Creating a betting line

[tizlinda]

I have about 400 races under my belt now. I learned what i know from "money secrets at the racetrack." I like to muddle through things myself before seeing what others who have been successful do. I am happy with results so far but I am now curious if anyone here is also making their own lines. And if so, what is their general strategy for it.

Questions i have:
1. Do you create a 117% balance in lieu of the takeout? I have been using only 100%

2. Do you wager on any overlay or is there a limit. I only wager on horses i have at 6 to 1 or better or 14pts or better (what i consider a contender).

3. How do you separate the contenders? I think i have the most difficult time here. I actually capped myself at 40% because i think i could make too many errors with standouts. The favorites are often lower than that of course. I do have some horses that i have as contenders that i just don't assign enough value to but win at 3 to 6 to 1. This could be because i am not using the extra 17% in my line.

I am also interested in data keeping. I simply record every horses odds then record the winning horses odds to see the percentage of times they win. I read recently to keep off odds on all your horses, but it seems too time consuming for the purpose. Perhaps i am not seeing the value or the ease in doing this.