[AusRace] How somebody did something different to get a bet - a system

[Tony Moffat]

'Roo' Purcell was a sneak, not because he could, but because he had to be.

He ('Roo' is male) owned the first programmable calculator (that I had seen
up until that point in time).
It was used on course to enter win prices of selected runners, and from that
data, and utilizing rider
names, the calculator did what it does, and provided him with names/numbers,
of runners he should be
backing.

The sneak was that anything resembling electronic was barred on course,
telephones mainly, and 'Roo'
spent a fair while fidgeting with his right hand inside the left side of his
suit coat. He thought it was secretive
but really, it was more than half obvious, he had (a) a pet rat whose belly
he continually poked, (b) a phobia
that hadn't been named yet but had been forecast to occur I'm sure, (c) at
least an electronic device that would
get him sent off course, barred probably. 

'Roo' got his moniker from football, rugba Union though, and then because he
hopped before he ran, in a move meant to out-faze his opposite number, and a
really good indicator that the ball was coming out wide. He played 5/8th in
the competition I was in, albeit for an opposition team. We first met in a
collision between players, two against him, and he broke something. It was
the plaster of paris ornament that made me strike up a conversation. I said
something like 'did I do that? and he grimaced and said 'probably' and we
spoke regularly at the races after that encounter.

There were a few things in vogue missing on course in the early 70's. There
was no coffee, one brand of beer although
7 whiskies, 8 styles of deep fried food, and the battering didn't stop
there. But there was a perceived hard line against
and about communication from the course, and on course a belief that the
prices were the possession of the club, and
not to be shared, or communicated apparently.

 Now, a calculator is not a communication device, but this calculator was
being used in association with punting, 
and it was bracketed with objects d'hate and Roo had inquired at Caulfield
about ownership and use, and they said no way.


WHAT HE MAY HAVE DONE;

Average and price the winning percentages of jockeys, then compare that
price with those on offer, any prices less than the calculated
dividend/price may have enhanced his belief that today was the day, there
was confidence from the money outlayed. Fine, but he could get that, or a
similar statistic, from trainer results too. There had to be more, besides,
he was betting in hundreds on the rails and surely not just on that
information.

And, using the prizemoney distribution ratio, determine the total ratio won
off the last 4(?) Starts. Today the multiples are .55 (point 55),
.17,.08,.045,.03,.025 repeated until the whole sums to 1 (7th place out to
10th place. So a 1234 on prior runs would display as .045+.08+.17+.55 = .845
then use that as a multiplicand of the total prizemoney (say, 125000 * .845
= 105625) then rank(?) the results.

Another way - perhaps

A good bloke who was still on course weekly when I left to travel.




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