MPH Pro as an Adjunct - Pace and Cap

Rivegauche610 · 06-19-2016, 11:57 PM

A fellow handicapper recently asked me about how I use MPH Pro, and given the length of my reply, I thought since I have been asked by one or two other fellow horseplayers, I thought it might be useful to share it.

Kevin

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I use MPH Pro from Trackmaster as an adjunct to RDSS and my own interpretations/informed intuitions.

When you first select a race at the MPH interface, a certain amount of calculation has already been performed for you. For example, I believe every horse's last race has been included. Sometimes a second race is selected by the software to reinforce a pattern or a similar effort. Sometimes its just another darn good race.

I go through each horse's "Input" (the program's term) using my initial analysis of BRIS Ultimate PPs in order to select a suitable and representative paceline. I always choose, if available, primary and secondary pacelines. I choose the second to augment the characteristics shown in the primary paceline. I usually trust MPH's first paceline, but sometimes I disagree and choose others.

After checking all the horses in the race, I click on Output and see the rankings in the first table. The middle table is for Brohamer/Sartin energy rankings, and the third table with projected beaten lengths I tend not to use as much as the first and second.

This helps me form a baseline of expectation for each horse before I ask RDSS to do the paceline selecting (based on Best Perceptor). I then compare its conclusions with my own and MPH Pro's and see what I've got. I guess you might say the next step comes down to using the algorithms of age and experience (I'm 56 and have been playing the horses off and on for about 20 years) to adjust RDSS to suit my views, conditioned by the software's.

It has proven pretty good, and I am in the midst of a test sequence of an entire summer's races at several tracks. It is a lot of work but it is interesting, and keeps me out of trouble. (I am semi-retired; my wife, who is quite a bit younger than I am, is a soldier going through medical discharge and then we will be moving to Vermont where she will attend college. We are looking forward to that move VERY much; life in the Confederacy has much less to offer than very rural Vermont does.)

I would like to use this reply in the general forums, since it may be of interest to others, too, as a couple have asked me also about MPH Pro, but I won't include your initial contact since it is a PM.

Best regards,

Kevin Smith

P.S. I have no connection to BRIS, but their Ultimate PPs are so data-intensive and thorough that I can't and won't break away from them. I feel they and RDSS can play nicely together, and in my case, they do. Especially helpful is the Race Summary page. I admit to a proclivity to the printed page, so I print my PPs (two sided, of course) and study the information thereon before using MPH Pro and RDSS. It is a long process, perhaps, but I enjoy the analysis. It keeps me out of more trouble and my wonderful wife actually encourages this hobby of mine because even winning a modest exacta makes me happy as hell! It isn't the money as much as it is having been right!

06-19-2016, 11:57 PM	#1
Rivegauche610 AlwNW3X Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: The Confederacy, alas, but temporarily. Posts: 34	MPH Pro as an Adjunct A fellow handicapper recently asked me about how I use MPH Pro, and given the length of my reply, I thought since I have been asked by one or two other fellow horseplayers, I thought it might be useful to share it. Kevin --------- I use MPH Pro from Trackmaster as an adjunct to RDSS and my own interpretations/informed intuitions. When you first select a race at the MPH interface, a certain amount of calculation has already been performed for you. For example, I believe every horse's last race has been included. Sometimes a second race is selected by the software to reinforce a pattern or a similar effort. Sometimes its just another darn good race. I go through each horse's "Input" (the program's term) using my initial analysis of BRIS Ultimate PPs in order to select a suitable and representative paceline. I always choose, if available, primary and secondary pacelines. I choose the second to augment the characteristics shown in the primary paceline. I usually trust MPH's first paceline, but sometimes I disagree and choose others. After checking all the horses in the race, I click on Output and see the rankings in the first table. The middle table is for Brohamer/Sartin energy rankings, and the third table with projected beaten lengths I tend not to use as much as the first and second. This helps me form a baseline of expectation for each horse before I ask RDSS to do the paceline selecting (based on Best Perceptor). I then compare its conclusions with my own and MPH Pro's and see what I've got. I guess you might say the next step comes down to using the algorithms of age and experience (I'm 56 and have been playing the horses off and on for about 20 years) to adjust RDSS to suit my views, conditioned by the software's. It has proven pretty good, and I am in the midst of a test sequence of an entire summer's races at several tracks. It is a lot of work but it is interesting, and keeps me out of trouble. (I am semi-retired; my wife, who is quite a bit younger than I am, is a soldier going through medical discharge and then we will be moving to Vermont where she will attend college. We are looking forward to that move VERY much; life in the Confederacy has much less to offer than very rural Vermont does.) I would like to use this reply in the general forums, since it may be of interest to others, too, as a couple have asked me also about MPH Pro, but I won't include your initial contact since it is a PM. Best regards, Kevin Smith P.S. I have no connection to BRIS, but their Ultimate PPs are so data-intensive and thorough that I can't and won't break away from them. I feel they and RDSS can play nicely together, and in my case, they do. Especially helpful is the Race Summary page. I admit to a proclivity to the printed page, so I print my PPs (two sided, of course) and study the information thereon before using MPH Pro and RDSS. It is a long process, perhaps, but I enjoy the analysis. It keeps me out of more trouble and my wonderful wife actually encourages this hobby of mine because even winning a modest exacta makes me happy as hell! It isn't the money as much as it is having been right!