EquiSim 5.0.0.27 has been released:

The demo version is available at:
http://www.thorotech.com/equisim/demo.html

The registered version can be download per instruction IN YOUR ACTIVATION E-MAIL if you've already purchased/upgraded. For upgrades or purchase, see this page:
http://www.thorotech.com/equisim/purchase.html


What's New:

A) I fixed the problem with the #rMAX function in the Formula View. Usage of this function was previously returning the "maximum MEDIAN value for the variable in question". It now returns the MAXIMUM value of the variable in question.

B) I believe I have fixed the issue with the the INDIVIDUAL (horse) FRACTIONAL TIMES that Win, Keith, and Lou have pointed out. Let me try to explain what happened.

First - EquiSim was matching up the wrong BEATEN LENGTHS to fractional times in races of certain distances -namely routes of 8 to about 9 furlongs in length. It was using the beaten length for the 1/2 call for the 1/4 fraction, the beaten length at the 3/4 call for the 1/2 call.And then the stretch beaten length for th 3/4.

Now - why was it doing this? I pondered quite a bit in attempting to understand the way it works. Then I realized what probably happened. Some races use the BEATEN LENGTHS AT THE START CALL for the first fraction. For example, a 1 mile race will have its first fraction at the 1/4 and its START CALL at the 1/4. Well, guess what -- Bris didn't start including a BEATEN LENGTH at the START call until 2001. Hence, I think I probably thought that the BEATEN LENGTHS that did exist (C1, c2, Stretch, Finish) would naturally match up to given fractions at 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and finish. Well, I was wrong. If that doesn't make sense, don't worry (too much), it confused me too.

Now, what I've tried to do is impliment this points of call chart:
http://www.bris.com/cgi-bin/static.cgi?page=calltimeschart
HOPEFULLY, I got it right.

I checked it with the TSN Past Perf generator and my numbers look good (note, though, that I do treat the amount of time a beaten length is worth slightly differently so the numbers are not exact. IMO, TSN uses .2 per beaten length everywhere and that's way, way too slow).

Note this WILL AFFECT THE SIMULATIONS. I ran some long tests to see what the impact was. The sims ran just slightly better in win% and ROI with this new way in my tests.

Now -- if you would rather have the program use the OLD WAY of doing fractions you can do so. You simply need to go to your equiSim folder and create a file (right click menu->new->text file). Name it "UseOldStyleFracts". Note, NO file extension. When the program starts up it will see this file and no to use the old way of doing individual horse fractions.

This has NOT been included in the help documentation so please make a note of it.

C) I've added a way to include your own "excuses" list. EquiSim uses this when doing its automatic paceline selection as described in the User's Guide. That is, it scans the chart caller's comment. If it finds a word in the excuse list within the comment, it considers the race an "excuse". That doesn't necessarily mean the race won't be selected as a past perf, it just means that it loses some "weight" due to having an excuse.

Be CAREFUL with this. I recently found that I used an excuse word "eased". Well, "eased" is part of the word "incrEASED". That means that any note such as "increased margin" was marked as an EXCUSE LINE in the automagic paceline selection process. Ooops!

So, when you install version .27 you will find in your EquiSim folder (C:\program files\thorotech\esroi5) a file called "Excuses.txt". You can add or remove "excuse words" by editing this file. Remember to use ONE EXCUSE PER LINE. Also remember not to include additional white space in the beginning or ending of words as this will throw off the matching process. There are already some words in this file. If you don't like one, simply delete it.

This is also NOT in the documentation yet so please make a note of it.