Thank you all for a very Good Year!

[Ted Craven]

Well, the credits on 2011 are just about ready to roll. It has been a year of thrills and spills, but all in all one I have been very pleased with and grateful for.

As most of you know, I have blown all my delivery dates for RDSS2 Beta updates and to some this will not be a surprise . Though not big on 'New Years resolutions', I am redoubling my effort to get something new out to the testers sometime in January (presuming I shake this horrible flu thing soon). About 60% of RDSS users are trying out the current RDSS2 beta - if any other RDSS users want to try it on, just let me know.

Membership at PaceandCap has increased in 2011 by about 25%. Many new folks are interested in reading the Sartin Library materials, listening to audios. I have an entire 6 hour video set of Doc Sartin which one of our members is trying to find a way to compress with sufficient quality to make it possible to offer for download.

I have taken a few bold steps recently to reach out to more horseplayers by taking a higher profile at PaceAdvantage.com where I have committed to sponsoring the 2012 Contest series. Many people know a little something about the Sartin Methodology, or about The Match Up, but many do not know what to do to make it a profitable approach for them. Many of the new 'faces' and names you see popping up here are as a result of this outreach, and I see them being welcomed here and their questions responded to with the customary friendliness and dignity which has become the hallmark of this community.

TrackMaster has also busted my chops to "get 'er done" re RDSS2 and this year I have finally linked up RDSS to their website, which results in fairly regular traffic.

I want to salute the many RDSS users who have formed into 6 three-man and woman teams for the Team competition Contest at PaceAdvantage (demo round, today). I wish them all the best of luck and skill! I also want to give a shout out to Dick M (rmath) who has leaped to the top of the Aqueduct Pick 4 Contest by a Secretariat 31 lengths! Keep it up Dick, we're eating your dust so far!

My thanks go out to several individuals for their contributions to our community. I thank several folks who have stepped up to be 'mentors' to others in their local or cyber community: Dave M in Dallas/Ft Worth Texas area (with his Team Texas), Bud Jones in San Diego for his regular meetings with So Cal matchup and RDSS students, Bob McN for his pan-continental work with his racing buddies, introducing them and fostering their learning of RDSS, Chris in Minneapolis/St Paul area, and my mother Barb Craven for her online work with her senior ladies handicapping cohort (50+ years of Sartin Methodology experience between them), known to the world now as the Dangerous Old Dams Team. I am sure there are many more groups of people helping each other on the phone, online and in local towns and racetracks which I am not aware of. If anyone out there wants to be a mentor, online or locally, and would like to hook up with folks either to teach or to learn but always to share, just write me and I will do what I can to connect people.

I recognize work being done by Mike Sal, Pino, rmath and Bill Lyster in finding ways to make NewPace work for them and for sharing their findings regularly with all of us. I also thank Dave Schwartz for permitting me to make his NewPace concept a part of RDSS2 - I believe we may be discovering uses for it not originally conceived of.

I also would like to thank Jim Lehane for giving me permission to incorporate some of his 'moves' related to form identification in the upcoming RDSS2 Beta. May I encourage everyone to take a look at his book, Calibration Handicapping.

I must always thank Bill V and RichieP for being 2 of the best teachers and friends I have ever known. Their dedication to their craft and desire to help others are models I use to guide me. And - Alison my darling wife has been my principal financial and emotional backer in this 6 year (or 26 year) odyssey thus far: I owe her everything and without her support, we would not be having this conversation right now.

A dozen others here are regularly so helpful with their posts and assistance in understanding the Methodology: For the Lead, Partsnut, Benzer (thanks for all your work rescanning the Follow Ups this year!), JimG, Alydar_David, SilentRun, BJennet, Houndog and surely more individuals than this.

To Doc Sartin, the 'founder of the feast' I whisper a word of thanks every day. To Jim 'The Hat' and his work with RichieP on the Matchup and his words of wisdom for life - we are lucky to have had you with us here for a few years, and by Doc's side for all the years before. Guy Wadsworth left us for a better world 6 years ago tomorrow, and everyone should know that it was through him and his programming efforts on Validator and Speculator that we have RDSS today, and thus the renewed connection with Doc Sartin after Doc's 2001 illness and retirement to seclusion. Rest well all of you, somewhere overlooking the finest finish line in the next world.

Anyway, for those of you still reading this far, my life is richer for becoming a part of this community. I am a better handicapper by far, and a richer man in all ways, for having chosen to share what Guy shared with me those years ago, which Doc shared with him, which Doc invented or learned or borrowed from others. It goes around, and it comes back around again.

Happiest of New Years to everyone, health, happiness and good fortune to us all in 2012!



Ted