Kev, you have to decide how much 'theory' and 'history' of the Sartin Methodology you need (or can stand). At any given historical time point, all publications, discussions and seminars at least referred to or in many cases were exclusively related to whatever was the current software tools of the day.
Today, the current software toolset is RDSS. Doc said you could reduce things to ONE screen in RDSS (then, the BL/BL screen) and save people who were coming to analysing horse races much of the mental clutter and paralysis by analysis. As always, even in his final years, he was being kind and somewhat hyperbolic
.
But, seriously, to get started and enjoy a simplified (though powerful) analysis of a given race in 1 minute (or however much time after that you wanted) - you could do a lot worse than to start with the
RDSS Rx+ screen.
Find posts by member
rmath (Dick M or Rich M - I've always called him Dick) or entice him to re-post a summary of his
4-number method here. (4-numbers = VDC, CSR, ProfitLine, BRIS Prime Power). There is more on the Rx+ screen, but you could start there. A simple method exists to eliminate down to 4 horses maximum for Win Contenders, while leaving some others as in-the-money Contenders. To begin, use the lines for each horse picked by the software (later, improvise - or not).
It really does take 1 minute or less. If you have time, or want to confuse yourself
before you know what you're doing, you can look at each horse's Past Performances and second guess the program. If you connect RDSS to the toteboard (when it works, in the current version
), you get additional info about horses which win or finish in the money a very high percent of the time - the P/W Place to Win pool live money ratio.
Then, read everything posted by
rdiam (Richard D) about betting, wager construction and passing races.
Of course, there are many other excellent members' posts to go over and digest their advice and usage practice, including Mitch44, Lt1, Bill V, For The Lead, even me ... and several others for sure.
The historical Follow Ups documented the history of things and taught those at the time. Today, this Forum is the Follow Ups and we are all trying to help each other.
I know you're just getting started, and so far are hopefully pretty free of 'expert knowledge' and 'received wisdom'. That puts you ahead of most of the crowd, who already KNOW
what doesn't work and what should work (but doesn't).
RDSS can be had for cheap on a 3-month subscription, and you can download data 1 card at a time, so the cost of entry for tools is low. There's TONS of back data available to test. But more important, if you work CURRENT races, and the SAME races which some other experts have worked and posted in their Daily Selections, you can model their behaviour and usage patterns. In a much shorter order than agonizing over guidelines from 1986, you can be making bets, keeping models, tracking your decisions, sharing and learning with others here.
Then you can go back and get a PhD in the historical Sartin Methodology! Or, understand the concepts and principles that the software enables. In other words, test drive the Ferrari first, then gradually appreciate what's under the hood and how all the magic works
Welcome, and wishing you all the best!
Ted