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Old 12-16-2008, 12:25 PM   #1
Tim Y
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The history of Speculator

Many of us were left "high and dry" with the unexpected and unannounced demise of PIRCO. I can distinctly recall hearing that people wanted poor Ailne Best's head on a platter (Doc's secretary) when their money from updates and subscriptions were not honored as if it was her fault (What is the old phrase? Don't shoot the messenger?).

Without a printed forum, many of us searched the internet to find kindred spirits. Usernet groups, other horse player sites (ones that allowed conversation) e-mails etc. From about 1999 to 2002 a few of the old group found one another and one member from Maryland actually set up the first post Follow Up forum at yahoo called Sartin Alums. Many of the people here were there in December 2003 (seems longer ago than that) when began (Ty, Earl, Harry (Hook 'em Horns), Dylan, Counterenergy, Binder, Gerald [from Trackmaster], Mark, Kitman etc.) Our moderator here, Bill, actually designed the logo for that group which is there to this day. We talked and compared notes until a long time member, Peter, first introduced us to Guy Wadsworth.

Peter had stayed in touch with him (Sartin Alum posts 333,371,391,443) and reported that he had been the "transition" between the ideas of the methodology, to the practical (program) side of the selection method for years and that now, he was ill with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease- same thing that killed my wife) and without an income. He reported that Guy had written a new program which allowed him to incorporate ideas heretofore NOT ALLOWED in the previous programs, and which he was planning to sell in some way. We contacted him, he became a part of that group, and began offering the earliest phase of the new Speculator program to those interested at a cost much less than the previous versions of Validator (less overhead I guess).

A group of us volunteered to test it versus the older Validator (at that time Val3c was the final version from PIRCO), and report to the group as well as to him. He posted his feedback from various members as in Sartin Alums post 390 where he stressed THERE ARE NO RULES as all had in the Follow Up. As feedback generated new ideas, SpecNF, SecEX, Span, and SpecPa (my favorite of these with the preview lines filtered by pace factors) came into being.

There were problems with these iterations and he tried hard to remedy them. There was a strong request to make them Windows compatible and one of our group had the code and started work on that idea (it was only later that Ted actually accomplished this). I found out later that the intertrack variants were not updated and this allowed for certain tracks (even with the normalized Trackmaster data) to be too fast or too slow. Ted saved the day when Trackmaster changed their speed ratings and Spec160 was the result.

I was amazed at the negative feedback this fellow received all the while he was stating that this was a work in progress not a final version. Comments like "crook," "the guy selling programs out of the trunk of his car" were being posted about a poor guy having NONE of the infrastructure available to him at PIRCO, and the SAME fellow who had written the last several standard programs. I still find that hard to understand.

Guy finally succumbed to his disease (I don't know the final diagnosis but form experience understand it is usually Congestive Heart Failure or pneumonia) and left the programming code with two people so that it would not be lost.

We owe this gentlemen a big dose of gratitude for keeping things alive and changing to the discoveries of those innovative enough to see where improvement could occur.
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Last edited by Tim Y; 12-16-2008 at 12:41 PM.
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Old 12-16-2008, 01:44 PM   #2
JimG
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Tim,

Who runs Sartin Alumns? Years ago I got banished for defending Bill Varone regarding some negativity on that board. I would like to get my id reinstated so that I can read the board. If you could put me in contact with the person in charge, I would appreciate it.

Jim
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Old 12-16-2008, 01:45 PM   #3
Tim Y
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Tim,

Who runs Sartin Alumns? Years ago I got banished for defending Bill Varone regarding some negativity on that board. I would like to get my id reinstated so that I can read the board. If you could put me in contact with the person in charge, I would appreciate it.

Jim
PM me as it is now up to me to approve new people there, OR ,better yet, re-apply TODAY and I will okay it.
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Old 12-16-2008, 01:53 PM   #4
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PM me as it is now up to me to approve new people there, OR ,better yet, re-apply TODAY and I will okay it.
Tim,

I tried to reapply but it blocked me. I sent you a pm with the exact message.

Jim
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Old 12-16-2008, 01:54 PM   #5
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Tim,

I tried to reapply but it blocked me. I sent you a pm with the exact message.

Jim
Give me 24 hours to correct that or re-apply with a different handle
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Old 12-16-2008, 01:59 PM   #6
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I think it is tied to my yahoo email account and I would just as soon not try to create a phony account to get in. I'll wait till I hear from you. Thanks.

Jim
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Old 12-16-2008, 02:39 PM   #7
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Tim,

Thanks for the history lesson - you filled in a few missing years. Round about 2000-2001, I drifted to the HTR/Brohamer offshoot after hearing good things from some former Sartin people who went in that direction. I found you guys at Yahoo and then this board and got back to the Sartin stuff more and more.

I found a lot of good exchanges on both Sartin -based forums and appreciate both of them. You get a lot of "higher-end" handicapping talk around these parts! The spirit of PIRCO lives on, and actually having the Hat here was great.
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Old 12-16-2008, 03:11 PM   #8
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from a fellow who talked with Guy regularly (post 1013)


"I don't post a lot of things but am throwing this out there for whats
its worth! Guy is the man and I should know I visit him once a week
he is constantly trying to make better what is already the best. Some
seem to not realize that Guy created both speculator and validator
and when the creator says speculator is the better of the two and the
reason being he wasnt held back from his creativity now that he is on
his own. BUT if you are doing well with val stick with it I have both
and spec too me is the better of the two by far."
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Old 12-16-2008, 07:01 PM   #9
Bill V.
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Sad and happy times

Hello Tim

Thanks for the mentions. I really am honored the logo
worked out. A few things I just want to say And hopefully Ted will help me
When things ended suddenly the Sartin methodology It was not
pirco I believe It was O Henry House and owned by the Sartin family
not Doc and others as was pirco
Val 3 was being developed when Doc had his setbacks because of a stroke
There was a time when no new programs were available
Many people had paid subscriptions to the Follow Up
which would not be able to be returned. To help out
Val 3 was offered Aline Best was a worker for O Henry House
She ran the phone support and helped out with programs and follow up
mailings and wagered at the Buamont office. Mostly testing Docs
guilelines Doc and Aline would wager together using her pacelines!
Mary Junior ran the O Henry House office with a helper named Susan
Aline tried to handle the job of distributing the Val 3 programs
but the job was too much for her I offered my help and while
we tried to mend the follow up subscription Val 3 issues It became too much
for her and it just stopped. Aline was very appreciative but she could not handle it
One thing about Spec and Val 3 comparisons that you did not mention
They programs were written by Guy but the formulas were different
because of the way beaten lenghts were calculated
Guy and Doc had different ideas on what would be best
I think Doc gets a bad wrap here Guy was in the public with Spec
and Doc was trying to recover and live out his retirement
Guy did hurt Doc because he told Doc that he would release
Val 3 to Sartin Clients on Doc's birthday Alast gift to his clients
When Guy didn't and instead sold spec on his own doc was hurt
This brought out the bad feelings that you mentioned from some people
Including me I believe Ted and Guy were very close and Teds dream
was to bring this all together The Spec Validator windows based program

Bill

Last edited by Bill V.; 12-16-2008 at 07:04 PM.
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Old 12-16-2008, 07:06 PM   #10
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Jim

Hi Jim
I really sorry you got thrown off because of me
I like the avatar... Let it ride
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