I use the Wizard Form Guides class indicator (Cls) eg. eq or dn and; the field strength (FS) as a guide. The FS "measures the difference between the quality of the field against which the horse raced last start and will confront in the forethcoming race." eg FS -2.0 means the upcoming race is 2.0 kg weaker for that horse than last start.

In combination with the Wrat and Impact Form, I have found it a good way to narrow down the chances.

Ingust,if you want to make things easier for yourself, just use the past ratings provided for free on the tasmanian tab website www.thetote.com.au and go to the form link on the left hand menu and then interactive form. I've found these to be as accurate as any and best of all they are free. To reduce the figures to kilos just divide by 13.3 and round to the nearest half kilo, and then adjust for the current weights and any other bonuses or penalties you feel are necessary.

Why 13.3? I read on the forum somewhere that 20 ratings points was equal to a length on the ratings, so based on 1 length = 1.5 kilos which seems to be the norm with most methods i just divided 20 by 1.5

Might not be everybodys cup of tea, but I find them pretty good, of course it all comes down to which run you wish to choose as your base run. some would use the last run , others best of the last 3 ( which from memory was what Scott used) some may use an average, or the best rating at the distance of the current race. Hope this has been some help and the best of luck with it.

Hi Dr Ron


You will find with the thetote ratings are already in kg's. All you need to do is put the dot after the first 2 digits...eg....if the rating is 480...its actually 48.0....then you just need to subtract the horse's weight above the minimum limit weight that it is to carry today.

I tested that they were actually weight ratings in kgs and that 1.5 kg = 1 length by comparing two horses that were in the same past race and working out what there rating difference should of been.

Joe

Thanks for that info joelance, i'm sure i checked the same thing out previously but couldn't find any consistency using the 1 length = 1.5 kgs . I would have assumed that they would have put the dot in anyway if that is the case. Either way it still comes up with the same order but just a slight difference when pricing them.

Dr Ron!
This is from the VATC site, may explain the anomaly re. 1 len = 1.5 KG

" The following scale is a guide for assessment of a horse’s performance in a particular race, where the winning distance is two lengths or less:

1200Metres & Under - 1.5kg per length

1400 – 1800Metres - 1.0kg per length

2000 – 2600Metres - 1.0 to 0.5kg per length

2800Metres & Over - 0.5kg per length

This scale assumes a good to firm surface and diminishes as the surface becomes slower. Distances between placed horses may be under expressed."

Cheers