James Hritz (@jameshritz)

While I purchased my iPad with the goal of using it as an everyday productivity tool, one of my ulterior motives was to see exactly how it could help me with one of my chief hobbies: thoroughbred horse race handicapping.  After playing with the device for a few weeks, it struck me that the killer application should allow a handicapper to:

• Download past performances on the fly to the device from DRF or Equibase
• Mark and notate these past performances just like you do with paper and pen
• Share your handicapping notes socially or at least share via email

So, I started experimenting with various iPad apps such as PDF readers, file storage, and note taking.  The peculiarities of the iPad made this less than a straight forward task, but after lots of groking, I think I have what is a workable and usable solution.  

Before I give you the step by step, “how to”, one caveat: You do not have to do this! If you like paper and pen, stick with it!  No one is forcing you to do anything.  Handicappers tend to be an old fashioned bunch and suspicious of new trends, so if you think this is a waste of time or hogwash, save it.  There are racing enthusiasts out there who would like to leverage technology and this is for them.

If you are still interested, here is how you do it:

What You Will Need:

• iPad (preferably 3G enabled; you won’t always be near a wireless hotspot, especially at tracks)
• Stylus – like any iPad app, you can use your finger, but psychologically, I think using a stylus feels more natural. Your choice.
• 2 Applications from the Apple Applications Store

o   Downloads HD ~$2.99

o   Noterize $2.99 (iAnnotate PDF $9.99 also works, but for reasons I’ll share later is less useful)

• Google Docs Account (optional, but free) you may want to save your PPs in the cloud to review at a later date (for the trip handicappers among us)
• DRF Online Account (basic free, pps either on a subscription or al a carte pricing):  Presumably, most of you already have this.

How to:

1. Download both of the applications from the Apple Applications Store
2. Open Downloads HD: When you open the application, it will look and feel like any browser from your Mac or PC.  Go to the Drf.com site like you normally would and go to the site’s menu bar item called “PPs & Data.” Choose basic PPs.  At this point, you login and purchase the PPs just like you would on your PC.
3. Once you select the track and date, the File Icon (right next to the open book icon) will show a “1” in a red circle. Touch this icon and it will open a pop up window showing you the file(s) you just downloaded.
4. Select the PP file you just downloaded by touching it and you will be prompted with another pop up at the bottom of the screen that asks you “Open in File Manager” or “Cancel.” Choose “Open in File Manager” and you will see the full PDF version of that day’s PPs.
5. In the upper right corner you will see an icon that is a square with an arrow point right.  Touch this icon and it will prompt you with two choices: “Email File” or, “Open In.”  Choose the option to “Open In” and you will be presented with the applications on your iPad that can open this file. In this list should be “Noterize.”  Select “Noterize” by simply touching it.
6. Once you select “Noterize,” the application will immediately open and begin to process the PPs so you can edit them in the application. This can take a minute or so.
7. At this point, you should be in the “Noterize” application and looking at the PPs for the track and day you choose.  Now you are ready to mark, annotate, and do all the things you’d normally do to any paper version of the PPs. 
8. With that said, I’m not going to provide an exhaustive tutorial on how to use “Noterize.”  Its pretty simple and straightforward, but it does take some practice to get used to making notes and writing with the stylus. Play around, you can’t hurt anything.

Now the cool part!  Making handicapping social

 I selected “Noterize” over other applications because it allows you to share your notes and annotations a whole host of ways including Twitter and Facebook.  Its pretty simple:

• Touch the “Menu” button in the upper left hand corner
• This will bring out a pop up box with a thumbnail of the document
• Touch the “Share” button at the bottom right hand corner
• Now select which pages you want to share
• Touch the “Share Selected” button in the lower right hand corner
• You will be given a pop up box asking you where you want to “share to.”  The choices are pretty great! You can pick Email, Google Docs, Facebook, Twitter and other services as well.
• Pick Twitter and login! It will briefly convert the document and give you a box to Tweet in. Write something and then press the Tweet button. Voila! You just shared your handicapping notes through your Twitter account.

There you have it. You can now just take your iPad to the track and get PPs as you need them. 

Two final notes:

1.  Above, I suggested a Google Docs account because when you are done, you may want to store the PPs you mark up and go back and review them. Great for trip handicappers.
2. These apps can work with any PDF file, so there is all kinds of stuff out there like track programs. You can use this for those too

See you at the track!

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