The Books Behind the Method

Charles Carroll — Handicapping Speed (1991)

The foundation. Carroll’s track-constant method and projection variant are our speed figure: every line is adjusted against the track’s own constants, and projected off the horse’s own prior lines. OUR_RATING v4, and the figure printed on every sheet we publish, descend from Carroll.

The Sartin lineage — the projection principle

No single book: a school of pace handicapping built on one principle — each horse as its own control, rated against its own demonstrated lines rather than against a class ladder. That principle sits inside the same figure build as Carroll’s constants, and has been live in the product since October 29, 2026.

Randy Giles — Extreme Pace Handicapping (2008)

The pace-pressure concept behind Race Shape. Giles’s race-shape types were tested over 207 races, then closed and rebuilt as our own six types with points-only scoring. The names and the math are ours; the seed was his.

James Quinn — The Complete Handicapper (2012)

Quinn’s handicapability split measured real on our data: maiden races are the least handicapable population on the card. That finding entered the selection protocol in v2.6 as the maiden exclusion, and it survives in the cell rules the protocol runs today.

Mark Cramer — Value Handicapping

Cramer’s place on this page is indirect. His overlay claim failed its test — but building that test forced the clean own-line rebuild that became OUR_LINE v1. Own-line ranking later lost to ML-BASE as the ranking anchor, so Cramer’s residue lives in the figure work, not in the ranking.

Tested, and set aside

The same lab that adopted the five above ran the rest of the shelf through the same tests. These did not make the product:

• William Scott — his APV and PCR ratings were rejected as rankers; his form screen measured real but holds no production role.
• Ray Taulbot — his recency screen is already priced in by the market; three further angles tested on November 4, 2026 came back unsupported or untestable.
• Tom Brohamer — his velocity pace engine failed calibration and is parked.
• Steven Davidowitz — the key-race concept was untestable on our archive.
• Gary Hall — both testable claims failed their tests on November 4, 2026.
• Bill Benter — his published market-blend research informed our fusion study, which failed; the blend that ships is our own construction.
• Andrew Beyer — his figures served once as a cross-check on ours, never as an input.

Sources

Methods are only half the lineage; the other half is the record they were tested on. The public sources behind the sheets and the tests:

• Equibase — official race charts and results.
• Horse Racing Nation — track trends and same-day results.
• TwinSpires and TrackMaster — track bias reports.
• Brisnet — the past performance files.