Well Chrome, I'm surprised (and a bit embarassed) that I'm leading this thing. You see, I've really only been using ratings on a consistent basis for over a month. What I do is so damn simple, but it seems to have been working pretty well so far. (Using my ratings, my best bet today was Miss Gloryhunter in the last in Brisbane)

I must admit that I use the ratings from both the Tas Tab website and the Unitab website to help me get my weight ratings. Considering the info on those two sites is totally free, you just can't beat them. Then I add a few bonuses or penalties regarding days since last start, jockeys, barriers and state of the track. For me, it's still a learning process though. There are a few things I have to look at to try to improve my ratings even further.

Concerning today's races, I had Savabeel down far too low and I've gone back and looked at the ratings and saw where I went wrong there. I definitely think I rated the other 3 year olds too high by comparison. On pure class, he should have been ahead of them, even first-up. As for the other race, quite happy to get the quinella in my 5 picks. Could possibly have had Wildly higher up given the state of the track.

As for recent form, I always use the horse's last run in my ratings (unless it's first-up or the rating for that run was WAY below average). I don't use just one race to find a base rating though. I use two and average them. Normally it's the horse's last start and the best rating from the previous two starts. So I don't usually go back further than a horse's last 3 runs, unless it is 1st-up, 2nd-up or racing over a totally different distance or track condition.