The Horseplayers Association of North America is proud to introduce the official HANA Track Rating System in a continuing effort to provide valuable assistance to our members in their handicapping endeavors. Knowledge is power and the purpose of this rating system is to allow members to make more informed decisions regarding the value of their wagering dollar at different tracks. This release of the track rating system is set up to be comprised of quantitative factors, such as takeout, field size, low base cost wager availability, handle, and signal distribution. It is important to note that tracks may be unable to exert complete control over some of the factors incorporated in rating, consequently it is possible for a track to receive a poor rating even though it has many well intentioned, player friendly individuals on its staff. The primary purpose of the ratings is to provide information which will help horseplayers make decisions which will improve their bottom line and should be viewed accordingly. In the future the HANA player resource area will be broadened to include track ratings with more qualitative factors, possibly including member feedback.
Algorithm
The rating in each category is calculated by breaking the range of the data into 5 equal segments and assigning a 4 through to 0 (A through F) grade to each (A few ranges have been adjusted to accommodate outliers that exist for certain wagers). The low cost wager variety category earns a point for each wager available. The final takeout grade is the average of the takeout of all wagers for a given track. The composite rating is derived using a 10x6x2x2x1 weighting scheme with composite takeout being assigned a weighting of 10, field size a 6, low cost wager variety a 2, handle a 2 and signal distribution a 1.
Overview
This document describes a track rating scheme that will be employed on the HANA website as a tool for members to gauge the overall quality of a track as is consistent with the philosophies and goals of HANA. The following items, ranked by importance will ultimately be considered to comprise this composite rating system or included as informational commentary:
Takeout
ADW Availability
Breakage
Field Size
Variety in Wagers
Handle
Signal Distribution
Video Availability
Information Availability.
Initial releases will employ a subset of these factors, more will be added as information is gathered.
Takeout
Each wager category will be rated from “A” through “F” with each letter grade representing an approximate 20 percent range of the total population of all north American tracks. An “A” rating, for instance will represent a standing in the upper quintile range of all NA tracks while an “F” rating will represent the lowest. All available wager categories available for each track will be rated. Note that ratings are based on ranges as they are today, not necessarily what is considered optimum.
WPS takeout ranges from 15% to 20%. The following grades were assigned:
15%-16% - A
16.01% - 17% - B
17.01% - 18% - C
18.01% - 19% - D
19.01% & UP - F
Exacta takeout ranges from 18.5% to 26%. The following grades were assigned:
18.5% - 19%- A
19.01% - %21 – B
21.01% - 23% - C
23.01% - 25% - D
25.01% & Up - F
Quinella ranges will be as above. Due to waning popularity in the quinella wager, it will no longer be included in the ratings. It should be noted that as of this writing, all jurisdictions that still offer quinella wagering apply the same takeout as the exacta wager.
Trifecta takeout ranges from 19% through 31%. The following grades were assigned:
19% - 20% - A
20.01% - 23% - B
23.01% - 26% - C
26.01% - 29% - D
29.01% & Up - F
Superfecta takeout ranges from 19% to 30%. The following grades were assigned:
19% - 20% - A
20.01% - 23% - B
23.01% - 26% - C
26.01% - 28% - D
28.01% & Up - F
Super high 5 takeout ranges from 18% to 25.75%. The following grades will be assigned:
18% - 19.5% - A
19.51% - 21% - B
21.01% - 22.5% - C
22.51% - 24% - D
24.01% & up - F
Daily Double takeouts range from 18% through 26% with 1 outlier @ 12%. The following grades were assigned:
12% - 18% - A
18.01% - 20% - B
20.01% - 22% - C
22.01% - 24% - D
24.01% & Up - F
Pick 3 takeouts range from 19% through 29% with 2 outliers @ 12%. The following grades were assigned:
12% - 19% - A
19.01% - 22% - B
22.01% - 25% - C
25.01% - 28% - D
28.01% & Up - F
Pick 4 takeouts range from 14% through 29%. The following grades were assigned:
14% - 18% - A
18.01% - 21% - B
21.01% - 24% - C
24.01% - 27% - D
27.01% & Up - F
Pick 5 takeouts range from 12% through 25%. The following grades will be assigned:
12% - 18% - A
18.01% - 20% - B
20.01% - 22% - C
22.01% - 24% - D
24.01% & Up - F
Pick 6 takeouts range from 18% through 26%. The following grades were assigned:
18% - 19% - A
19.01% - 21% - B
21.01% - 23% - C
23.01% - 25% - D
25.01% & Up - F
Takeout Composite
The takeout composite grade was computed by averaging and rounding the equivalent numeric value of the letter grade in each category.
Grades were assigned as follows:
3.85 - 4 = A
3.51 - 3.84 = A-
3.16 - 3.50 = B+
2.85 - 3.15 = B
2.51 - 2.84 = B-
2.16 - 2.50 = C+
1.85 - 2.15 = C
1.51 - 1.84 = C-
1.16 - 1.50 = D+
0.85 - 1.15 = D
0.51 - 0.84 = D-
< 0.51 = F
Rebates
Due to rebates being limited to states where rebating ADW's are available we will not at this time include rebates in the composite rating. A column will be included to indicate "rebate friendly" for those that make their pools available to US based rebate ADW's.
Takeout Composite with Rebate
Takeout composite with rebate will not be calculated at this time.
Breakage
While HANA believes that breakage should be eliminated, it is a universal ill. There doesn't appear to be any significant difference track to track. This will be included as a commentary item only.
ADW Availability
Tracks are unavailable to ADW's for 4 basic reasons. The horseman's groups disallow access, The State/Province refuses approval of the ADW, exclusive contracts disallow access, or the track itself refuses to deal with the ADW. Each reason for exclusion will be given a weighted rating to be combined with the composite track rating in the end. This item will be included in a later revision.
Information Availability
Tracks have varying degrees of information availability. How fast and reliable do they make their scratches and track conditions available to the public? Do they make track prep info available (harrowing, watering, grass cut on turf course etc.)? How complete is the information? As this is extremely difficult to quantify objectively, this will be included as commentary only in a future release.
Wager Variety
A player friendly track will offer the largest variety of wagers to the customer. This includes 50 cent trifectas and pick-3 and pick-4's as well as 10 cent supers etc. Availability of these player friendly wagers will be considered in the rating of each track. The baseline for each track will be $2 WPS, $1 Quinella, $1 exacta, $1 trifecta, $1 superfecta, $1 pick bets ($2 Pk-6) and early/late daily doubles. This will earn the track an “F”. Any wager availability beyond this will earn an increasingly higher rating. The WV rating will start with a baseline of 9 minus the number of baseline wagers available (highest possible baseline points will be zero). A point will be awarded for each of: $0.50 trifecta, $0.10 superfecta, $0.50 pick-3, and a $0.50 pick-4. This data is the most difficult to gather. Any updates from the membership will be greatly appreciated.
Field Size
Field size is another “customer friendly” element that should figure into a track rating. Does the racing office truly fill the fields for competitive racing or do they just write races for the horsemen to win purses? Field size (based on the last calendar year of racing) will be sorted into quintiles by range and rated accordingly as follows:
RFS = ((FS - FSmin) /FSmax - FSmin) * 4
Where:
RFS = Field Size Rating
FS = Field Size of track being rated
FSmin = The lowest field size of all tracks being ranked
FSmax = The highest field size of all tracks being ranked
Video
Does the track make their video available for free? How about replays? This will be included as a comment only and otherwise have no impact on the ratings. To be included in a later release.
Handle
Handle will be rated as follows:
> $400,000/race - A
$250,000 - $400,000 - B
$175,000 - $250,000 - C
$100,000 - $175,000 - D
< $100,000 - F
Signal Distribution
The biggest area of growth today in horse racing is the ADW market. 20% of all handle goes through the internet, and that percentage is increasing. To distribute a tracks signal to advance deposit wagering companies, so people can play racing with the convenience needed in modern society, a track charges a "signal fee", and these fees vary. A reasonable signal fee allows horseplayers to benefit through i) Player Rewards and ii) Innovations to ADW platforms, which helps grow racing. A high signal fee has the exact opposite effect. In addition, when a track makes a signal fee available to all ADW's with a minimum of restriction this is an added convenience to horseplayers because this ensures they do not have to belong to more than one ADW.
The letter grades given for Distribution are as follows:
Letter Grade "A": Reasonable Signal Fee and Minor or No Restrictions
Letter Grade "B": Moderate Signal Fee and/or Restrictions.
Letter Grade "C": Moderately High Signal Fee and/or Restrictions
Letter Grade "D": High Signal Fee and/or Restrictions
Letter Grade "E": Very High Signal Fee and/or Multiple Restrictions
Composite Rating
The composite rating will be comprised of a weighted sum of each of the individual ratings. Initial grading will be comprised of the takeout being weighted 10x, field size 6x, wager variety 2x, handle 2x and signal distribution 1x. The range of numeric value possible under this rating system is 0 through 4.
