What's Appening...

Tweet Does anyone miss the old What's Happening? show. Yeah, me neither. But that Rerun fellah sure was funny.



So I've been messing around with the Apple ipad that showed up a few weeks ago after my fortunate selection in the HRN Derby contest. A PC user all my life, only my graphic artist friends (i should say friend) use Macs and most of us bean counter types have been schooled on Windows PC, so it took some time to get used to the Apple way.....but I'm starting to get the hang of it. I don't own an iPhone (the iPad is basically an oversized iPhone without the phone application, a giant iPod Touch if you will) so the transition wasn't as smooth as someone with past Apple experience. We're getting their however. I've been creaming the Angry Birds application (app), but that's a story for another day. So why is any of this relevant? Well, because it does have some cool applications for a horseplayer to utilize in plying his trade.



Here's a review of a couple of the apps I've downloaded and used.



DRF TicketMaker. Cost: Free. Build your Pick-3,4 and 6 tickets a la Steve Crist using the Daily Racing Form's application which let's you determine your A, B, C and X selections by track. A review written by our pal Ian Lozada at the Apple site states the following:

"While not as intuitive as the version of Ticketmaker found on DRF's Formulator, this compact version allows you to keep the same basic functionality and gives you a visual feel for the ticket you're crafting. There are more steps involved, but at the same time, you don't have to put up with having the window of the web-based version blocking key handicapping info on your screen.More importantly, you get the chance to use Ticketmaker with the print version of DRF, other tools like Brisnet or Thorograph, or even for harness wagers."

iTote Wager Calculator. Cost: $0.99. Not a math wiz? Want to be able to calculate what a certain 2x4x6x9 trifecta will cost for $1 play? This colorful and very user friendly calculator can help you when you're building some bigger plays. Only downside was it didn't have a wheel for $0.50 which now comes in play with certain multi race wagers at some tracks...of course, I'm not so bad with math and can divide by 2 pretty easily. One of the reviewers of this app commented:

"Thank you for creating this awesome app! Finally! I can go to the track and not have to ask for help before I get to the window! This app calculates everything for me, without confusion! What a breeze!! Now I can even impressively entertain clients and colleagues at the track! Thank you!"

Horse Racing Calculator. Cost $0.99. This app is basically the same platform as the iTote with some different graphics. I've used this product online at Horsehats.com and although it's not the most user friendly at their website, this one is basically the same as the iTote, but I'll give it equal love to the iTote calculator.

From a horseplayer standpoint, that's about it for wagering help (at least, that I've been able to find). If anyone else has found something else that would be useful to a fellow horseplayer please leave a comment. From the horse racing news front, the only app I've found is the following:

iHorseRacing. Cost: Free. This app picks up the most recent feeds from the BBC, Yahoo!, Bloodhorse. It would be great if some of the other sites such as Thoroughbred Times or the DRF were part of it as a one stop shop for racing news. The most positive review stated:

"I am a huge horse racing fan and this app is worth every penny. This is the BEST iPhone app on Horse Racing."

I've also found that the GoodReader app (hat tip to Mr. Lozada) is very good for reading downloaded PP's, whether they are DRF or BRIS.

Please chime in if I'm missing anything.