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Federal Hill Software Presents XXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXXX XX XX XX XX XXXXX XX XX XX XX XXXXX XX X XX XX XX X XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XXX XX XX XXX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XXXX XX XX XX XX XXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXX XX XX XX XX XXXXXXX XX XX XX XXX XXXX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XXXX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX X XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XXX XX XXX XXXXX XXX XX XXXXXXX XXXX XX XX XXXXX XXXX XX XX XXXXX The Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper User-Supported Version 4.5 (C)1993, 1994 by Leonard Hyre and Michael J. Himowitz Distributed by Federal Hill Software 3722 Greenway Lane, P.O. Box 765 Owings Mills, MD 21117 Info: 410-356-5592 Toll Free Orders: 1-800-846-4319 The Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4.5 Contents 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.1 System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.2 What's New In Version 4.5 . . . . . . . . 1 1.3 About Shareware . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1.3.1 The Enhanced Greyhound Handicapper 4.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1.3.2 The CUSTOM Handicapper . . . . . . . 3 1.3.3 The Right Handicapper for You? . . . 4 1.3.4 Ordering Your Program . . . . . . . . 4 1.4 Making Copies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1.5 The Cambridge Handicapper Files . . . . . 5 2 Installing the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.1 Hard Disk Installation . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.2 Floppy Disk Installation . . . . . . . . . 6 3 Running the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 3.1 From a Hard Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 3.2 From a Floppy Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 4 About Handicapping Systems . . . . . . . . . . 8 5 The Information You Need . . . . . . . . . . . 8 6 Handicapping Principles . . . . . . . . . . . 10 6.1 When to Bet on a Race . . . . . . . . . 10 6.2 Eliminate Bad Dogs . . . . . . . . . . 12 7 The Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 8 The Handicapping Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 9 Starting a New Race . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 9.1 Filling in the Race Form . . . . . . . . 15 9.2 Race Information . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 10 The Handicapping Form . . . . . . . . . . . 17 10.1 How to Fill Out the Handicapping Form . 17 10.2 Handicapping Form Information . . . . . 18 10.3 When You're Finished with the Form . . 20 10.3.1 The Rating Display . . . . . . . . 21 11 The Handicapping List . . . . . . . . . . . 21 11.1 What the Columns Mean . . . . . . . . 22 11.2 Using the Handicapping List . . . . . . 23 11.2.1 View/Update Entry . . . . . . . . 24 11.2.2 Delete Entry . . . . . . . . . . . 24 11.2.3 Return to Menu . . . . . . . . . . 24 11.3 What Do The Scores Mean? . . . . . . . 24 12 How to Bet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 12.1 Exotic Wagers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 12.2 Loading the Demonstration Race . . . . 26 13 How to Register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 13.1 Special Price Offer . . . . . . . . . . 27 i 14 The Registration Form . . . . . . . . . . . 27 14.1 Name and Address . . . . . . . . . . . 27 14.2 Type of Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 14.3 Type of Payment . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 14.4 Card Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 14.5 Expiration Date . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 14.6 Program List . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 14.7 When You're Through . . . . . . . . . . 28 14.8 Toll Free Order Line . . . . . . . . . 29 15 Federal Hill Software Catalog . . . . . . . 30 The Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4.5 . . . 30 The Custom Handicapper for Greyhounds . . . . 31 The Cambridge Thoroughbred Handicapper 4.5 . 31 The Custom Handicapper for Thoroughbreds . . 32 The Cambridge Harness Handicapper . . . . . . 33 Video Blakjak! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Baseball Statpak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 16 License and Warranty . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 ii The Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper User-Supported Version 4.5 (C)1993, 1994 By Leonard Hyre and Michael J. Himowitz Distributed by Federal Hill Software 3722 Greenway Lane P.O. Box 765 Owings Mills, Md. 21117 Information: 410-356-5592 Toll Free Orders: 1-800-846-4319 1 Introduction The Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4.5 is a powerful, sophisticated tool that will allow you to handicap Greyhound races quickly and easily. It's not a magic, get-rich-quick scheme. But if you follow these instructions, impose some discipline and use the handicapper wisely, you should be able to improve your performance at the track and make money in the process. The Cambridge Handicapper is easy to use. All the information you need is available in the race track program, which is usually available the day before the race. Just fill out a simple on-screen handicapping form for each dog in a race and the program will assign a score to that dog. The higher the score, the more likely the dog is to win. With a little practice, you'll be able to handicap a race in a few minutes and a whole card in less than an hour. 1.1 System Requirements The Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper will run on any IBM- compatible computer with 384K of memory and any IBM-compatible video display. The program can be run from a single 360K floppy drive. 1.2 What's New In Version 4.5 Version 4 contains several enhancements that will make your handicapping even easier and more accurate. If you're updating from earlier versions, the new features include: * Point-and-Shoot Updating. We've improved the user interface of the program to provide scrolling displays of and handicapping results and the ability to update or correct a dog's handicapping data at any time. You can add or delete a dog at any time, too. * Sex and Weight factors. The program will now ask for the sex and weight of each dog. Because not all handicappers want to use those factors, the program will now produce two ratings for each dog. The first will include sex and weight factors. The second does not include sex and weight. * Improved Formulas. We've combed our formulas from top to bottom, making changes that will improve performance. In particular, we've improved our comparisons of inside/outside running tendencies with the box from which the dog is running -- a key handicapping factor. The scoring formulas also now follow the same internal logic as the scoring engine in our Custom Handicapper (See Below). * Demo Race. The User-Supported version of Greyhound 4.5 now includes a demonstration race file that can be loaded and used for practice or study to determine the effects of different factors on scoring. 1.3 About Shareware The Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper is distributed on a Shareware, or User-Supported basis. It's not free software. Under the shareware principle, users get a chance to try software before they buy it. If you like the Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper and use it, you should register the program. There are two types of registration. You can register and receive the ENHANCED Version, with many additional features that will make your handicapping easier and more fun. Or, you have the opotion of ordering our CUSTOM handicapper, which allows you to modify our handicapping factors and scoring to create your own handicapping system. 1.3.1 The Enhanced Greyhound Handicapper 4.5 The ENHANCED Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4.5 includes these additional features: * Save/Recall. You can save any race to disk and recall it instantly to add, change or delete dogs. This is great for correcting mistakes and dealing with late scratches, jockey switches and other changes. Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 2 * Full Printed Reports. Get a detailed handicapping report for each dog, as well as a summary showing the ratings of each dog, layoff, estimated odds, distance changes and shipper status. * The WagerMaster. This popular utility will show you estimated payoffs of all combinations of Win, Place and Show Bets at a wide variety of odds, as well as key bets for Daily Doubles, Exactas and Trifectas. Combined with our handicapping formulas, it will help you make the right wagering decision. * Enhanced Manual. Handicapping dogs is only half the battle. Knowing how the system works and how to handle your money can be just as important. Our Enhanced manual includes an eye-opening tutorial on parimutuel wagering, as well a system for managing your money to maximize your winnings and minimize your losses. * The Enhanced Handicapper Registration Fee is $30.00. 1.3.2 The CUSTOM Handicapper The new CUSTOM Handicapper is the most powerful and flexible grehound analysis tool on the market because it lets you put your knowledge and experience to work for you. Both programs start with same proven handicapping formulas, and out of the box, they'll give you exactly the same results. Both programs include our WagerMaster betting software and an enhanced manual. But the CUSTOM handicapper goes a step further. * You can modify the scoring of each of our handicapping factors. If you think we give too much weight, or too little weight to the dog's time, you can modify it. If your track gives an edge to the dogs running from certain box, you can make that edge part of your scoring. If you want to use an average of times for the last four races, you can do it, or stick with the time of the last race alone. In short, you can modify anything and everything. * Add handicapping factors of your own! After using our handicapper, you may decide that we forgot something important. You might want to incorporate a third-party's ratings, or make a change up or down if a dog suddenly gains or loses weight. The CUSTOM handicapper allows you to add up to SIX factors of your own and score them any way you like. When you fill out the handicapping form for Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 3 each dog, those factors will automatically appear on your screen! * You can tweak our handicapping system a bit to suit your track, or create a new system from scratch. And you don't have to be a rocket scientist to do it. Just fill out some simple, on-screen forms. Our manual takes you through the process step by step. * When you're through, you can save your handicapping system to disk. Create multiple systems for different tracks, conditions and seasons. And you can apply ANY handicapping system to ANY race you've stored on disk. That means you can twiddle and tweak your handicapping system using races whose results you know -- without risking an additional penny at the track. * The registration fee for the CUSTOM Handicapper is $75. 1.3.3 The Right Handicapper for You? Which is the right registered version for you? It's really a matter of personal style. If you go to the track occasionally and you're looking for a reliable, proven handicapping tool that will give you an edge without requiring you to spend three days in front of a calculator, Greyhound 4.5 will probably do just fine. With thousands of satisfied users, it's a tried-and-true system that will help make you a winner. If you're an experienced handicapper and have always wanted a program you could modify to suit your particular skills and approach, the CUSTOM Handicapper is for you. We know of no other handicapping program on the market that offers this much flexibility at this price -- or at any price! 1.3.4 Ordering Your Program We've made it as easy as possible to register your program. You can fill in an on-screen registration form and send it to your printer, or fill in the form at the back of this manual. If you'd like to order by phone, the number of our TOLL-FREE Order line is 1-800-846-4319. We've also included a catalog of our fine programs, and you can order any or all of them. If you order more than one program, Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 4 pay the full price for the first program and take $10 off the price of each additional program. 1.4 Making Copies You are authorized to make as many copies of this program as you like and share them freely. That's the whole shareware idea. Give the program to your friends and post it on your local bulletin board. Shareware distributors are free to include the programs in their catalogs. The only restrictions are that you may not modify the program, support files or documentation in any way, and you must include all the files listed on Page 5. All versions of The Cambridge Handicappers are copyrighted by the authors and remain their intellectual property, protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. You should use the disk on which you received your Greyhound Handicapper only once: to make one or more working copies. Then put the original away in a safe, dry place. 1.5 The Cambridge Handicapper Files The Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper is composed of the following files. The files marked with asterisks must be on the disk or the hard disk directory from which the program is launched. They are as follows: HOUNDS45.BAT* The batch file that starts the program. H45SW.EXE* The handicapper program. NEWREGGR.EXE* The registration form. H45SW.PAK* The screen files used by the program. SPEEDSCR.COM* A memory resident screen driver. HOUNDS45.DOC Instructions for the use of the program. CAP.CFG* Configuration file for monitor Y930823E.RA2* Sample Race File PRINTME.BAT Batch file to print manual. HINSTALL.BAT Batch file to install on hard disk. FINSTALL.BAT Batch file to install on floppy disk. README.COM File containing last-minute instructions. If you want to install the program manually, just copy the marked files to a floppy disk, or to a hard disk directory you've set up for the program. If the program was archived using PKZIP, PKARC, LHARC or some other compression program, you can decompress the archive onto a floppy disk or into a hard disk directory and you're ready to run. If the program came to you Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 5 unarchived on a floppy disk, you can use our automatic installation programs (see next section). 2 Installing the Program Before you do anything else, make a copy of the handicapper disk you received and work from the copy. Put the original away in a safe place. You can copy the disk by using the DOS DISKCOPY command or by copying the files individually to a formatted disk. 2.1 Hard Disk Installation To install the program on a hard disk, do the following: 1. Put your handicapper disk in Drive A. 2. Type A: and hit ENTER. 3. Type HINSTALL DRIVE: and hit ENTER, where DRIVE: is the letter standing for the hard drive on which you're installing the program. For example, to install the program on Drive C, you'd type HINSTALL C: and hit ENTER. 4. The installation program will create a directory called \HOUNDSW on your hard disk and copy all the files to that directory. 2.2 Floppy Disk Installation To install the program on a floppy disk, you must first format a blank floppy disk. You can include the operating system if you want to use your handicapper disk as a startup disk. These instructions assume you have two disk drives. 1. Put your handicapper in Drive A. 2. Put the blank, formatted disk in Drive B. 3. Type HINSTALL B: and hit ENTER. 4. The installation program will copy everything EXCEPT the instruction manual to the disk in Drive B. If you're installing the program from Drive B to a disk in Drive A, just reverse the A and B designations in the directions above. Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 6 3 Running the Program To run The Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper, do the following: 3.1 From a Hard Disk The following instructions assume that you've installed the program on your hard disk in a Directory called \HOUNDSW. 1. Type CD\HOUNDSW and hit ENTER. 2. Type HOUNDS45 and hit ENTER. 3.2 From a Floppy Disk 1. Switch to the drive containing the Handicapper Disk. 2. Type HOUNDS45 and hit ENTER. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO LAUNCH H45SW.EXE directly. Use the HOUNDS45.BAT file to do it. Here's why: HOUNDS45.BAT first loads SPEEDSCR.COM, a memory resident program which manages the screens used by the Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper. Without SPEEDSCR, the program will not work. The HOUNDS45.BAT file also removes SPEEDSCR from memory when you terminate the handicapper program. While SPEEDSCR probably won't cause difficulties if left in memory after you exit from the handicapper, it can, under some circumstances, produce some unusual if harmless results. So always start the program by typing HOUNDS45 and hitting the ENTER key. When you type HOUNDS45 and hit ENTER, your disk drive will whir for a few seconds, and you'll see the MAIN MENU. Initially the display will be set for a color screen. You can change from color to monochrome or back at any time. If you're using a monochrome laptop, we suggest the monochrome setting. The program will always remember which type of screen you used last. Before you start handicapping, however, please read the following sections that describe handicapping systems and the information you'll need to use the Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4.5 Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 7 4 About Handicapping Systems A handicapping system does two things. 1. It attempts to predict a dog's performance in an upcoming race by analyzing past performances in a consistent, scientific manner. 2. It provides you with a strategy for betting on races given the outcome of your handicapping analysis. As strange as it sounds, the true purpose of a handicapping system is not to pick winners. The purpose of a handicapping system is to give you a tool that will help you make money at the track. Knowing how and when to bet is just as important as analyzing the dogs. There are as many handicapping systems as there are people handicapping. Some are quite good, others are worthless. Some require hours or days of effort, some require only a few minutes of preparation. You don't really need a computer to handicap a race. There are plenty of manual handicapping systems around, and some are excellent. Unfortunately, they're often tedious and time- consuming. A computer handicapping system takes the handicapper's knowledge, sets up handicapping tables and rules internally, and then makes calculations instantly. We designed the Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper to provide a blend of sophistication and ease of use for the race fan who enjoys the sport but doesn't have hours and hours to devote to handicapping. If you've never tried to handicap a race before, you'll find this quite easy to use. If you're an experienced handicapper, the information the system requires you to collect will be just as useful as the ratings themselves. The program will sharpen your own thinking and handicapping analysis. 5 The Information You Need To use The Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper, you must be familiar with the information available to you in the track program. The program is always available on the day of a race and usually the day before. Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 8 The program contains two different pieces of information you'll need. First, there's the "condition line," a table of of information that shows the distance and class of each race and provides information about about each dog's performance in the last six to eight races. Second, the program contains a listing of kennels or trainers and how much money each kennel or trainer has won. Some tracks list only one or the other. Some list both. If you have a choice, you can use either list. Here is the information you'll need about each dog: 1. The dog's box, or post position. This is the position relative to the rail from which the dog will start the race. The No. 1 dog will start next to the rail. The higher the number, the further from the rail the dog will start. Most Greyhound races are limited to eight dogs. 2. The Dog's Sex. For clarity, the program uses "M" for Male or "F" for female. However, most track programs list the dog's sex as "D" for males and "B" for females. 3. The Dog's Weight. 4. The date of the dog's last race on a fast ("ft") or sloppy ("sy") track. We will use sloppy tracks for rating purposes, since they don't seem to affect dogs' times, but it's not a good idea to bet on races being run on a sloppy track. 5. The Class or Grade of this race and the dog's previous races. Classes vary from state to state, but generally they run from "AA," which is the highest class, to "E," which is the lowest class. A class of "M" indicates a Maiden race, which means none of the dogs running in that race has ever won. 6. The dog's time in his last race at same distance he's running tonight. This time is expressed in seconds and hundredths. For most races, the time will be in the 28 to 34 second range, although marathons can go as high as 50 seconds. 7. The dog's position going into the first turn in his last four races. This is important because a dog that gets out in front early displays good strength and maneuverability. Also, statistics show that dogs who consistently get to the first turn at the front of the Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 9 pack have a better chance of winning than dogs who have to come from behind. 8. Significant comments: These short comments show how the dog ran each of his previous races. We are specifically interested in comments indicating that the dog ran either WIDE/OUTSIDE or went for the RAIL/INSIDE. This is important when compared to the box from which the dog is starting, because a dog who likes to run inside will do well if he's got an inside box but may be in trouble if he's drawn an outside starting position, and vice versa. IGNORE comments showing that a dog was FORCED or BUMPED wide or inside. 9. Was the dog a beaten favorite? This determines whether the dog was the favorite last time out on a fast or sloppy track and whether or not he won the race. If the dog was the favorite, an asterisk (*) will appear next to the dollar odds on the dog in the line containing the information for the dog's last race. This is important because a favorite who was beaten last time out will often win this time around. Some track programs do not include this information. If your track program doesn't have beaten favorite information, you can ignore this field. 10. The record of the dog's kennel. We want to know whether the kennel is in the top four money winners at the track. 6 Handicapping Principles A computer can help you with handicapping calculations, but there's no substitute for a little human judgment in the process. The key to handicapping is knowing which races to bet (not every race can be properly handicapped) and which dogs to eliminate from contention before you start handicapping. 6.1 When to Bet on a Race For any handicapping system to work, there must be a good probability that the past performances of the dogs involved will be reflected in their performance in the race you're handicapping. Unfortunately, this isn't the case in every race. At the very best tracks, almost every non-maiden race may be handicappable. At tracks with dogs of lower caliber, you may only find five or six races on a card that lend themselves to analysis. Here are the guidelines we use: Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 10 1. Don't bother going to the track and using this program if the track condition is not "fast." An off track--good, muddy, or sloppy--should be avoided. There's a good reason for this. Dogs usually run on fast tracks. They train on fast tracks. While some dogs may be good "mudders," there's no real way of knowing how they'll respond to bad track conditions. Some dogs may love soft footing, others may hate it. The problem is that there's no way to tell for sure. So stay away from off tracks. If you do go to the races on an off day, stick with the $2 window and save your money for a better day. 2. DON'T BET ON MAIDEN RACES. These are unproven or just plain bad dogs, and most handicapping techniques are useless. 3. Don't bet on races featuring the cheapest dogs on the grounds. These are old, bad or tired dogs who are unpredictable. They may run well one week and terribly the next. If you can't count on a dog's past performance to be indicative of his performance today, you can't handicap the dog. These dogs usually show up in the first and last races of a card, particularly at tracks where the overall quality of dogs is not high. At the very best tracks, this rule may not apply, since even the cheapest dogs could be feature race material at lesser tracks. As a general rule, avoid handicapping class "D" races if you can and forget entirely about "E" races. 4. Don't bet on races with a high proportion of "shippers." A shipper is a dog running at a track for the first time. You have no way of knowing how a dog will respond to a new surface. If you run across a race in which a shipper looks like a real contender, our advice is to pass it up. This takes some discipline, but you'll be better off for it. Also, any race with three or more shippers is probably a bad bet. We realize that this will eliminate many stakes races with high purses. While these are fun to watch, they're not usually good handicapping propositions. You can take consolation in the fact that the other races on the same card with a high-purse stakes race are likely to be good ones. Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 11 6.2 Eliminate Bad Dogs Once you have decided whether to bet a race, you can easily eliminate certain dogs from contention. These will usually be eliminated by the computer, but occasionally a really bad dog will score highly. Take a few seconds to eliminate these first and the system will work much better. Only at the very best tracks will you have to handicap more than a half-dozen dogs in a race. 1. Eliminate any dog that has not raced in the last three weeks. You have no way of knowing why this dog has been on vacation, but if an animal is running well, the trainer will race him regularly. Time off is usually a bad sign. This may not apply to the absolutely best-quality stakes dogs, who race less frequently, but stakes races are bad bets anyway. 2. Eliminate any dog that did not show a strong performance last time out. By this we mean a win, place or show, or setting the early pace as the leader in fairly quick time. If a dog showed none of these, forget him. 3. Eliminate "shippers." These are dogs running at a track for the first time. Once again, this may not be possible in big stakes races, but we think these are difficult to handicap anyway and should be avoided. Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 12 7 The Main Menu When you run the Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper, you'll see a menu with four choices. It looks like this: THE MAIN HANDICAPPER MENU User ARROWS to Select. Hit ENTER to Choose 1 Handicap a Race 2 Set Monitor Type 3 FHS Catalog 4 The Enhanced Handicapper 5 The CUSTOM Handicapper 6 Registration Form 7 Quit the program Current Race: None Number of Dogs: 0 To select any choice, use your UP and DOWN cursor keys to highlight the choice you want and hit ENTER or just type the number opposite that choice. At the bottom of the screen you'll see two tatus lines. The example above shows you the status when you first run the program. The status lines show you the race you're currently handicapping and the number of dogs you've entered so far in this race. Here's a summary of the menu choices and what they do: 1. Handicap a Race. This takes you to the Handicapping Menu, from which you'll enter, view and update your handicapping information. 2. Set Monitor Type. When you select this, a box will pop up asking if you have a color monitor. Type "Y" if you have a color monitor. Type "N" if you have a monochrome screen or you're using a laptop computer. The program will switch to a color or monochrome display (depending on what you've chosen) and store the setting in the CAP.CFG file. 3. FHS Catalog. This will display a scrolling, on-screen version of our software catalog. It contains detailed descriptions of all our programs. Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 13 4. The Enhanced Handicapper. This choice will pop up a screen displaying details about the Enhanced Greyhound Handicapper you'll receive when you register. When the information screen is displayed, hit ESC to return to the Main Menu. 5. The CUSTOM Handicapper. This choice will pop up a screen displaying details about the Cambridge CUSTOM Handicapper you'll receive if you select it from the registration form. When the information screen is displayed, hit ESC to return to the Main Menu. 6. Registration Form. This will display an on-line registration form. Just fill in your ordering information and the form will be sent to your printer, ready to mail. It's quick and easy. For details, see Page 27. 7. Quit the Program. This will terminate the Greyhound Handicapper and return you to your DOS prompt. 8 The Handicapping Menu When you select Choice No. 1 from the Main Menu, you'll see the Handicapping Menu Displayed. It looks like this: HANDICAPPING MENU Use ARROWS to Select. Hit ENTER to Choose 1 Start a New Race 2 Add a Dog 3 View/Update Entries 4 Load Demo Race 5. Main Menu To select any choice, use your UP and DOWN cursor keys to highlight the choice you want and hit ENTER or just type the number opposite that choice. Here's what the choices will do: 1. Start a New Race. This will allow you to begin handicapping a new race. You'll be asked to enter the name of the track, the date, the race number and an optional comment. 2. Add a Dog. This will allow you to add a dog to the current race. Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 14 3. View/Update Entries. This will produce a scrolling display of your handicapping results. You can choose any dog, modify the data or delete the dog's entry. 4. Load Demo Race. This will load a fully-handicapped demonstration race containing information about eight dogs. We'll use this race as an example in the manual, and you can use it for practice. When you register for the ENHANCED or CUSTOM handicappers, you'll be able to save and recall races at any time. 5. Main Menu. This will return you to the Main Menu. 9 Starting a New Race When you choose No 1. from the Handicapping Menu, you'll be presented with a Race form asking for information about the race. Caution: If you start a new race, you'll overwrite all the information about any existing race. If you have already handicapped a race, jot down the ratings for those dogs from the View/Update Entries display, or hit SHIFT-PrintScreen with the list displayed to send it to your printer before you start a new race. When the program sees that race information has already been entered, it will display a warning box before and ask you if you really want to start a new race. If you want to start a new race, type "Y" and the Race Information Form will be displayed. If you don't want to start a new race, type "N" and you'll return to the menu. The Race Information Form will have blank, highlighted fields for the information the program requires. Like all input required by the Cambridge Handicapper, all that's required is that you fill in the blanks. Here's a sample form filled in for the demonstration race on your disk. NAME OF TRACK: YOUR TRACK DATE OF RACE: 08/23/93 RACE NO. 5 COMMENTS: Test Race 9.1 Filling in the Race Form Type the information required in each field. When you're through entering information in any field, just press the ENTER key to go onto the next field. Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 15 You can correct information in any field by using the right and left cursor keys and typing over the previously entered information. The BACKSPACE key will move the cursor one character to the left without deleting. To delete material, use the DEL key. You can move backwards and forwards from field to field throughout the form by using the UP and DOWN cursor keys. When you reach the bottom field, the DOWN cursor key will cycle you back to the first field. Some fields in the form are checked for errors. If you have typed inappropriate information in a field, the program will return your cursor to the field with the bad information and display an error message at the bottom of the screen telling you what the problem is. When you have finished entering all the information, you can exit from the Race Information Form by hitting the ESC key. 9.2 Race Information Here are the items you'll need for the race information form: 1. NAME OF TRACK: Type the name of the track on which the race is being run and hit ENTER. 2. DATE OF RACE: Fill in the date of the race you're handicapping. This is important for determining how long a layoff each dog has had. Just type the numbers in MMDDYY form. The program will automatically insert the slashes. The default date is 10/31/93. 3. RACE NO. Type the number of the race and hit ENTER. 4. COMMENTS: Type in any identifying remarks you want here. This field is optional. You might want to mention the size of the purse, grade of the race or other information. When you're through entering the race information, hit the ESC key. You'll be asked if the information is correct. * If it is correct, type "Y" and you'll go onto the handicapping form for the first dog. * If there's a mistake in the information, type "N" and you'll be returned to the Race Information Form. Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 16 Once you've confirmed the data in the Race Information Form, you'll be asked if you want to begin handicapping this race. * If you do, type "Y" and the handicapping form will appear. * If you want to quit at this point, type "N" and you'll return to the HANDICAPPING MENU. The program will assume that you do not want to handicap this race and the Menu status line will show "No Race Selected." 10 The Handicapping Form The Handicapping Form is the key to the program. You'll fill in a handicapping form for each dog in the race. The form asks for basic information available in the track program. If you're entering a new dog, most of the fields in the form will be blank. If you're updating or correcting information in an existing entry, the fields will be filled in with the most recent information you've entered. You can change any field you want. To make things go faster, it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with the information the handicapping form requires. Sit down with your track program ahead of time and underline or highlight the items the form requires. It only takes a couple of minutes, and our experience shows that you'll be able to fill out handicapping forms on screen more quickly and accurately this way. 10.1 How to Fill Out the Handicapping Form Here are general instructions for filling out the handicapping form: * Type the information required in each field. When you're through entering information in any field, just press the ENTER key to go onto the next field. Some fields require single keystroke entries (Such as a "Y" for yes or "N" for no). In this case, just typing the appropriate letter will send you to the next field. * You can correct information in any field by using the right and left cursor keys and typing over the previously entered information. The BACKSPACE key will move the cursor one character to the left without deleting. To delete material, use the DEL key. Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 17 * You can move backwards and forwards from field to field throughout the form by using the UP and DOWN cursor keys. When you reach the bottom field, the DOWN cursor key will cycle you back to the first field. * Most fields in the form are checked for errors. If you have typed inappropriate information in a field, the program will return your cursor to the field with the bad information and display an error message at the bottom of the screen telling you what the problem is. * As you go from field to field, the program will display a "Help" message in the box at the lower left hand side of the form telling you exactly what information is required for that field. * When you have finished entering all the information in a form, you can exit from the form and get your handicapping calculations by hitting the <ESC> key. 10.2 Handicapping Form Information Here's the information the handicapping form requires. 1. Name: Type the dog's name and hit ENTER. 2. Sex: Type "M" for male. Type "F" for female. If you don't see this designation on the program, your track programs may use greyhound terminology ("D" for male Dog or "B" for Bitch). 3. Weight: Type the dog's weight and hit ENTER. 4. Time: This is dog's final time in his last race at the distance being run tonight. Enter the time in seconds and hundredths, i.e., 31.24 or 30.49. Note: You will actually see the dog's time repeated four times on the screen. This is to maintain screen compatibility with the Custom Handicapper, which offers the option of averaging times. 5. Highest class in which this dog has raced: Look at the entries for each of the six or eight races listed for this dog. Find the highest class of race in which he has raced. Some track programs refer to this as the GRADE of the race. Then look at the HELP box in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. You will see the following table of classes: Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 18 1> AA 3> B 5> D 7> M (Maiden) 2> A 4> C 6> E Type the NUMBER opposite the letter representing the highest class in which the dog has raced. For example, if the dog's highest listed race was a Class B race, type 3. Classes vary from state to state. Assume that Class AA represents the highest class in your state. 6. Class of this race: Using the same table as above, type the number opposite the letter which represents the class of this race in the appropriate box. The Class or Grade of the race is a large letter at the very top of the page listing for each race. Some tracks refer to this as the GRADE of the race. 7. Box: Enter the number of the box from which the dog is racing today. This is the large number at the extreme left hand side of the entry for each dog. 8. Inside comments: Look at the listing of comments for each of the dog's last SIX races. Count the number of times the words INSIDE or RAIL appear. Type the number in this box. Do not count comments that say FORCED INSIDE or BUMPED INSIDE. 9. Outside comments: Look at the listing of comments for each of the dog's last SIX races. Count the number of times the words OUTSIDE OR WIDE appear. Type the number in this box. Do not count comments that say FORCED OUTSIDE, FORCED WIDE, BUMPED OUTSIDE or BUMPED WIDE. Note: Some new greyhound tracks are steeply banked. This tends to force the dogs to the inside. You may not see many OUTSIDE comments at these tracks, but you will often see MIDTRACK comments. Some users have had success by interpreting these MIDTRACK comments as if they were OUTSIDE comments. If your track is steeply banked, you may want to try this to see how it works for you. 10. Turn position last four races: Look at the column labeled "1/8" for the dog's last FOUR races. This shows where the dog was running as the pack entered the first turn. For each of these races, type the appropriate position number in the appropriate box. Note: The location of this column can vary from track program to track program. If you have any doubts about it, Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 19 ask someone at the track which column shows the dog's position going INTO the first turn. 11. Beaten favorite last time?: If the dog was the favorite last time out on a fast or sloppy track but did NOT win the race, type "Y" here. You can tell if a dog was the favorite because there will usually be an asterisk (*) next to the column showing the dollar odds on the dog for that race. Not all track programs contain this information. If yours doesn't have it, just type an "N" in this field. 12. Top Kennel: Check the track program and find the listing of kennels and their records. If the this dog's kennel is in the top four, type "Y". If it isn't in the top four, type "N". 13. Date of Last Race: Enter the date of the dog's last race in MMDDYY format. You don't have to type the slashes. The program enters them for you. This will be used in determining the dog's layoff. 14. Shipper: If the dog is running at this track for the first time, type "Y" here. If the dog has raced at this track before, type an "N" here. This factor is not part of the handicapping calculations, but it is noted on the ratings display to alert you to the presence of shippers in a race. You will also notice six blank fields at the bottom left of the screen. These are used by the CUSTOM handicapper for custom variables. They are not used by this version of the program. 10.3 When You're Finished with the Form When you're through entering the data for a dog, hit the <ESC> key. The program will ask, "Are you through handicapping this dog?" If you are through, type "Y"; if not, type "N" and you'll be returned to the form. Now the program will ask, "Is this information correct? (Y/N)." If the information is correct, type "Y"; otherwise type "N" and you'll be returned to the form. Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 20 10.3.1 The Rating Display In a window at the middle of the form, the dog's ratings will now be displayed. It will look something like this: The Rating of This Dog is 126-118. You'll notice that the dog has TWO rating numbers. * The first number is the dog's score WITH SEX and WEIGHT variables figured in. * The second number is the dog's score WITHOUT SEX and WEIGHT variables. The first score will usually be higher than the second, although not always (Sex and weight variables may cancel each other out, or they may not affect the basic score). If you're updating an existing dog's entry, you'll see a message that says, "Hit Any Key to Continue." Strike a key and you'll return to your list of dogs. If you're entering a new dog, the program will ask, "Add this dog to list? (Y/N)." If you want to add the dog to the list of dogs in this race, type "Y." If you don't want the dog added to the list, type "N". The program will then ask, "Do you want to handicap another dog? (Y/N)." * If you want to handicap another dog, type "Y" and a new handicapping screen will be displayed. * If you're finished handicapping, type "N" and you'll be returned to the Handicapping Menu. 11 The Handicapping List The handicapping list will show the ratings for all the dog's you've entered so far in this race. They will be ranked in order from highest (most likely to win) to lowest (least likely to win). When the list is displayed, you can select any entry for updating or deletion. Here's the list from the demo race included with the program: Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 21 Dog Rankings for YOUR TRACK 08/23/93 No. 5 --------------------------------------------------------------- DOG RATING SX WT CL LAY ODDS BF KN SH --------------------------------------------------------------- > 2 BILL 126-118 M 75 D 7 7-5 N Y N 1 FEDERAL HILL 106-104 M 52 U 9 5-2 Y Y N 6 IKE'S PAL 100-100 F 52 S 24* 3-1 Y Y Y 3 IRVING 98- 90 M 62 D 7 4-1 N N N 7 GERIATRIC 94- 94 F 60 U 7 5-1 N Y Y 4 FREDDIE'S FRIEND 87- 83 M 55 S 19 8-1 N Y N 5 BENNYBEAR 72- 68 M 56 U 16 10-1 N N N 8 MOM'S MINK 60- 58 M 52 U 22* 10-1 N Y N --------------------------------------------------------------- Use Cursor, PgUP, PgDn, Home and End to Move Highlight. Hit ENTER to Select Dog. Hit ESC for Handicapping Menu. 11.1 What the Columns Mean At the top of the list you'll see the date of the race, the Race Number and the Track. Here's what the display columns show: DOG The first column shows the box from which the dog is running and the Dog's Name. RATING These are the two scores the handicapper assigns to each dog. The first score includes sex and weight. The second does not include these factors. You can use whichever you feel more comfortable with, but don't mix apples and oranges. When you compare, always make sure you're using numbers from the same column. SX The dog's sex, ("M" for Male, "F" for Female) WT The dog's weight. CL Whether the dog is moving Up ("U"), Down ("D") or staying in the Same ("S") class. Dogs moving up are generally at a disadvantage. Dogs moving down usually have a slight advantage. LAY The dog's layoff. Layoffs of more than 21 days are noted with an asterisk. Layoffs this long are often a sign that a dog has had physical problems. ODDS This is our calculation of the scores expressed as odds. THIS WILL NOT NECESSARILY AGREE WITH THE Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 22 OPENING ODDS AT YOUR TRACK. Opening odds are calculated by your track's racing secretary or resident handicapper. Each track has a different method for doing this. Our formula takes the highest ranked dog and makes him 7-5 if he's way ahead or 9-5 or 2-1 if the next dog is closer. The odds go up from there, depending on the relative scores of the dogs. 10-1 is the maximum. Once again, these odds are only another way of expressing the dog's score. The SCORE is the important factor for handicapping. BF Beaten Favorite: The letter "Y" here means the dog was a beaten favorite in his last outing. KN Kennel Rating. If the Kennel is in the Top 4, you'll see a "Y" here. If the kennel is not in the top four, you will see an "N" here. SH Shipper Status. The letter "Y" in this field indicates that the dog is a shipper, running at the track for the first time. 11.2 Using the Handicapping List When the list appears, you'll notice that the first dog is highlighted (We've indicated this with a ">" sign in the manual). * You can move through the list by using your Up and Down Cursor keys, the PgUp and PgDown keys. * You can print the list by hitting SHIFT-Print Screen (Our Enhanced handicapper has full printed report functions). * You can return to the Handicapping Menu by hitting the ESC key. * To update any dog's entry, delete the dog, or print out the dog's handicapping data, highlight the dog you want and hit ENTER. The following Menu will appear (Let's say we picked BENNYBEAR from the list above): Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 23 ============================ No. 5 BENYBEAR ============================ > View/Update Entry Delete Entry Return to Menu ============================ The first item on the menu (View/Update Entry) will be highlighted. You can move the highlight bar through the menu by using your Up and Down Cursor keys. Highlight the function you want and hit ENTER. Or hit ESC to return to the Handicapping List. Here's what the menu choices will do: 11.2.1 View/Update Entry This will bring the handicapping form for the dog you selected to the screen. The fields will be filled in with the information you entered previously. You can change any information you want. For information on filling out the Handicapping Form, See Page 17. 11.2.2 Delete Entry This will delete the highlighted dog from the list. You'll be asked if you want to delete the dog you selected. If you do, type "Y" and the dog will be deleted. If you don't want to delete the dog, type "N" and you'll return to the handicapping list. 11.2.3 Return to Menu This selection will return you to the Handicapping Menu. 11.3 What Do The Scores Mean? You'll notice that the dogs are ranked from highest to lowest by their handicapping rating. THE HIGHER A DOG'S SCORE COMPARED TO THE OTHERS IN THE RACE, THE MORE LIKELY THAT DOG IS TO WIN THE RACE. In the example above, the handicapper indicates that BILL is most likely to win the race, with FEDERAL HILL a not-very-close second. Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 24 12 How to Bet OUR RECOMMENDATION IS TO BET THE HIGHEST RATED DOG (the one with the highest score) TO WIN AND PLACE. This is the safest wager and the one most likely to put money in your pocket over the long run. As usual, there are exceptions to this rule. For example, in the race above, suppose FEDERAL HILL had scored 124, only a few points behind our friend BILL. Let's also suppose that BILL is going off at less than even money, but FEDERAL HILL is going off at 4-1. You're not going to make much if you bet on BILL, but FEDERAL HILL is so close in the scoring that he becomes a better bet. IF THE TOP TWO DOGS ARE ONLY A FEW POINTS APART AND THE SECOND-RATED DOG IS GOING OFF AT MUCH BETTER ODDS, YOU MAY WANT TO BET THE SECOND-RANKED DOG. This is one of the Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper's major strengths. Because it rates dogs without regard to local betting habits or prejudices, it will often spot undervalued dogs that make sound wagers. Finally, at some tracks our customers have reported better results by betting both the first and second-rated dogs to win. This is particularly true if the handicapper ranks them closely, neither is a strong favorite and the odds on both are relatively good. Determining how all of this works at your track takes some trial and error. Before you plunk down your money for the first time, handicap a couple of cards and see how the program works at your track. It helps to get some back programs, if you can. Wagering patterns vary greatly from locality to locality. Knowing when and how to bet is just as important as selecting the right dog. It can make the difference between winning and losing money at the track. 12.1 Exotic Wagers You'll notice we haven't mentioned exotic wagers, such as exactas, perfectas, triples, trifectas and Pick Sixes. That's because we don't believe in them as a sound wagering strategy. Without going into long explanations, just remember that it's tough enough to pick a winner in a race, let alone a winner and two particular losers. Tracks make a lot of their money from Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 25 exotic wagers because the return to the bettors is much lower than it is on straight bets. We can virtually guarantee that you'll lose money on any strategy that involves exotic bets. Stay away from them. That's all you really need to know to get started. Obviously, familiarity with your track conditions will help. But even if you're new to dog racing, the Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper will make race analysis easier and more accurate. Remember that the most important factor in any handicapping system is discipline and consistency. If you choose your races wisely, apply the rules we've laid down and overcome the fan's natural tendency to put down money on every contest, you'll be able to turn a profit on your hobby. 12.2 Loading the Demonstration Race When you Choose No. 4 from the Handicapping Menu, the program will load a file that contains information from a Demo Race with eight dogs. Once the demonstration race has been loaded, you can use the View/Update option to display the list of dogs, bring their forms to the screen and make changes to see how different handicapping factors affect scoring. This is strictly for your information and practice. Caution: If you load the demo race, you'll overwrite all the information about any existing race. If you have already handicapped a race, jot down the ratings for those dogs from the View/Update Entries display, or hit SHIFT-PrintScreen with the list displayed to send it to your printer before you load the demo race. When the program sees that race information has already been entered, it will display a warning box before and ask you if you really want to load the demo race. If you want to load the demo race, type "Y" and the race will be loaded. If you don't want to load the demo race, type "N" and you'll return to the menu. The registered versions of the Enhanced and Custom handicappers will allow you to save and recall races to deal with errors, late scratches or program changes. 13 How to Register You can register your handicapper and order any Federal Hill Software program in three ways. You can use the on-line Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 26 Registration From when the program is running, fill in the order form at the end of this manual, or call our Toll Free Order Line (credit card orders only). 13.1 Special Price Offer Federal Hill Software offers special price discounts for customers who order more than one program. Register any program at the regular price and you'll get $10 off the price of each additional program you order. 14 The Registration Form You can register your program quickly and easily using the on-line registration form. This is Choice No. 6 on the Main Menu. Your disk drive will turn for a second and the registration form will appear. The form is divided into two parts. The left side contains blanks for name, address, disk type and payment information. The right side contains a list of Federal Hill Software Programs. At the bottom of the screen is a message area that will guide you through the process and warn you if you've made a mistake. * To fill in any blank, type the information in that field and hit ENTER to move to the next field. If the field requires only a single character, typing a character will move the cursor to the next field. When you finish with the last blank field, the cursor will automatically recycle to the first. * You can move up and down, from field to field, by using the UP and DOWN arrow keys. * When you're finished with the form, hit the ESC key. 14.1 Name and Address Type your name, address, city, state and ZIP code in each field and hit ENTER to move to the next field. In the COUNTRY field, USA is already filled in. If you're ordering from another country, just type over it with the name of the country from which you're ordering. Foreign orders must be payable in U.S. funds. Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 27 14.2 Type of Disk Type an "X" in the box next to the size disk you want, 5.25 inch or 3.5 inch. 14.3 Type of Payment We accept checks and money orders, Visa or MasterCard payment. Put an "X" in the box next to the type of payment you're using. 14.4 Card Number If you're paying by credit card, type the card number in the appropriate field and hit ENTER. If you're not paying by credit card, leave this field blank and hit ENTER. 14.5 Expiration Date If you're paying by credit card, type the expiration date in this field in MD/YY format. For example, if your card expires in April, 1993, type 0493. The program will automatically insert the slash. If you're not paying by credit card, leave the field blank and hit ENTER. 14.6 Program List Your cursor will move to the Federal Hill Software Program list. Type an "X" in the box next to the name of each program you want to order. 14.7 When You're Through When you're through with the form, hit the ESC key. 1. The program will automatically calculate your registration fee (Including discounts for additional programs) and display it on the screen. 2. A message will appear asking if the information is correct. a. If it is correct, type "Y" to move to the next step. b. If the information is not correct, type "N" and you'll be asked if you want to fix it. Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 28 * If you want to fix it, type "Y" and you'll be returned to the Registration Form. * If you don't want to fix it, type "N" and you'll be returned to the handicapper. 3. You will now be asked if you want to print the form. If you do, type "Y" and make sure your printer is on line. Once the form has been printed, you'll have the option of making additional copies for your records. 4. When you're finished printing, you'll be asked if you want to exit from the registration form. Type "Y" to return to the handicapper or "N" to return to the form. Send your registration form and payment to Federal Hill Software, 3722 Greenway Lane, P.O. Box 765, Owings Mills, MD 21117. The registration fee includes shipping to any point in the United States or its territories and Canada. Foreign orders must be payable in U.S. funds. If you're paying by credit card, be sure to include your signature in the blank on the printed form. 14.8 Toll Free Order Line To order by phone (credit card only), dial our Toll-Free Order Line at 1-800-846-4319. The order line is staffed seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 29 15 Federal Hill Software Catalog Federal Hill Software has been publishing fine application software since 1983. That's a long time in this business, and thousands of satisfied customers can tell you we're successful because we concentrate on programs that do one thing very well. If you like one of our Shareware programs and decide to register, you'll receive an enhanced version of the program with even more features. If you order more than one program, pay full price for the first and we'll take $10 off the price of each additional program! Here's a catalog of our offerings. To order, call our toll-free order line at 1-800-846-4319, or send your check, money order or credit card information to Federal Hill Software, 3722 Greenway Lane, P.O. Box 765, Owings Mills, MD 21117. Use the on-screen order form from the main menu of your program, or the form at the end of the instruction manual. The Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4.5 With the latest release of this time-tested handicapper, you can analyze greyhound races and pick likely winners quickly and easily, even if you've never handicapped before. Just fill in a simple on-screen form for each dog with information you can find easily in the track program. When you're through, the The Handicapper will score each dog, figure the estimated odds and produce an on-screen or printed analysis of each race, as well as full handicapping data for each dog. You can save races to disk and recall them for late changes and scratches. Our unique WagerMaster, included with the program, helps you figure out how to bet by estimating payoffs on various wagers at a wide variety of odds. Our complete on-disk manual will not only show you how to run the program, but also give you an eye-opening tutorial on parimutuel wagering that can make you a smarter bettor. Release 4.5 includes updated formulas and adds weight and sex factors. Handicapping factors also include speed, class movement, speed at turn, box position, inside-outside tendencies, beaten favorite and kennel ranking. Greyhound 4.5 requires 384K of memory and will run from a floppy disk. Registration fee: $30. Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 30 The Custom Handicapper for Greyhounds If you really enjoy handicapping - and want to get better at it - this is the program for you! This is, quite simply, the most powerful and flexible handicapper on the market, because it lets you be the boss! The Custom Handicapper gives you the power to develop your own system by deciding how you'll score every handicapping factor we use. Maybe you think our standard formulas give too much weight to speed, or or too little. You can use the dog's time in its last race, or average times over the last four races. Maybe your track favors dogs in specific boxes. Maybe you think a sudden change in weight is a good sign -- or a bad sign. Now, for the first time, you can put your knowledge and experience to work because the Custom Handicapper scores dogs the way you want it to! You can start with our standard, time-tested handicapping formulas. Then tweak away to your heart's content! Make small adjustments - or develop your own system from scratch. If you think we've left out a factor that's important to you, the Custom Handicapper lets you ADD up to SIX handicapping factors of your own and score them any way you like. And you don't have to be a rocket scientist to do it. All you have to do is fill in a series of simple on-screen forms that tell the program how you want to handle each handicapping factor. Then you'll save those formulas as a handicapping system file on your disk drive. Create as many systems as you like -- for different tracks, surfaces or times of year! When you run the Custom Handicapper program, you can call up any of system you've created and apply it to any race. You can experiment on back races to help perfect new systems -- without risking a penny at the track! You've never used a handicapping program like this one before, because YOU make it unique! The Custom Handicapper for Greyhounds will run on any IBM-compatible computer with at least 512K of memory. Registration fee: $75 The Cambridge Thoroughbred Handicapper 4.5 This proven handicapping program allows you to analyze Thoroughbred Races and pick likely winners quickly and easily, even if you've never handicapped before. Just fill in a simple Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 31 on-screen form for each horse with information you can find easily in the daily Racing Form. When you're through, the The Handicapper will score each horse, figure the estimated odds and produce an on-screen or printed analysis of each race, as well as full handicapping data for each horse. You can save races to disk and recall them for late jockey changes and scratches. The included WagerMaster helps you figure out how to bet by estimating payoffs on various types of races at a wide variety of odds. Our complete on-disk manual will not only show you how to run the program, but also give you an eye-opening tutorial on parimutuel wagering that can make you a smarter bettor. Release 4.5 includes updated formulas, speed rating and track variant calculations. Handicapping factors include half-mile and final time, lengths behind, post position, weight carried, jockey record, speed rating, track variant, class and beaten favorite. Registration Fee: $30 The Custom Handicapper for Thoroughbreds If you really enjoy Thoroughbred handicapping - and want to get better at it - this is the program for you. This is, quite simply, the most powerful and flexible Thoroughbred handicapper on the market because it lets you be the boss! The Custom Handicapper gives you the power to develop your own system by deciding how you'll score every handicapping factor we use. Maybe you think our standard formulas give too much weight to half-mile time, or too little. Maybe your track favors horses in specific post positions. Maybe your track holds races at odd distances that we don't include. Now, for the first time, you can put your knowledge and experience to work because the Custom Handicapper scores horses the way you want it to! You can start with our standard, time-tested handicapping formulas. Then tweak away to your heart's content! Make small adjustments - or develop your own system from scratch. If you think we've left out a factor that's important to you, the Custom Handicapper lets you ADD up to SIX handicapping factors of your own and score them any way you like. And you don't have to be a rocket scientist to do it. With our Handicapping Toolkit, all you have to do is fill in a series of simple on-screen forms that tell the program how you want to handle each handicapping factor. Then you'll save those Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 32 formulas as a handicapping system file on your disk drive. Create as many systems as you like -- for different tracks, surfaces or times of year! When you run the Custom Handicapper program, you can call up any of system you've created and apply it to any race. You can experiment on back races to help perfect new systems -- without risking a penny at the track! You've never used a handicapping program like this one before, because YOU make it unique! The Custom Handicapper for Thoroughbreds will run on any IBM-compatible computer with at least 512K of memory. Registration fee: $75 The Cambridge Harness Handicapper Harness handicapping may well be the trickiest form of race analysis, because so many factors come into play. But we've figured out what's important and what's not. The result: a Harness Handicapping program that's sophisticated AND easy to use. Just fill out a simple on-screen form for each horse with information that's readily available in the track program. When you're through, you'll see a screen or printed report analyzing each race and scoring your horses. Factors include half-mile and final times, post position, stretch gain, parked-out signs, driver record and class movement. The Harness Handicapper includes our WagerMaster software, which will help make you a smarter better by showing payoffs on a wide variety of wagers at different odds. Requires 384K of memory and will run from a floppy disk. Registration fee: $30. Video Blakjak! More than just a game. Learn how to play Blackjack and win--the fun way. This full casino simulation puts you heads up against the dealer with an entertaining and informative set of tools to help you learn the game. Practice basic and advanced card- counting strategies and test them out -- or just have fun! Vary the rules to match any casino. On-screen help shows you the right play and vital statistics at the press of a key. Our unique Strategy Construction Kit lets you build your own card-counting system and test it out over thousands of hands -- automatically, without risking a penny at the tables. Our Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 33 instruction manual contains the results of our extensive research and will definitely surprise you. Requires 384K of memory and will run from a floppy disk. Registration fee: $30. Baseball Statpak Brand new version of this favorite brings big-time statistical power to your Little League, high school team or softball league! You won't find a baseball program that's easier to use or more fun than this one. It's a terrific coaching and league management tool, and your players will love seeing their stats in print. With Baseball Statpak, you can track a single team or an entire league up to 250 players on 12 teams. Track as many leagues as you want. Record At Bats, Hits, Runs Scored, RBI's, Batting Average, Slugging Pct., On-Base Pct., Doubles, Triples, HR, Total Bases, Walks, Stolen Bases, Strikeouts and Errors. Sort by any stat in ascending or descending order. You'll produce terrific team and league reports, just like the ones you see in the newspaper. Our unique player rating system makes drafting a snap! Just assign skill ratings to each player and the program automatically calculates a statistical average and ranks each player against it. League management tools include full rosters, team reports and mailing labels for players or coaches. Baseball Statpak Requires 384K of memory and will run from a single floppy. Registration fee: $30. Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 34 16 License and Warranty The Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4.5 User Supported Version referenced in this document is licensed to the user for use on any IBM-compatible computer. The program and supporting files may be freely copied and distributed in unmodified form. The program, display screens, supporting files and documentation are, however, copyrighted by the authors and remain their intellectual property. With respect to the user supported version of the Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper, neither the authors nor Federal Hill Software make any particular claims or offer any warranty with respect to its performance in handicapping greyhound races. The authors and Federal Hill Software, individually and severally, will not be responsible for any losses or damages which may occur as the result of the use of this program. Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 35 Cambridge Handicapper Registration Form ================================================================= Yes, I want to register my Cambridge Handicapper! Please send the Enhanced/Custom Version of the program right away! ================================================================= Name: _______________________________________________ Address: ______________________________________________ City: _______________________ State ______ Zip _______ Please send me the following programs: With one of Price List the programs Alone above --------------------------------------------------------- ( ) Greyhound Custom $75 _________ ( ) Greyhound Enhanced 4.5 $30 $20 _________ ( ) Thoroughbred Custom $75 $65 _________ ( ) Thoroughbred 4.5 Enhanced $30 $20 _________ ( ) Greyhound Handicapper $30 $20 _________ ( ) Harness Handicapper $30 $20 _________ ( ) Baseball Statpak $30 $20 _________ ( ) Video Blakjak $30 $20 _________ Total _________ Method of Payment: ( ) Check/M.O. ( ) Visa ( ) MasterCard Card No. ____________________________________ Exp. ___________ Signature _____________________________________ Type of Disk: ( ) 5.25" ( ) 3.5" Send to: Federal Hill Software 3722 Greenway Lane P.O. Box 765 Owings Mills, Md. 21117 Information: 410-356-5592 Toll Free Orders: 1-800-846-4319 Note: We Accept Checks, Money Orders, Visa and Mastercard. Foreign orders must be made payable in U.S. funds. Cambridge Greyhound Handicapper 4 Page 36