I will also add that unfortunately if information is provided at a very economical price for punters it is not really viable to do so:

1. There is a general perception that if it is cheap then it is no good.

2. There's a very high likelihood of attracting very small, undisciplined punters who don't obtain good odds about their winners and who misuse the information. An example is a punter we obtained who backed our top selections one week and saw a lot of second selections win at good odds. So next week this punter left all the top selections alone and backed the second selections. Of course, you don't need to be told what happened.

We have found it uneconomic to provide affordable information for the average small punter for those and other reasons and now only provide one betting package which is priced and marketed only for more serious and hopefully more disciplined punters. Without discipline no information, paid or free, no computer programme, nothing will work long term for the punter.

Duritz,

I'll take your $13 each way Crown Prosecutor.

Cheers,

F

ps. you sure you haven't confused the saddlecloth number with your price assessment?

Excellent posts Neil and Filante thanks very much for that. If there are accurate class figures out there then I could not be bothered trying to compete when the potential benefit would be stuff all anyway. As to selling tips etc, tough gig that, leave me out. I never want to get into that aspect, I was just testing the water to see if there was a niche for class figures rather than tips.

As to the mugs in the TAB, I work in a TAB so believe me, I know those mugs, and yes you're right they do not want to pay for anything, and they don't want more than whats on the wall. In fact, they often don't even want that, content merely to peer up at the screen which displays the next race to jump in any code anywhere in the country, pick some numbers at random, fill their card out incorrectly and not know what they meant to fill out when I ask them, then complain when they don't win.

Hey but for the fun of it I'll post my prices for whatever I personally handicap tomorrow, I won't bother posting the computer's automatically generated assessments. I will probably HCP Ascot and Geelong (selected events), should I post them here or is there another thread which is a better one to use?

Duritz

Filante I forgot to mention, all prices I put up are assessed to an 80% market so I certainly wouldn't be laying them at the prices I put up, rather backing them at those prices. Converted to 100% odds that makes it about a $10 or $11 chance according to me.

Certainly not confusing saddle cloth with odds, for although it was a very nice win by Crown Prosecutor LS, it is up in class and up in weight. I don't think it can carry the same weight as Mr Sandgroper and beat him, and I certainly don't think it can give 1.5 kilos to Free at Last and beat her. That being said, it still is my fourth pick and so I am not saying it cannot win, but that it represents bad value. Time will tell. Horse racing can be a great humbler.

You had a query which I neglected to answer in previous post as to my ratings method. For the classing aspect (past race), it examines the horses previous rating, compares that performance with today in terms of fin pos today, weight carried then to now and difference in class and assesses what it thinks the horse should rate today. It does that for the top five each race and comes up with the race figure as a result. For tomorrows races when the computer does the form it relies largely but not entirely on current form. I have always found (and nothing is without exception) that current form is the best barometer. Trainers may pull horses up (shock horror!) which distorts this but by and large, put simply, how a horse is going is how it is going.

Good luck
Duritz

What's wrong with five feet tall punters.?

the market picks 33% of winners so ratings are not required for that 33%
the other 67% is luck.
if ratings pick them it is probably by co-incidence rather than the ratings working.

other downsides to ratings are that they apply to every race and it is an astute punter that can pick the eyes out of ratings and win.

they may have the ability to pick false favorites which can lead to overlays which i think are required to win at racing.

the knowledge to be able to bet with confidence is the key.
if ratings can give this then by all means. i havent seen it yet.
good luck.

__________________
laurie

Duritz,

I was only joking about the bet, but I do think you might have under-rated Crown Prosecutor for tomorrow. My view is that he's been set for this race and is ready to hit his peak. He was only just beaten in his two 2,400m runs last preparation. He's a winner of 6 from 20. I give him a bonus for being a 4yo because I think 4 and 5yos seomhow rise to the top in feature staying events, and I give him a further bonus for the ease of his last start win, because statistically horses that win by over three lengths repeat more often than their ratings suggest they should.

Mr Sandgroper definitely has the best overall form in the race, is a winner over 2,400m at Grp1 level, a winner of 5 from 14, and is a 4yo. He appeals to me as the best chance in the race. I'm not sure I agree with the proposition you put on another thread that he improves significantly over a staying distance - he seems perfectly adaptable to sprinting to me (see, for instance, one of his first up runs as a three year old when he carried 57kg from barrier 16 on an open 3yo 1,200m race and won by 3 lengths and his several good recent middle distance performances).

I'm less keen about Free At Last who has had an odd preparation for this, being 2nd up after a 53-day spell, and True Steel who is a 7yo with a significantly lower win strike rate than the other three chances, but I concede them both a chance as they rate around the mark with Mr Sandgroper out of their last start clash behind Modem over 1,800m, and both will certainly run the trip.

Anyway, I have them 11. Mr Sandgroper $3; 13. Crown Prosecutor $3.25; 15. Free at Last $6; and 3. True Steel $6.5.

In relation to your ratings for tomorrow, I would post them on a new thread.

Cheers,

F