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RDSS Racing Decision Support System – The Modern Sartin Methodology

 
 
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Old 11-02-2006, 08:14 PM   #1
Ted Craven
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Location: Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada
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Welcome to the RDSS Forum!

'Racing Decision Support System' (RDSS) is a Windows software project which updates the Speculator and Validator programs to a modern platform, while hopefully retaining the best ideas from those older software. I started work on this nearly 18 months ago, after Guy Wadsworth approached me to do something with Speculator and provided me with the source code. Over the past half year, I've been able to convince Doc Sartin that the code to Validator, which I also have, is the real thing and can serve as the basis for re-including in RDSS some of the things which Guy left out of Speculator.

RDSS is written in an object-oriented, 4GL language called PowerBuilder and stores the various racing data in a good relational database by Sybase named Adaptive Server Anywhere. It is used by mid-range organizations (up to 200 simultaneous users) and its big brother, Adaptive Server Enterprise, is the central database also used by TrackMaster. A good database (if well organized) makes it easier to store and retrieve data, both regular data and the ad hoc kind sometimes associated with model and other record keeping, or research.

RDSS requires WindowsXP, a newer computer with a reasonable amount of memory and disk space, and is happiest with a screen resolution of 1280x1024.

RDSS connects to the internet (for example, overnight) to automatically download the data from TrackMaster, save it in the database, then assemble a race card and do various calulations, ready for the morning. It has a built-in web browser and connects to your tote provider to obtain current odds in various pools.

It provides a colour-coded 'Racing Form' screen which is as close as I can get to Trackmaster and other providers' forms. It uses Equibase/TrackMaster Speed Ratings, Daily Track Variants and InterTrack variants, as do Validator and Speculator. I understand that no other racing software has direct access to Equibase's proprietary InterTrack Variants.

I have also tried to make the race data screen as friendly to Match Up analysis as I currently understand it, though much work remains.

Right now during testing, it works with the same TrackMaster data used by Speculator and Validator, but an enhanced data file may be forthcoming. BRIS/TSN data compatibility will hopefully follow within the year.

It will be copy protected.

I expect to begin making it available early in the New Year in gradually widening testing circles. It may stay in a testing (Beta) phase for many months to come and thus be somewhat limited in availability, due in part to my ability (or lack of) to keep up with the testing and communicating process involved. During that period, the software will be free to use, but it will have bugs and things which make you ornery, and I reserve the right to change (and add) functionality.

Though it was alway the original intention to share the software (as opposed to keeping it private) and it is a labour of love and gratitude, never-the-less I spend so much time on it that I need to turn it into a functional business in order to continue being able to work on it, evolve it, support it, and still enjoy racing. During this testing period then, I'll also be figuring out what to charge for it. I have some ideas, including an annual subscription, share of data fees, give it away but include a big friendly donation button (you take care of the mutuel clerk, you take care of the tool provider...), outright sale, etc. If the software is any good, and users are able to win with it the way some are with Spec and Val (and other software), I hope to make it a business I can live off. And spend more time wagering my own money.

In this forum, I welcome the existing (small) group of testers to share their experiences both good and bad (but constructively, please), post race workups, do Match Up analyses, compare to Speculator and Validator. Everyone is invited to ask questions if they wish, make suggestions, respond to race workups, etc. Those who have purchased a license from me to Speculator 160 will be offered the next round of testing when the software is a bit more mature. To everyone who has already written expressing interest, your name is still on my list, and many thanks for your support!

And finally, my sincere gratitude to Doc Sartin for his recent encouragement on this project and for his pioneering efforts over all these years. Thanks also to all the others who have made the Sartin Methodology their own and contributed so generously to my and others' racing education. While I take responsibility for the current project, the ideas foundational to it originated in their genius and hard work.

Ted
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