A-B-C-D etc.

[dougie]

When I was spending my summers at the "Mighty M", they used to used the letter designation when classifying the horses. Are there any tracks who still use this system? Or is it only Trackmaster ratings?

[SwankToliverA]

Not to my knowledge, but I do remember people betting that way when I was a little girl.
My Grandfather always bet his initials- BC

[Gaagoots]

When I was spending my summers at the "Mighty M", they used to used the letter designation when classifying the horses. Are there any tracks who still use this system? Or is it only Trackmaster ratings?

The same thing applied to Roosevelt and Yonkers Raceway. Larry Maller was fair but Steve Starr was like a mafia captain. In my opinion the letter classification was not fair at all!

[old guy]

Letter classification was the best.

[The Thorn]

I grew up on letter class.  It was pretty accurate.  You could always tell an A3 from a B1.  Todays money system doesn't really mean anything when it comes to how much class a horse has.

[Papillon]

I grew up on letter class.  It was pretty accurate.  You could always tell an A3 from a B1.  Todays money system doesn't really mean anything when it comes to how much class a horse has.

Many tracks have serious problems filling races--so they must broaden the conditions

absolutely correct todays money system means almost nothing

[JIDGE]

Does anyone know how TRACK MASTER calculates their rating system?  Once a rating is determined it barely fluctuates whether you win or finish last. I've seen horses win three in a row and it barely moves allowing horses to race in the same class week after week. If race secretaries are using this system I think the entire process should be transparent and public so anyone can determine a horse's rating.

[Papillon]

Does anyone know how TRACK MASTER calculates their rating system?  Once a rating is determined it barely fluctuates whether you win or finish last. I've seen horses win three in a row and it barely moves allowing horses to race in the same class week after week. If race secretaries are using this system I think the entire process should be transparent and public so anyone can determine a horse's rating.

excellent observation

how often are the Trackmaster ratings updated?

as a bettor--they are worthless

for filling fields-i think they do whatever is best to maximize entries

[kooter for hipin]

Letter classification was the best.

The letter classification went as such starting from the bottom.... C-3 C-2 C-1 B-3 B-2 B-1 A-3 A-2 A-1 AA JFA FFA  In the glory years of Roosevelt-Yonkers, there were enough horses too fill twice a day racing. Other NY tracks like Monticello adopted it.  Meadowlands even gave it a shot. It was a good system because you didn't need a degree to understand the conditions. Also there were various Claimers. When the Meadowlands came along, it put a big dent in horse population in NY. Then OTB was the nail in  the coffin and Race Secretarys had to write conditions for horses on the grounds.  In my OPINION, in an attempt to end cheating, if that is possible, all overnight races should be claimers. Only exemptions would be Grand Circuit, and FFA designation. Various trainers like Burke, et al, have turned a great industry into nothing more than a GOAT RODEO.

[Dingus]

Does anyone know how TRACK MASTER calculates their rating system?  Once a rating is determined it barely fluctuates whether you win or finish last. I've seen horses win three in a row and it barely moves allowing horses to race in the same class week after week. If race secretaries are using this system I think the entire process should be transparent and public so anyone can determine a horse's rating.

To calculate a TrackMaster Horse Rating, the following algorithm is used:

First, gather all of the horse's past performaces with speed ratings within two years of its last race of any kind

Speed ratings are available in a variety of TrackMaster products:
("10-Line Past Performances") TrackMaster Past Performances
("12-Line Platinum Past Performances") TrackMaster Platinum Past Performances
("Lifetime Past Performances") TrackMaster Lifetime Past Performances

Next, eliminate races with any kind of break, broken equipment, interference, inside pylons, etc
Of the remaining races, consider no more than the 8 most recent speed ratings and separate into two categories...

("Recent Ratings") speed ratings within 150 days of its last race
("Past Ratings") speed ratings that are >150 days and <= 2 years since its last race
BASE CASE: When there are at least 4 "Recent Ratings", compute an average as follows:
("Recent Ratings")
if 7 or 8, average the highest 4
if 5 or 6, average the highest 3
if just 4, average the highest 2

[dougie]

Dingus, thank you so much!!!!!

[moelarrythecheese]

Big M tried it a few years ago.

[theokodjak26]

The classification using the alphabet had various weaknesses. First there were times a trainer was begging a racing secretary to be dropped down. That led to accusations of favoritism. What was also confusing was a horse who was a B-1 at Monticello would go to Yonkers and be classified to C-1 and still be in too deep to win. The fans took a bit of a beating when this happened.

[Parked]

most of the times my horses race the condition is changed or additions are made.  70% of the time, or more,  the change resulted in the winner.  It pisses me off when they are changed to get one horse to make an 8 horse field.   Either go with a short field or wait a week.   
Race secretaries use to know the horses they have and wrote conditions to fit them. Now the condition sheet is always the same except for the date. Don’t change year to year. 
Claimers should never be combined with conditioned horses. 

Rant over…. 

[The Exporter]

The classification using the alphabet had various weaknesses. First there were times a trainer was begging a racing secretary to be dropped down. That led to accusations of favoritism. What was also confusing was a horse who was a B-1 at Monticello would go to Yonkers and be classified to C-1 and still be in too deep to win. The fans took a bit of a beating when this happened.

If you spent any time handicapping, you knew the class equivalences.  A B1 at Monticello was a $12,500-$15,000 claimer. C1 at Yonkers were maybe $27,000 claimers. There were many Yonkers shippers who raced even in C1-B3 that would win the Sunday afternoon open at Monticello.
I always liked the letter classification system. After awhile, it was clear the habits of the trainer when he was a go.