PowerPicks

Introduction

The PowerPicks reports are designed to assist you in your handicapping efforts by providing the fundamental information you need for each race in an easy to understand format.  They are intended to form the multi-faceted basis for the conclusions you reach about a particular race.  The reports are designed to be comprehensive, covering all entries in a race, rather than being limited to a few top picks as other one-dimensional handicapping services do.  They provide you an innovative, reliable and powerful tool to utilize in your handicapping efforts.

Reports

There are several versions of the PowerPicks reports.  Click on the link below for complete explanation of each report.

Handicapping Criteria

A variety of handicapping criteria are used in the PowerPicks handicapping process to award points to contenders and rank them.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I use the Picks report?  

You should use the PowerPicks reports as a scratch pad to highlight your conclusions about each horse in a race.   The horses are listed in order based on the overall points awarded each contender during the handicapping process.  Individual criteria such as jockey, trainers and running times for each horse are displayed on the report with a numeric prefix indicating their ranking compared to other contenders in the race.  The primary purpose of using the report is assist you in developing a "feel" for how the race will be run and to separate the contenders from the pretenders. 

How often do the top picks win?  

The report includes win, place and show statistics by rank (Rank % column) for each race based on past races of a similar track, distance, surface and class.  The top ranked horse will normally win between 20% to 40% of the time and will be in-the-money 50% to 70% of the time.   The top ranked horses as a group will always produce more wins and in-the-money finishes than the bottom ranked horses.  

Should I just bet the top ranked horses?  

That depends on your wagering strategy.  Many of the top ranked horses will also turn out to be heavy favorites and consequently provide little return unless used in the exotics.  It is beyond the scope of the PowerPicks report by itself to recommend one wagering strategy versus another.  However, if you are looking for value plays then you should focus on those horses who "stand-out" on the reports for one reason or another regardless of whether they are the top ranked horse.   

What is the difference between the PDF and HTML reports?  

Nothing as far as the content on the reports but you will find the PDF version quicker to download due to its smaller size and easier to use because of the printing limitations for the HTML version.  The PDF format was created by Adobe as an easy way to distribute reports via the web.  It requires the Acrobat Reader plug-in for your web browser and is available free from Adobe (click here).  

Why is part of the report missing when I print the HTML version?  

The HTML report must be printed in landscape mode or you will lose part of the report.  The web browser includes a menu item called Page Setup which will allow you to set the printer to landscape versus portrait (default).  Unfortunately, you will need to do this again when you re-start the browser as it sometimes reverts to the default setting of Portrait.  A better solution overall is to download and use the PDF version instead of the HTML version of the reports.