneland meet in 2013, six of 11 non-maiden main-track
sprints were captured by horses that had the highest last-out Brisnet speed
figure by at least seven points.
“Yes,
that's a small sample, but opening it up to my whole database shows 228 main
track (dirt or synthetic) non-maiden sprints in which there was at least a
7-point … advantage with 40 percent winners and a +2 percent ROI,” DeRosa
wrote.
Of
course, anytime I see the words “stats” and “database” my reaction is akin to
one of Pavlov’s dogs — I’m so anxious to do my own testing, I practically
salivate at the thought of it.
So,
with drool dripping from my chin (isn’t that a nice image?), I delved into my
database of more than 12,000 races to see what other interesting facts I could
dig up on Brisnet speed figures. Of course, before I did that, I first checked
to see if Ed’s findings held up on a bigger sample.
Sadly,
they did not.
*
Non-maiden races on a dirt or synthetic surface.
*
Top last-race Brisnet speed figure by seven points or more.
*
Sprints (races less than a mile) only.
Number:
920
Winners
(rate): 355 (38.6%)
Return:
$1,652.50
ROI:
-10.19%
But
hang not your head Tom Dooley, all is not lost. If we insist
that the horse finished in the money (third or better) last time, the picture
improves dramatically:
Number:
720
Winners
(rate): 295 (41.0%)
Return:
$1,365.90
ROI:
-5.15%
I
know, I know — better, yes, but still not profitable. Well, check out the
results when we heed the advice of the “bounce” advocates and require that the
horse’s most recent speed figure not represent a recent top. Horses that met
all the criteria above and recorded a
higher Brisnet speed rating in at least one of their previous nine outings produced
the following numbers:
Number:
195
Winners
(rate): 91 (46.7%)
Return:
$411.60
ROI:
+5.54%
Now,
I know from painful experience that back-testing like this can lead to
misleading results and I’ll be the first to admit that I have little confidence
that the positive ROI obtained above will hold.
But
that’s not really the point.
The
point is that speed is still a potent handicapping factor when viewed in the
proper light. No, it is not the be-all and end-all that many believed it to be
after reading about Andy Beyer’s exploits 30 years ago, but it’s not totally
worthless — as some believe — either.
By the way, I looked for qualifying plays (above) on Saturday, Nov. 16, and found one:
TUP5: 7-Mon Couer (7/5 morning line odds).
FREE Spot Plays
A couple of months ago, on my Web site SimonSpeedRations.com, I offered my
personal spot plays to those who purchased a one-month Win Factor Report or
Pace Profile Report subscription.
From Sept. 16-30, there were 56 qualifying plays — an average of four per day —
and they produced 23 winners (41.1 percent) and a positive net return of $2.44,
or 21.96 percent, per $2 bet. (Click HERE
to see a summary of all the September selections.)
Well, I've decided to do it again — and this time it's even better.
Starting today (Saturday, Nov. 16), I will be offering my spot plays to ANYONE
who buys one or more of my report packages. This includes both the daily
packages.
Visit the Products page at SimonSpeedRations.com to get your reports and free spot plays today!
1 comment:
GOOD DAY! I JUST WANT TO SAY THAT I REALLY LIKED READING THIS. IT MAKES ME HAPPY!
성인웹툰
일본야동
Post a Comment