What a nightmare.

Anyone who has played around with form files, will quickly realise that our racing industry standards are a complete nightmare with no logical structure whatsoever.

Jockeys confused with jockeys
Race types and grades different between States and even different within the same State.
Track codes with no consistency for codes nor abbreviations.

It really is about time that someone took the bull by the horns to make race form decipherable.

The race clubs can please themselves, as can the data providers, it seems that there is a culture of "just get the form out there, bugs and all".

Since when can one track have three or four different codes, international tracks such as York in England have at least 5 alternate codes.

It's well before time that decent standards, were adapted to properly inform the punter.

I have no problem with different handicap conditions for different States, but those handicap conditions should be adapted to a National code.

__________________
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Well said, Chrome its a joke, especially Race Codes, though I admit I'm talking from my pocket I mised a 38-1 winner the other week at SA I think it was as the codes were different I backed the code and tab no not realising I was betting at a different track!!

Maybe they have to pay the head honchos up top even more money to get some straight thinking happening.

Anyone know how much they get paid?

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Cheers.

Yep, way too much.
This has been a bugbear of mine for many years and it's only getting worse.
It is (almost) becoming impossible to maintain the error filled data.
Almost 60 tracks with multiple track codes, jockey claims not appearing, jockey names random:

Can be ...
John Bell
J Bell
John R Bell
J R Bell

Only if there's a Justin Bell, you've got go go right through the bleeding lot to make sure J Bell is John or Justin etc etc etc.
Then you 've got D Miller Jr. and D Miller Snr.

Surely it's simple to put R S Dye, J R Bell.

My proposal is simply to associate jockeys, trainers, horses, tracks, track condition and race class a simple code, so that there can never be two of the same entities clashing or confusing.

The power that be do not care at all about this, they want the printouts generated and in the TABs and Racebooks regardless of errors.
They want bums on seats and sponsorship.

We've had the Fosters Melbourne Cup, the Emirates Melbourne Cup, the Toohey's Melbourne Cup, I can live with that, but next it will be the Toyota Cup, and all prestige and heritage will mean little and be lost in the quagmire of confusion.

Such a pity.

__________________
RaceCensus - powerful system testing software.
Now with over 412,000 Metropolitan, Provincial and Country races!
http://www.propun.com.au/horse_raci...ng_systems.html
*RaceCensus now updated to 31/12/2024
Video overview of RaceCensus here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W821YP_b0Pg

Well Chrome, I can remember the days when A decent hotel in England was owned by an ENGLISHMAN, and so were most decent racehorses (and the entire industry) !!!! boom boom!