FAQ # 26
ALL-Ways^TM Support

How do you read the Impact Value Report?

On the left side of the report under the heading "IMPACT VALUES" you see five columns labeled "FIRST IV", "SECOND IV", "THIRD IV", "FOURTH IV" AND "FIFTH IV". These five columns correspond to the (up to) five ranking slots for each of the handicapping factors. There are nine different ranking schemes that are used by the 71 handicapping factors in ALL-Ways. Note that the most widely used ranking scheme is the type 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, front half, rear half. The examples below show the nine ranking schemes and how they relate to the five IV positions on the IV Analysis Report.

Note that you can easily see which ranking scheme is used by each of the 71 Handicapping Factors by printing out the Default Impact Values in the Profile Module of ALL-Ways.

On the right side of the report you see five groups made up of two columns each. These five groups also correspond to the (up to) five ranking slots. The first column in each group, labeled "BETS", shows the number of horses assigned to the ranking slot. The second column in each group, labeled "WIN", shows the average return for $2 bets on ALL of the horses assigned to the ranking slot. Here is an example based on 60 races and how you should interpret it.

FIRST IV (1st ranking slot)

Horses ranked 1st in Hall EP 2/3 won 2.0 times their fair share of races. There were 74 horses ranked 1st. Since there were only 60 races, there were obviously some races where two or more horses tied for the 1st ranking position. If you had bet $2 to win on all of the 74 horses, you would received $2.67 for each $2 you bet. This is a profit of 67 cents on every $2 bet or a return on investment (ROI) of 33.5%.

SECOND IV (2nd ranking slot)

Horses ranked 2nd in Hall EP 2/3 won 1.27 times their fair share of races. If you had bet $2 to win on each of the 58 horses that were ranked 2nd, you would have gotten back only $1.57. This is a loss of 43 cents for each $2 bet for a negative ROI of -21.5%.

FIFTH IV (5th ranking slot)

Horses ranked in the rear half of the field in Hall EP 2/3 won only 0.15 times their fair share of races. You would have received only 64 cents for each $2 bet on the 192 horses assigned to the rear half ranking slot. This is a loss of $1.36 for each $2 bet for a negative ROI of -68%.

Here are some important points to keep in mind about the IV Analysis report:

• This report analyzes only winners. You should use this report to help construct profiles aimed at selecting winners ..... not place or show horses.
• Low IV numbers, such as the 0.15 IV for the rear half ranked horses in the Hall EP 2/3 handicapping factor example, provide a very useful way to eliminate non contenders. This is discussed in the Creating Custom Handicapping Profiles section of this "White Paper".
• By comparing the number of horses for a ranking slot with the number of races in the analysis, you can determine several useful things:
• If there are more horses than races, it means there were ties for the ranking slot. You could expect to increase the return on $2 bets by betting on only one horse in each race (i.e., using other handicapping factors to isolate a single horse win bet). Here is a good example of this from an analysis of 89 races.

There were 122 horses assigned to the #1 ranking slot but only 89 races. This indicates 33 ties. By doing a good job of isolating a single horse using other handicapping factors, you should substantially increase the $2.04 return on a $2 bet.

• If there are more horses than races (meaning ties for the ranking slot) and the return on $2 bets is very high, you may have found a handicapping factor that supports two horse betting. Two horse betting is one of the basic tenets of the Sartin Methodology. Here is a good example of this from an analysis of 89 races.

There were 19 ties for the 1st ranking slot ( 108 horses and 89 races), yet the return on a $2 bet is a solid $2.67 for an ROI of 33.5%.

• If there are far fewer horses than races, a high IV and a high return on $2 bet, you may have found a solid long shot factor.

Return to the Main FAQ's Page