Information on Form Providers.

[Shaun]

Well it is time to make some changes as we all should from time to time, mine are more forced due to changes in websites, getting harder to scrape what i need.

What i need is info on some form providers something i can download each day here is a list of my needs.

last 3 starts
Avg prize money ( i can work this out if needed)
Distance stats
Track stats
Course stats
Wet stats
Class stats
Weight changes
Race times

I am sure i am not wanting anything out of the normal, i suppose something that is not too expensive would be nice.

The other thing i need is the ability to download past form at least 12 months worth so i can develop some new ratings the one big inability i have had is to test criteria of my ratings to see how they perform then make adjustments as needed, i have always live tested, if past form is not available maybe some kind person on here may have some they could share.

[evajb001]

Shaun, may I ask which ones are causing you trouble or are going to cause you trouble as I use a varied version of your spreadsheet.

I'd suggest using the racingaustralia form as its unlikely to change to my knowledge and you can either scrape recent form (last 5 starts) or all form. Scraping all form can be a hassle for large meetings as its about 5000 lines of data but I haven't found that it slows excel at all and its pretty easy to scrape what you need (prizemoney, number of starts, settling positions etc etc.)

One thing I would caution that I recently found out is that if your recording any stats post-race, depending on how quickly their website updates it can sometimes contain the race from that day - just something to be mindful of.

[Shaun]

At the moment all is working fine, i have looked at the site and it would be of great use.

The main this is i want to develope some new version of ratings, as i don't keep the old form for back testing i am looking at downloading some.

I am going to take a look at bet selector form, i have been given todays races so i can see how it is set out, looks like that is pretty good, i have always tried to do all this on a free basis so any one can use my sheets and learn from them, i just want a fresh start and will work from the fround up with what i already know works with my ratings.

[evajb001]

Ah I see makes sense.

From all the searching I've done I think the racing australia website has the most freely available information with the only other one being R&S however their website is incredibly messy to deal with as you'd well know.

Hope I was of some help :)