a tie between two horses for first and second counts as 1.5 (1+2 = 3/2 = 1.5). NOTE: In the event of ties, average the ranking, e.g. As usual, horses ranked worse than third are given four points. * Using two-year data once again, rank each horse by its win percentage. Horses ranked fourth or worse are awarded four points. * Using stats from this year and last, divide each horseвЂ™s total earnings by its total starts and rank the quotients from highest to lowest. If the speed rating is not ranked among the top three, itвЂ™s worth four points. * Rank each horseвЂ™s last-race speed rating (using whatever figures youвЂ™re most comfortable with) and add it to the total. * Divide the number of days since the horseвЂ™s last race by 10 and add to the above (all races over 40 days old are worth four points). * Consider a horseвЂ™s most recent race and award points equal to its finishing position in that affair (вЂњ1вЂќ for a win, вЂњ2вЂќ for a second, вЂњ3вЂќ for a third and вЂњ4вЂќ for all out-of-the-money efforts). WhatвЂ™s more, I even came up with a rating system that, in certain instances, will allow handicappers to start with a positive ROI or at least minimize the track takeout. And it got me to thinking: maybe I could come up with something more generic than my reports that would work just as well.

Generally, I print out either my Pace Profile Report or my Win Factor Report and record all my comments on them, as opposed to wasting both paper and ink printing out pages and pages of past performances.

ItвЂ™s a great questionвЂ¦ and a common lament, I think. He explained that he hated to print out all the PPs, yet he wasnвЂ™t comfortable analyzing races on a computer screen. I got an e-mail from a guy recently asking me how I go about handicapping using online past performances.

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