So I'm relatively new to this racing game.

How exactly does this affect us punters?

I've 8 systems that have worked well over two years of back data and seem to have been working quite well up with the exception of November with real money.

Some of them are based on a speed rating others on the GTX ratings. How will this change affect them? Anyone have any ideas?

Alex.

The whole class system is a ballsup in Australia, and every year it get's more confusing. Even some trainers are now confused and get fined for nominating ineligible horses, so that speaks volumes.

Each State has it's own way of doing things, and even some raceclubs.

Then you have various grades of the same bloomin' class, so you can have a $5,000 Class 6 or a $20,000 Class 6.

Prizemoney cannot give an accurate guide to class of race anymore apart from Country/Metro.

And then they give more of a penalty to a horse that won first up, than a horse that won second up in Perth - which makes no logical sense at all.

They need to have an industry standard criteria, like any other industry.

Then handicap the horses based on performance +/-. If a horse fails to run well in it's current class, so that the ratings go below a certain point, then it should be eligible to go back to the lower grade.

So there should be a race class figure and a horse class figure, but it should be consistent across the board.

Fairly straightforward I would have thought, but the powers that be decide "let's do something different". And they successfully confuse the trainers and punters which detracts interest, quality, and turnover.

WAKE UP!

__________________
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When you consider who finances the races [yes we do, but we don't make the rules], why would it be in the TAB's interest to allow those it [indirectly] employs, to make things easier for the punter to pick winners with a simple and logical class system?
Sure they get their guaranteed % of all pools but if it was easier for the punter to pick winners there would be more of us doing so and that would lower average winning odds [a lot] .....which will turn punters away from the game and lower TAB share prices!

At the same time bamboozling us so we pick less winners, will drive more punters away and lower the share price too

The more we lose, the less we have to invest and turnover / takeout profits suffer.

Already there are so many other ways to lift the average dividend.

Basically, they think it helps the industry, the trainers and owners, but it detracts investment.

__________________
RaceCensus - powerful system testing software.
Now with over 426,000 Metropolitan, Provincial and Country races!
http://www.propun.com.au/horse_raci...ng_systems.html
*RaceCensus now updated to 31/10/2025
Video overview of RaceCensus here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W821YP_b0Pg

& all this when there are a 1000 & 1 other gambling options available to those so inclined, & betfair almost certainly to eventually corner a fair share of current tab markets.

i mean why bang your head against a wall trying to snag(fluke) that elusive 4/5 figure trifecta when for the same outlay you can enter multiple online poker tournaments & win(fluke) a motza?

Class of the race doesn't really matter to me... the challenge is to pick the winner at decent value out of a group of race horses that are similarly graded due to class... ie open class horses race in open class races... maidens run in maidens, class 4 horses run in class 4 races , group horses run in group races.... no matter what the class the challenge remains the same...... it can be just as difficult to pick a winner in a group 1 race (EG FIELDS OF OMAGH 20-1 cox plate; DELTA BLUES 16-1 MELBOURNE CUP or even DANDY ANDY at 200-1 in an Australian Cup) AS IT IS TO PICK A WINNER in a maiden..... MY EXPERIENCE IS THAT LOWER CLASS races especially in country areas in distances from 1300 and above offer the best betting opportunities.....

i think that we place too much emphasis on class
due to the temporary nature of a horses good season or half season they go off quickly and the trick is to pick the next good thing not the last good thing.

the best variables are recent form barrier draw and recent racing (unless short distance) good form and an inside barrier are handy when it comes to getting a price.

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laurie

in reply to your excellent point CRASH regarding why the flood of information hasn't increased the strike rate of favs winning..my answer would be that corruption in racing prevents the strike rate of favs from increasing despite the apparent increase in knowledge to punters..... also i believe that TOO MUCH CONFIDENCE can be a bad thing in punting... when we have too much information and become so convinced that we have found a certaity or a good thing we can then over bet a horse thus creating a favourite that is essentially overbet and in terms of long term value becomes a false favourite.... so depite rises in form technology perhaps corruption in racing (favs not getting the greatest favours in the run) combined with a new found over confidence (hence creating over bet false favs) combined with the old age constant factor of LUCK means that the winning rate of favs remains static... after all u can watch as many videos as u like and do all the form in the world but u will never be as wise as those who are closest to the horse or are sitting on its back.....

with the flood of "rubbish racing" comes the realisation that most of these races are a lottery, a crap shoot, & the "money" is more often wrong than right, & as most punters are essentially sheep following the money or ratings or tips etc etc without a thought for what might actually be going on, of course the fav's keep on winning as many races as they possibly can

fact would then be that most (if not almost all) of us are fairly useless at what we are trying to do, what other pursuits where a failure rate in excess of 70% would be acceptable (to ourselves) or tolerated (by the missus)?

happy new year

lol. lol