The Horse Racing Project

I want to bet!

You can set up an account at HPI bet, this is the site I have always used; it's good stuff. I think the set up of an account may be more arduous than it was in the past. Once an account is set up, you can transfer money in electronically and start betting! For live streams of some tracks, check out a brief listing

I want to use the app!

Not yet! Hold your horses. The app is being re-developed and will be online soon.

Articles

I will be adding articles relevant to this project over time. For these articles please follow the link

Longer Version

The project "started" back in 2011, in a way. The only reason I found out about harness racing was because I made a wrong turn coming home from university one weekend. I was supposed to take 1st Line, not Guelph Line. Anyway, when heading north on Guelph Line I remember seeing these bright lights and wondering... "WTF is that?", then as I continued driving past I noticed the "Mohawk Racetrack" sign (that's what it was at that time).

Intrigued, I was. When I got home I searched online for "Mohawk Racetrack" and sure enough, I found what I saw earlier! I eventually made it to the track with some friends to see what all the fuss was about. It was a cool experience. That night, I remember reading the program and deciding on specific horse that seemed undervalued. So I put a show bet (has to finish in top 3 for a payout) of $5. I ended up winning about $95! I still remember seeing the finish, I think it was Bib #8 (I can't remember the horse name, though!). It was a great feeling.

As you can probably imagine, I thought I was some sort of expert at predicting race outcomes! As it turns out, I was likely fooled by randomness. Regardless of what the root cause for my correct prediction was, I was set in a path that has prevailed to this day.

Flash forward about (now - 2014) years, and here we are. Over the years I went through peaks and valleys of how much attention I spent with this project. In the latter years I realized what this project could become and how useful a tool for skill development it has been for me! I have been able to create a database for race data and then break it down by horse, with metrics that I have found to be important based on empirically driven research (i.e., me attending and watching races).

It has been quite the journey, and I'm glad you've stumbled upon it. The main goal of this project all those years ago was to develop a way to give myself an edge when making bets/predictions. This is still the goal, but some new aspects have come in as well.