Blog

Thursday 29th November 24

Hi all. Just wanted to do a quick hello really. I dont have too much to report but am making decent progress as I continue to work towards some important improvements but of course managing the database and keeping everything running smoothly as a priority.

In my personal world my mum turned 70 and we all had a big family party, which was loads of fun! And of course Christmas is now coming and its vital to try and get that time with the family and friends as well. The key word for both work and play is moderation as is of course the case with gambling and just about everything in life! I do try!

I will continue to note confirmed changes to the right hand side. Cheers for your support, greatly appreciated! Chris

Thursday 14th November 24

Hello. I hope you are doing well. I've been working hard behind the scenes, and I wanted to provide a quick update. Im currently focused on implementing some improvements and enhancements to the site. I will continue to do this.

Later today, I will be rolling out a fix to the system builder. Im optimistic that this will help me move forward towards the next upgrade of it, which is a priority over the coming months. There will be minimal disruption and a clear message when it is being done.

Thank you for your continued support as I work through these updates. Your understanding means a lot, and it motivates me to keep pushing forward.

As always, I'm committed to improving the site. I appreciate the positive feedback.

Take care and thank you. Chris

Thursday 31st October 2024

Hi, hope that life is treating you as good as can be.

I have added a new feature to the site just now and wanted to explain it a little. It was based on a request from a very long term user and I hope it may benefit others. This is the ability to store a personal rating in the simplest form as a numeric value by horse on the card. This number will be stored and then shown on the card any time the horse runs. This can be a great way to use your own judgement and could have multiple purposes for users.

I have made this feature a user defined one, as you wont want to see the column unless you plan to use. To set it up go to My HRB -> My Settings -> Race Card Display -> Change Tabs Shown. Then make sure to tick the option 'Race Card - Personal Rating'

After you have made this change you will see a column with heading PR between Odds and HRB on the race card. Unless a number is set, the value will be displayed as 0. If you change this number then it will automatically reload the page and store for you and your personal rating will be shown any time the horse is down to run. This is new code and I would be grateful if you could let me know of any issues.

The clocks went back and there are a few more days with a bit less racing and now through till Christmas is when I historically have been able to implement changes a bit more readily. I will do all I can to get everything on. I shall also try and post regularly with updates. Let me thank you with sincerity for your continued support of the site, it is what keeps the site alive! Talk soon. Chris

Thursday 17th October 2024

Hello, I hope that you are all well?

All statistical analysis can very much be open to the individual as to how they interpret. Actual vs Expected (A/E) is a very useful calculation to try and find consistency and to see if the qualifiers of a 'system' are producing the number of winners (actual) versus what the odds suggest should win (expected). The calculation used is sum(wins)/sum(1-(odds_numerical/(odds_numerical+1)).

A/E is one of those statistics that ideally you want a figure above 1, but its not always that straightforward and the sample size and number of winners and the odds of those winners is important. It is very important to not be too sidetracked either way if there are huge priced winners. Lets look at an example.

Race Data - All of these categories specify only the types of races included.
Track - Ascot
Race Distance - Exactly 7f
Horse Data - These categories specify the individual traits of each horse in THIS race.
Horse Age - Exactly 2
H-Run (Career) - Exactly 0

This returns basic calculations as below.

Bets 365, Wins 34, Win% 9.32, P/L(SP) 71.68, P/L(BF) 190.2, Lay(BF) -199.75, A/E 1.01

Then look at the winners. There was a biggy in there and the stats for horses of 50/1 above are 55 runners and 1 win with an A/E of 1.28. Thats all because Ortac Rock won at 66/1.

What can sometimes be a good technique is to remove big priced horses when you are analysing, I mean you can always add them back in if you want. Big-priced winners can sometimes represent genuine value, especially in systems where long shots tend to outperform, skewing can work both ways (for very short-priced winners as well). But if we use the same criteria as we did above and add in odds of say less than 20/1 it now produces 212 bets, 29 wins, p/l of 32.68 and an A/E of 0.98

Now obviously this is just a quick example based on common data fields and in it there are many horses running in the same races, but identifying angles of any sort can then give you licence to dig deeper. Overall, A/E is a useful metric but we definitely should be cautious about overinterpreting results without considering context (like odds and sample size).

I decided to post this blog as a user sent me a question, I think it makes sense to start posting replies like this on the blog rather than me just saying I am working away in the background! Feel free to drop me a line! And thanks to Jason for sending me the mail!

Thanks so much for your support! Chris

Tuesday 1st October 2024

Struck me that I havent written in a wee while, sorry I have got myself stuck into a load of projects and once I do I get the head down and just keep going. For now I am mainly focusing on offline work in preparation and dealing with quite large volumes at times and managing the database but the dark nights are coming! I really hope that you are well and I will keep posting any updates I make to the right hand side. To be completely honest I dont have too much to report personally, I always try my very best in all ways, strange old world we live in but you gotta keep on keeping on! Thank you. Chris

Monday 9th September 2024

Hopefully all is good with you and yours. I am okay, we battle on! I was at Hampden the other night and watched Scotland lose another very late goal, we are on a really bad run of form. Quite exciting that McTominay and Gilmour have joined Napoli though and both scored v Poland and McTominay did again last night in Portugal (so too though did Ronaldo with another late loser for us!).

The evening racing is nearly at an end, with just a few meetings still that go on until about half 7 (except the AW that is obviously year round). This means the volume of racing really starts to come down and it is the best opportunity for me to get new stuff on and make changes. There are never as many days like there used to be, because of these AW evening meetings but there are certainly more than during the Summer months. I am trying to structure things as best I can and get stuff on in an order that makes sense. I added a load of new trends that I compiled and thats an example of something that doesnt cause any disruption but changes to reports, live tools and obviously the Builder etc is more tricky.

I will keep going and we will see what becomes of it all! Thank you. Chris

Tuesday 27th August 2024

It sometimes seems like things tend to happen in bursts, people say in three's but often its double that! But on we go! I personally am fine and enjoying the racing and some nice long walks and back training for another half marathon. You will see I am adding to the right hand column with some items I get finalised and I will continue to do so, there are some really cool new things I am close to having ready that are quite exciting developments and I will keep going with it all.

I really appreciate your kind support. Thank you. Chris

Friday 9th August 2024

Just a quick post to confirm I will be doing a Builder reload this Sunday, I will do so after Racing has finished to avoid causing too much disruption. I also have several other updates across the site to start putting through whwnever opportunity allows and I will update any confirmed on this page.

Thanks for your continued support and feedback. Chris

Tuesday 30 July 2024

I really hope that you are keeping well? I am good and enjoying one of my favourite weeks of the year when Galway and Goodwood run at the same time. Its such a variety of racing across the two meetings. I am also pressing on with several enhancements that I will load up at the correct time. As long term members will know I tend to upload thing in bursts after extensive testing locally or in some cases on a beta site. This serves us well because obviously a large focus of regular users is their saved systems, ratings and so on. Therefore the daily checks and managing of data has to take priority and it is just the nature of uploading a change that it often brings with it an issue! I am quite excited about some of the new developments I have been working on.

One area where an issue has been identified, and I apologise for, is the owners data in the Builder. The newer listings when loaded were okay (around March) but somehow stopped gathering new information at random points since. I fixed the code and they are now all I believe gathering correctly again but now need to backdate them to that point and reload. I am taking the opportunity when I do so to add more owners, please send me any requests that you have and I will try and include. The System Builder is an incredibly complex tool, over the years I have used a whole variety of approaches (in terms of coding and how it works from a database perspective) to keep it fast and to ensure that all categories can be cross-referenced with all others - the owner data is one of the more difficult ones because of its formatting and the fact some owners have many various combinations. I have spent some time going over my code and again testing it locally to see if I can make it a little smoother. Anyway, yes please do send over any owners you think worth including in my reload and I will try my best.

In my personal world, I am doing good and staying active and looking forward to a family trip to good old Blackpool soon. I may be aging but the kid inside me is still very much alive and being with my nieces and nephews and son and sisters etc as we run around the Pleasure Beach and then act stupidly on the beach will do me the world of good.

Thanks so much for your loyalty and support of the site. Chris

Wednesday 17th July 2024

Been a while since I wrote sorry. I would say it hurt for a lot of you who are English to watch the defeat in the final. It was no different with the media this tournament and some of the stuff they do is horrendous, mainly it must be said to your own team. That is not just England to be fair and maybe it is more just about the world we live in where very few people stick together when things go wrong. I think in the end we all must agree Spain deserved to win it. In politics most of us continue to watch on as it all unravels around us, a landslide victory here in the UK but mainly a collapse that led to it (in Scotland too), in the US a bizarre watch continues and in my opinion things around the world will only get more bizarre in the months to come. Some of it is just the same old stuff and to be honest its best to not think about any of it too much. Dont get too caught up in it, live life as best you can and try be happy and accepting of those around you, it works but takes time.

With regards to HRB, I continue in my quest, I shall shortly begin a new period of uploading improvements that I have been working on. I am beginning to feel the substantial rewards (more time) of my efforts to automate large elements of what I do. And really what I say all the time to myself is that I must trust the process and in myself and that I am genuinely doing the best I can, as indeed are most of us. We shall see where it all leads.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you with sincerity for your support of the site. It is just a statement of fact that without you, it could not survive. Thank you! Chris

Wednesday 26th June 2024

So Scotland limped out of the Euros, I really believed we would qualify. I am not someone who just turns on people and I hope people will stick together but of course it is very disappointing. The Tartan Army at least made us all proud! England have been boring I think it is fair to say (as have France) but of course qualified. A couple of teams have been fun to watch, Austria being the obvious one. I took a few days holiday and was at the Scotland game. It was very hard, grown men in tears. The racing continues of course too, Ascot now done and we move on to the Irish Derby this weekend. Like with Cheltenham and so many things now, it is dominated by a few stables. This changes strategy quite a bit and some of the areas of research can really drill down into the specifics of routes taken and so on. It is my sincere hope I will be moving on to some more customer facing content soon and this will include some examples, for now while the racing is on pretty much all day every day I feel it best to persevere with the tasks I can do that dont affect the live server. Thanks so much for your support. Chris

Thursday 6th June 2024

I am now 47, hard for me to fully take in if I am honest as I do still basically feel like a kid, not sure thats a good thing! The work I have been doing on automating more areas is I think going to be extremely useful, it is going nicely, as with all these things there are many stages to what I do, and testing it on the live server versus a local one is always a difficult step. But I am very pleased with it. It is hard to find the right time to do uploads to tools right now as the racing volume is so constant but I will start pushing more things through at times that make sense. My aim is always to keep things lightning quick so I am also going over a lot of indexes and table joins. Might sound boring but it is what keeps the site so quick. My thanks for your continued support and feedback. Cheers Chris

Wednesday 22nd May 2024

Been struggling for time recently, so much to get through, but I am fine and continue to try my very best. I have been working more again on automation of some of the areas that really take up my time but in truth as the database grows ever bigger there are even more things to check! I suppose there are positives and negatives in that regard. I will never be able to entirely automate things but there are lots more things I can do and as I have discussed before, with every ten minutes saved each day it can be used on something else. It is pouring down with rain here in Glasgow after a few nice days, no surprises and we are always glad when we get a nice day. The countdown is on now for the Euros, Scotland have an injury depleted squad but a few good players and I am hopeful (always the case and yet we have never done it) we can qualify from the group. I hope that you are well and thank you sincerely for being a member and supporting the site. Chris

Thursday 2nd May 2024

I hope that you are well? I have been enjoying the slightly better weather and like most of us prefer the lighter nights, I remember my Dad used to always say it to me when I was a kid but at the time I didnt think it mattered that much! I did a half marathon on Sunday in a place called Barry Buddon, which is near Dundee. I am nearly 47 and managed to do it in just under 1 hour 50 minutes, so I was pretty pleased, ideally I will keep doing these runs as I get older, so good for your mental health as well as obviously the physical side. My son was there and cheered me on, he was going to do it too but picked up an ankle injury unfortunately.

The racing volume has picked right back up again and thats good in many ways but keeping me very busy. Sorry if I sometimes take a while to reply to an email, I will always get back to you. I really appreciate your support - Chris

Thursday 18th April 2024

Hi there, hope you are well. I am copying a mail I sent to a couple of users earlier in as this blog. Its a new area and I have tried my best to explain on the page, but here is a bit of a more detailed explanation

All the stats on the Stand Out Stats page load based on code I set up that means they change each time you view the page. If you read the text above you will see I have tried to explain this. The basic point is that like everything on the site I try not to give 'selections'. So, if you refresh using the link on there you will see each time that the presentation changes. You can use other tools on the site such as Stat Attack, Dam Stat Attack Extra etc to view all these stats at any one time. For the HRB Standard (or other ratings sets if you wish) you can use the link above those stats listed to set parameters and view all races. I hope this explains

This tool essentially was designed for those in a hurry who want a snapshot of some possible areas of interest, and it can be very useful as a start point to get ideas of other areas in the site to do more detailed research. Partially the reason I created it is to try and attract more of those on a trial in the hope of getting some more customers.

Thanks for all your support - Chris

Thursday 11th April 2024

It is that time of year again with the Grand National looming, I always get asked by just about everyone I know to give a tip and I always say I dont give tips, still they ask ha ha. We have a family sweepstake and I got Coko Beach but I am hoping one of the kids will win of course. There are 20 of us and it used to be easy to give everyone two horses each but this year we are down to 34 runners and to be honest I am not sure it is the same race as it used to be. But there we go, lets hope its a good spectacle and gets positive headlines.

With regards the site, I am working my way through several rather laborious tasks that are important and the type of things I do not devote enough time to normally, we are all good at certain things and they tend to correspond with what we enjoy. But sometimes I guess we need to grin and bear it and work our way through the stuff constantly put off till another day. I am getting there and at the end of it I think the site will be far healthier for it and a lot more user friendly and easy for newer people to navigate. But a lot of it is also about people finding the site in the first place, I hardly get any traffic and rely on word of mouth.

Personally, I am pretty well, I continue to try hard every day and there are many things I am very proud of, we shall see where it all leads. The world around us all seems a bit insane at times but I guess thats always been the case and I remember my Grandad saying to me the world was going bonkers when I showed him how to send an email. Maybe I am just getting old.

Take care of yourself and thanks so much for your support of the site. Chris

Wednesday 3rd April 2024

Been struck down with a rotten cold, not pleasant! Worst part is an annoying tickly cough that comes at the most awkward times. Anyway, think I am over the worst of it. All eyes move on to the Grand National now after Cheltenham and a very busy Easter. I like being kept busy so dont have any complaints and I have managed to fit in some good family time too. I hope that you are keeping well, I will post a more detailed update of things I am working on next time. Thanks so much for your support. Chris

Wednesday 20 March 2024

I hope that you enjoyed Cheltenham and had a successful week. I am just posting quickly as I have not done so in couple weeks, I am doing okay and doing everything I can to advance things. I have sought advice from quite a few people and am so grateful for the support, I can only again acknowledge honestly that I am a one man business and trying my very best to proceed in a way that aligns with my outlook on life, might sound a bit daft but there we are, I will keep trying as long as it remains an option. We live in a world controlled by money and corporations and governments etc, I accept that and have to pay the bills and accept reality like everyone else. And so we battle on. Quite a few more enhancements and upgrades in the pipeline and I will get through as much as I possibly can. Thanks so much. Chris

Tuesday 5th March 2024

Not long till Cheltenham now, lets enjoy it! You will hopefully notice I am doing everything I can to improve the site and I am responding to and acting on as many requests and as much feedback as I can. There are some new areas launched and I have many more plans. Thanks to everyone helping to spread the word - it is needed.

I greatly appreciate your support. Chris

Monday 26th February 2024

Cheltenham is without doubt the busiest period and I have started preparing for it and will be uploading some new workings to some areas that will be useful I hope. I added a Festivals area there in line with feedback. If I can get it finished I have some new code I created that will help point out some stats that may well be of interest for each of the races.

I dont have too much to report personally. I have managed to keep going with my half marathon training and my son Jamie is living with me and as I probably mentioned, we are going to do the run together. Keeps us out of trouble knowing we have to do the runs!

I hope you are keeping well. Thanks for your support. Chris

Monday 12th February 2024

I hope you are well and that you had a nice weekend. We lost a few more meetings to the weather but that is not unusual for the time of year. I have done a bit of tidying up in the way that checks are done to automate the race trends etc as much as possible because the abandonment of a race the previous year can throw it out, what I have not yet managed to perfect is when it is switched to another track, this happens in Ireland quite a lot anyway where they move them around between Naas, Curragh, Navan etc. In the UK it is normally if its cancelled and they run it at another meeting to save the race.

The more that I can cut down on the manual checks and daily tasks and common issues like that one to maintain the requirements to keep the data of the highest quality (the most important factor of the site) then the more time I can spend on other things. This was something my Dad was always telling me, if you spend a day now setting up something that saves you 15 minutes a day going forward then the maths is obvious and within a few months you will already have gained that 15 mins a day to spend on other things and the day you spent setting it up will be forgotten even though it might have been painfully boring at the time!

I will be uploading some more workings, improvements and stuff I have ready to several areas of the site across the next couple of weeks and will make any notes on the relevant projects or in the column to the right. Thanks very much for your support. Cheers. Chris

Monday 5th February 2024

I have spent significant time running various tests on the Speed figures as in the tabs. I am making notes on there directly. I dont use these myself but in fairness they have some real promise so I can see why they are popular. I have plans to significantly expand the capabilities and functionality, but like all areas it is pointless doing it unless it is thoroughly checked over first. This is the same for a couple of other projects I am working on including the H2H/Collateral form area, Run Comments and Speed Calculator. In all cases the upload to get to the next point is significant, but I am very hopeful these areas and indeed several others will be ready before Cheltenham. Your feedback is absolutely invaluable, thank you!

All the tools on here are very much down to members offering their opinions and making requests. I dont get to them all straight away but that is why I have so much scope for improvements as I have folders filled with ideas and requests that are all on my eventual wish list! The wonderful thing about horse racing is there are so many angles and concepts that can be explored. Of course I somehow have to pay the bills and deal with the elements of having a small business that I would rather not have to care about (money, bureaucracy and the small minority that cause issues pretty much covers it).

I asked a few times in recent months for people to spread the word of the site, and some people very kindly did so, I must accept and admit that the numbers of people who want a database and research tools and to do the hard work of finding selections themselves is very small compared to the vast market who for whatever reason (often just time) want to be told what to back. The problem is that the data costs and so on in recent years have risen massively and so I must face the facts. I mention this to you all as an honest assessment of the realities I face. As I have mentioned a few times, the stuff that is on there also needs to be made a little easier to navigate for new people and I am working also on some simplified areas that I think will be popular. We shall see how it all unfolds.

I dont have much to report personally, it seems to be one weather warning to the next but I still get out to exercise every day. It was my nieces birthday and thats about as exciting as it gets, was good fun! Thank you so much for supporting me and the site. I hope you are well. Chris

Monday 21st January 2024

I hope that you are keeping well. A lot more cancellations to some good racing cards is disappointing. I live on the coast and there have been some pretty dramatic scenes with the waves at times spectacular. I am back in training to do a half marathon, it will be my first in a while. I am going to do this one with my son Jamie, something else that we can tick off that we have done together. And really I think thats what its all about, trying to enjoy the moments. As such I am giving my body a bit of a break from booze, not a dry January or in fact anything that big a deal as I am not a heavy drinker but just to try and help make the runs a bit easier. At 46, I am not as fit or able as I once was obviously. I remember when I used to be able to have a load of pints the night before and then actually play football well the next day! Getting through some of the things I am trying to do for the site is a real slog, thats just the nature of the data I suppose, running tests and verifying anything before it goes live takes a lot of effort and quite often I find that tests on smaller samples of data does not correlate when I then test on a larger scale - anyway, it is what it is. We shall persevere! Cheers. Chris

Tuesday 9th January 2024

Happy New Year! Lets try and make this one a good one!

It was fantastic to see so much of family and friends and of course particularly cool to hang out with my son Jamie who is 21 and I am proud to say my best pal. We managed to get tickets for the Edinburgh celebrations and I love fireworks so that was cool, but mainly it was a lot of fun seeing Pulp, Jarvis Cocker still has a great stage presence and I find him amusing. Before that we walked up Calton Hill and got amazing sights of the city all lit up. I am based on the west coast of Scotland and we also did a few things this side including walking round Millport! Over near my Mum we went to a few places but on a very wet atmospheric day visited the Devils Pulpit (the water runs red because of sandstone), we had it to ourselves and it was really cool (and free as many of the best things are!). We did a lot of hillwalking and also fitted in a good few pints too and also lots of meet ups. Great stuff.

I am now fully back to work as I expect most of you are too, and I am straight back into the various projects and ideas I have. We have the rest of January and then all of February where its mainly quiet and a great time to get stuck into things. I will keep you updated with progress.

I would like to thank you with sincerity for continuing to support HorseRaceBase. Your loyalty, feedback and support are absolutely invaluable and I am very grateful! Cheers. Chris

Saturday 30th December 23 - 10.30am

I hope you are having a fantastic festive period. My son Jamie is here and I am enjoying some time with him and all the rest of the family too. Its busy with work but I am doing my best to get the right balance!

All systems and trends that specified the year 2023 now also include 2024. You must save 2024 from now on if you are specifying years and want qualifiers to appear next year. Today the 48hr declarations will be for 1st January, so it is a good time to check things over.

Happy New Year. I really appreciate all your feedback, support and kindness over the year. Chris

Friday 22nd December 23

Just a quick message to confirm the arrangements for the cards at Christmas. This year there is racing tomorrow on the 23rd. The Boxing Day declarations should come in the afternoon and as always I will make these the cards to cover the days that there is no racing. In other words Todays Cards on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day will be for Boxing Day. And on the 23rd when ready, they will appear as Tomorrows Cards. It is always quite a task but I will get it done ASAP.

I will across the next few days update all systems and trends to ensure that any specification of the year 2023 automatically updates to also include 2024. I will confirm when this is complete, after that you must do it yourself!

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas. Thanks so much for your support of the site. Chris

Monday 11th December 23

My thanks for the understanding in the last couple of weeks, never easy these things.

I am back going through some of the projects and will shortly be uploading a change to the Speed Ratings, this is an area I have not touched for a long time, but they are popular. The most consistent feedback has been in relation to the code of racing being used as part of the formulation, in other words so that if its a chase then only chases are used in the relatable calculations. Separately I am working on doing some videos that will help people get used to the site, I have been trying to get feedback recently and have had some great help from some people I trust in this regard, all the feedback on the site tends to be positive but often people are saying they feel overwhelmed and dont know where to start.

There are quite a few other areas of development I am working on and will hopefully detail these in due course. One step at a time and all that! I think I am getting through things in a sensible order and that all will be okay, but time will tell. I hope that you and yours are well and looking forward to Christmas and the New Year.

Thank you. Chris

Monday 4th December 23

We had a bereavement in the family. Never easy. We will work through the feelings and remember the good times. The weather is causing a lot of cancellations in the racing and things are quiet, which has helped. On we go.

Cheers for your continued support. Thank you. Chris

Tuesday 21st November 23

How are things going? I am okay but we have some illnesses in the family that are taking up a lot of our thoughts and of course we do all we can to assist those who are going through it. I dont really have much to report personally otherwise.

I continue to work on various projects and it is my strong hope you will notice significant enhancements across the next month, then a short break over the Christmas and New Year period and then we go again in January through till start of March when hopefully we can focus on Cheltenham and make it a great one!

Thank you so much for your support of the site, it is greatly appreciated. Chris

Wednesday 8th November 23

I hope that you are all well and having a bit of luck. I am working my way through a couple of projects, one of them is adding in buttons to directly transfer data used in Shortcuts into the System Builder. This is good for a couple of reasons, both to check stats but also as a start point for understanding how to create data specifications in the Builder. So, I hope it will be beneficial. Not all are possible but I will keep going with the ones that are.

I do not really have too much to report personally, actually that is a good thing given how some of the recent months went, so I am not complaining! Apart from working I am continuing to do a lot of walking even on the days when it is bucketing it down, I love the rain (love all weather types to be honest, just like being outdoors) and that probably makes me a freak but there you go. A few people I know are unfortunately facing illness and sometimes it is very hard to know what you can do, ultimately be supportive as you can I conclude. Often those with the illness take it better than those that know them. Acceptance is a positive thing.

I am a big Beatles fan and was very pleased that I really enjoyed Now and Then, it is growing on me too and I must admit a small part of me was actually quite worried I would dislike it. Just because I so wanted it to be well received. It amazes me how they have crossed the generations and indeed my grandad, dad, son and I all love(d) them. Take care and thanks. Chris

Wednesday 1st November 23

A pretty miserable weather period causing a few cancellations, bit of a shame to lose some good cards. All okay with me, I will be doing some quite extensive live facing work across November. I will post to the right with anything notable. For now I wont say too much more and I will just do the best I can. I hope you are doing well, thank you so much for your support. Chris

Wednesday 25th October 23

Do you ever find yourself bogged down in something that you just cant leave even when it seems utterly pointless? That is how I found myself both personally and with work in the last week or so. Some of it is obviously my own fault, some seems to be down to the way humans are wired and some is completely understandable. Personally it can sort of be justified as we all want things to be a certain way, and when they are not it is hard to accept it, thats basically what emotional pain is. Professionally it is similar, I really want to live by a certain code and do things a certain way but I am a lone wolf so to put it. If you refuse to step aside from your ethics and upbringing it can leave you sometimes questioning it all. Anyway. Its fine and on we go. Whatever shall be shall be. I very much enjoyed Champions Day and the end of the Flat season is nigh. I have many plans for the site across these coming months and with a little luck things will work out. Cheers, and thanks for your support. Chris

Thursday 12th October 23

I am managing to get through some things and these include quite a lot that are visible to the front end of the site that you see, which is what the whole intention is, I am listing these to the right hand side. Some are extremely straightforward and all goes nice and smooth, others when put into the live environment cause a few more problems. But these can be ironed out and then on we go. As I have been saying for some time now and those that are long term users know, the months now through till March with the exclusion of the few busy periods in between are always the best time for me to do this. The next couple of days are actually really good quality racing and the end of the flat season includes a few of these cracking cards, plus I like the Chepstow meeting.

I would like to mention again as we come into the National Hunt taking over really that it is worth looking out for the distance changes that the tracks advise to the BHA each day. These are included in HRB as soon as available. Some tracks are really good at putting this up in advance, others not so much. Today is a good example of why they are important plus the challenges sometimes faced - The Exeter chases have distance changes meaning a reduction of around half a furlong, these were advised well in advance - Worcester advised this morning of an additional 48 yards to all races. Tomorrow Chepstow at the moment are saying 'distances to be confirmed' and so I will keep periodically checking until they come through.

Did you see the changes to the Grand National? It will now be 34 runners. Of course they must take steps to try and be in the modern world but I think part of the attraction of the global appeal of the race is its history and 40 runners also means lots of competition and bigger prices for sweepstakes and so on. Horse Racing is a tricky industry to be in. On one side we have the gambling side of things and trying very hard to accept the close links with gambling and the sport and that for the large majority it is a fun pastime, but also being very aware that for some it is not. How do you manage the fact that for some people it isnt? I personally think education and honesty is the key and where I disagree with the gambling industry is when they do not take action they could do until forced. I think its pathetic actually and short-sighted and instead the government come up with a solution made by people who probably dont bet. So there is that, and then there is also the animal welfare side of things. From all I can see horses in the sport are generally treated with great care and looked after but there are clearly documented exceptions. Its a volatile subject and a conversation with someone who feels particularly strongly on either side becomes fraught with emotion, complexity and just like with the betting side of things the room tends to be held by those with the loudest voice.

Obviously this subject is relevant to horse racing and why I mention it. But really you could apply the same logic to just about every setting. From office environments, families, wars, governments and so on, you have differences of opinion and often two loud opposing voices to each extreme. In the middle lies everyone else who in their way try to find resolutions and a way forward, but if we are honest we all have our own things that matter to us that take priority. And so we carry on.

I will continue on with the upgrades and I will keep doing everything I can to make this the best horse racing website on the internet, primarily this will be through continued expansion of the tools and features in line with your feedback and requests. Also though, I will be adding better help and explanations of how to do things that are obviously not clear to some people, especially those that are new. My intention of the site has always been to bring like-minded people together, those that understand and accept that betting on Horse Racing is not an easy solution to lifes problems nor is it an escape from them, it is a fun activity and a puzzle and with sensible strategy, discipline and the right tools it is possible to make a profit.

With regards to my personal life, I am okay/good and I try my very best every day and I am very grateful for what I have. Some people around me are not in this position at the moment but I accept that the best thing I can do for them is to be a strong support, healthy and available to assist if I can plus understanding and compassionate. None of us can fix the world individually, but we can try our best to be the best person we can within the limits of possibility and maybe just maybe it will lead somewhere.

Its Spain v Scotland tonight, I cant say I expect to qualify (we only need a point) but maybe it will happen over the weekend due to other results. Or maybe it will happen tonight!

Thanks so much for your continued support of the site. I sincerely appreciate it. Chris

Thursday 5th October 23

Just a very quick post today. On we go. Life is life as the song goes. I am okay and have made some decent progress since last writing. I am pretty much finished with the local file work I have been doing and it seems fine but each day throws up a few new things. I am shortly restarting the site improvements and will list these in the bar to the right hand side. If you spot any issues at all as a result of these then please report them. I have a huge folder of improvements and requests and several ongoing projects and it is my aim to make considerable progress with these in the coming weeks and months. I really hope you are well, thanks so much, Chris

Thursday 28th September 23 - 9.30pm

Thanks so much for your kindness and understanding during these last few days. It has been a tough time and there is no point saying anything else, it seems these periods seem to bring a whole load of turmoil from different areas, but there are always things to be grateful for and I am personally okay. And so on we go. I can not for obvious reasons give a running commentary on personal matters that are not my own but I will say that things are a little more stable.

I have this evening fixed the V4 data and there should now be no issues at all. There was a problem on Tuesday evening for an hour or so and some people were affected. I am sorry about this, it happened basically because I couldnt at the time take a phone call, it took me one minute to fix once I knew there was an issue.

It is my intention to finish off a few things I need to do on my local machines as previously mentioned and then get straight into some of the projects, I will be back working something more like normal hours and hope to make some good progress.

Thanks again for the support, it genuinely means a lot to me. Chris

Saturday 23rd September 23

I have always been very honest with you all and so I will continue to do so, sometimes life is very challenging and takes over and you just have to do what you can. Mine has changed for the worse in the last couple of days and as I write someone extremely close to me has been taken into hospital and I must prioritise this. I am very hopeful they will soon be discharged or at least in a position we know all is okay. I will then return to prioritising what I want to do with the website, but ultimately I must put family first and I am sure you can understand this.

I would not mention this if I did not have to but ultimately, I can not do the System Builder fix as detailed below until I have decent internet and am in a better position. And unfortunately my main laptop also has today developed a power issue, just to add to the fun. With this said, I will be available and doing all thats required to keep everything going and responding to emails etc when I can. I spent a lot of time in the last few years working on how I cope with things and have found a good balance and much healthier ways, and I am absolutely fine, I know some of you will ask that. I hope to post very soon with better news.

I apologise for the inconvenience with the BF data from Saturday 16th. Thanks for your support and your understanding, I greatly appreciate it. Chris

Thursday 21st September 23

Just to confirm that apart from the issue with the BF data for last Saturday as mentioned below, everything on the server should now be fully functional. I will do a reload for that BF data issue soon, probably on Sunday, I am going to include something else I am finishing off and there will not be too much time when I have to take it offline (just the Builder and tools that use it), probably about 15 minutes. On a personal level there remain some issues that I am working through, this is basically to do with my machines and communicating with the server on a daily basis to do various tasks. Its fine but I am having to rebuild parts of them and to be completely honest it is incredibly tedious. The new server seems to be very fast and a few people have commented on this, so thats good. There is a lot I want to move on to and the bit I enjoy is the development of tools. With the move to the new server comes scope for me to get back to doing this and some areas can now be expanded upon even further. I have a huge array of feedback and requests to work on. I will also have to really try hard to try and get some new customers as costs continue to go through the roof. The months from now through till Cheltenham in March with the exclusion of the Christmas and New Year period bring with them a lot more time (as there is a lot less racing) to get stuck into all of this.

Its been a long time since I had to do these through the night sessions as I did do for the server switch. Was interesting, I used to do them all the time back when I started the site up. Life has sort of been put on hold for a week or two, but thats okay and it is only short term, I always make a point of finding time to enjoy myself and see family etc and I will get back to doing so. I would like to thank you sincerely for your support of the site, without it, it would not exist. Cheers. Chris

Monday 18th September 23 - 1.20pm

Hi

There was a few issues this morning that were all technical stuff I had to change settings for and that sort of thing. The racing updates all came through just after 12pm once I had managed to fix that particular problem. This means a lot of the non runners for example appear to be at the same time, sorry. I believe the payment processing is now resolved but am testing thoroughly. A couple of download reports have caused various issues depending on specific user settings, I have fixed all of these as they have been reported. If you have any issue at all, please do report it. I will try and respond to everyone. With regards the BF data in Builder for Saturday, I am working on this, I have a fix but its long-winded. It all appears to have worked correctly today (for yesterdays racing). Thanks again for your support. Chris

Sunday 17th September 23 - 7pm

Hello

The server upgrade/switch went ahead overnight. As expected there were/are a few issues along the way and I must admit it has been a very tiring few days, but its fine and it will be worth it. I will continue to test every area, thanks so much for your feedback, support and patience. Once this is all complete we can move on. I am listing below issues that I am aware of and a couple that did cause big issues I now consider fixed (let me know if not). I might not be able to reply to all emails sorry as that is one of the issues I had. Here is a summary as things stand-

Issues requiring fixed

• BF prices and all BF stats from Sat 16th 23 currently showing as 0 in System Builder.
• Sage Pay Payments not currently functioning. Paypal is okay.

Resolved issues (tell me if any problems)

• Several downloads were causing problems early on Sunday morning, particularly V4, results and My Report. All should now work
• Ugly error messages were being spat out on some pages, should not be anymore
• Several emails that were sent to me earlier I think got lost in the abyss. If its important and Ive not replied, please send again
• There was an issue on Sunday morning early on with live odds, it was fixed later in the morning

I will post again across the coming days with further updates. I am taking the message that appeared on every page away as it is annoying. Thanks again. Chris

Monday 11th September 23

Hello, I hope you are well.

As per previous mails, I would now like to confirm that the server switch will happen this Sunday September 17th from 2am. It will happen in the early hours of the morning and there will be a period when the site is unavailable as the process happens. I have spent a lot of time preparing to try and minimise any issues, but there may be some, that is the nature of a server switch. I know I can rely on members to report anything that looks odd.

I hope it will all go as smooth as possible. Thanks again. Chris

Monday 4th September 23

Hello, it has been a while since I last wrote. I am okay, the only real thing to report is that I continue to try my very best every day and really what more can you do! I have had a lot of time with my son/family and also been really planning out the site server switch and getting the tools and so on working correctly in a new environment plus dealing with huge files of data.

I will confirm the exact date in due course, but the new server is now in place and I am trying to ensure everything will run smoothly. The way it will work is that I will switch the live site to the new server at the most appropriate time that the IT guys can do it and when no racing is on, those who are on the new server can work away as normal and report any problems at all, those on the old server will see a message telling them this. It is a technical matter as to how long it takes but I have done it before and for most people it seems to switch within a few hours.

Once we are on the new server, I will be able to really push on with what I want to do across the autumn/winter months when there is less racing. I shall post again in the coming days with the exact date of the switch.

I am very grateful indeed for your support of the site and I hope that you are well. Thanks. Chris

Sunday 6th August 23

I hope that you are keeping well. I just wanted to post quickly to confirm I am preparing for the server upgrade. Anyone who has ever ran a website or been involved in IT will understand the complexities that can arise. You can only plan so much and sometimes there are still issues, but anyway, I will do the best I can. I will confirm dates nearer the time but we are looking at early September. Goodwood and Galway is always a very busy week for me but it was a great watch. My sister got married, it was a fantastic family occasion and a real celebration. I am spending some time with my son Jamie and that is always a good thing. I really hope you are doing okay and thank you sincerely for your continued support of the site. Thanks. Chris

Sunday 23rd July 23

It has been a rough few weeks on a personal level to be honest, it is mainly people I care about going through very difficult times and in times like this all you can do is offer your support. I am preparing for the site works I will be doing starting in September, which will initially include upgrading the server. There are a few things I am going to get on before the end of July. I will give full details of the timeframes in September as I plan it out. I really hope that you are well and thank you sincerely for your support. Chris

Saturday 8th July 23

Just watched Paddington do its thing and it was pretty impressive. Aidan OBrien afterwards said he thinks there is more to come and that it is getting faster! On to the Sussex Stakes I expect next and the price understandably came right in. Inspiral looks to be going there too though. In another story, what about Hillsin at Worcester? What can be said about this, it just looks so bad on a replay. I guess we shall have to let the authorities do their thing. I must admit I cant stand bureaucracy and rules and ever since I was a kid find that many of lifes problems are caused by the rule makers and in many cases the people who enforce them. But if we didnt have rules would there be chaos? Yes. Hence we carry on and go in circles. Is there a government, large authority or rule maker in the world that has the respect and admiration of the public? Billy Connolly used to joke that the thought of wanting to be a politician should immediatly bar you from ever becoming one. But areas like football/athletics that have brought in former players/competitors etc also end up in a mess. Maybe we need to get AI to run the show. Could they do worse than humans? I am half-joking.

I have been looking after my sisters cat for a few days while she is on holiday. Very amusing little thing but went missing and I had to go hunting. Turned up eventually in the house, somehow trapped inside a bunk bed. Sounds like a dreadful comedy sketch but seriously, an hour of my life looking for Tilda the cat fearing the worst of having to tell two devastated children.

It will be when the night racing ends that I really get back into major upgrades again but I am planning some stuff for September including a server upgrade that I have been putting off until the time is right, but I cant put it off forever. I hope that you are well. Thanks so much for your support. Chris

Friday 23rd June 23

Hello, sorry to not have posted in a couple of weeks but ultimately I didnt want to just write 'I am very busy' as it seems like a very dull post. Royal Ascot has been fun but yeah, keeps me on my toes. Same for the huge volumes at the moment in general. 9 meetings tomorrow and 631 runners.

I have had a few emails recently about people on social media or their own sites apparently using HRB in an obvious way for their own paid content and not giving any credit, to be honest I cant be bothered with any crap and I dont get involved in it, if people ask for a refund for example I instantly give them one, similarly in the past I have had people I felt were not being fair in their usage (screen scraping all day long) and so its best just to go our separate ways, all I will say for now is that I do everything on a general decency basis and it would be sensible if you are very reliant on HRB to make sure you are playing fair. I know most users and know that nearly all are.

Scotland picked up another two wins, the one against Norway was a joy (Kenny Mclean with a wonder goal!), the one v Georgia was a bizarre night where biblical rain left me, my son and other family members and fans drenched to the bone for a 90 minute delay and then the match. Wonderful atnosphere though and totally worth it. Fair play to Steve Clarke, it is so wonderful sharing these moments with Jamie in particular after years of utter dross.

I was on a train the other day and went offline for a few hours, does you a lot of good sometimes and I managed to go through some folders and get things into a somewhat better order. I have had some significant success with the automation work I have been doing and I hope to be able to get a couple of things on for some features across the next few weeks. But lets see how it goes. Good luck and thanks so much for supporting the site. Chris

Thursday 8 June 23

How is everyone doing? All okay with me, being kept very busy. The newest issue I have is with Arab races that are coming through in a way they previously did not. As I try and automate these stages it is putting things out a bit. Not a big deal but something to deal with. I am just trying to clear things and catch up, I am way behind with emails again but will get on top of them. In life in general, I think it is fair to say I am getting there but it is a working progress. Thanks for your continued support. Chris

Thursday 25th May 23

I hope that you are well. The sun is shining brightly today here in Ayrshire. Everybody just seems in a better mood when the sun is out. I went for a nice long walk and got a coffee as I do every day. Simple pleasures. Was particularly nice today.

I have been trying to take an hour a day offline to focus on some projects I want to get done, I have all these ideas as I suppose we all do, but the day to day stuff always takes over. Life is what happens when your busy making other plans as John Lennon said. I have done a really good job with the automation I have put in to help but every year when the busy periods kick in I find myself back facing the reality of it. But anyway, it is all good and I am really looking forward to another cracking weekend of racing. Royal Scotsman is the current favourite for the Irish 2000 and ten favourites have won since 2002 including Native Trail last year but bigger priced winners do come including in recent years Romanised and Phoenix of Spain. Dont know if you ever use the Trends page but it can be useful to look at the Paths from and to, for example 15 of the winners of the Irish 2000 since 97 ran in the UK 2000. If you just backed the winner of the Irish 2000 in the StJames Palace every year since 97, you would have had 20 bets and 8 winners (profit 4.21 at SP). These are simple stats and as I always say, if we all have the same ideas and all back/lay the same thing, then there will be no value. But I get asked so often for tips etc that I am going to start sharing more ideas of things you can do to get start points, areas of interest and exploration etc. I will get around to doing more videos etc eventually.

My old Astra passed its MOT, which was a nice surprise. I love driving it. One of those great purchases that has done me proud. I have had others that have been shockers, especially in Covid when I tried to find activities I enjoyed etc, ended up binning or giving away a load of crap. Bad news for me, Dundee United are relegated (unless we find an 8 goal swing on last game of season and its not going to happen, I am the ever optimist but yeah no point deluding yourself).

On we go, I will keep trying my best. Cheers for your support. Chris

Monday 15th May 23

Jamie is now 21 years old. It was a great occasion and afterwards I spent a few days with him just the two of us. We did a wee road trip through Ireland, just as we used to do so often, and as we always did we had so much fun just hanging out together. It was a real bonus too that several of my family made it over too for the party. I suppose in a way it makes me feel old having a 21 year old son but there are a whole load of positives. The next big family thing for us is in July, my sister gets married and it will be a wonderful few days.

The racing comes thick and fast and so do the big events. Next up is York and the Lockinge at Newbury is a big one. We reach the end of the football seasons too and there are some cracking games especially City v Madrid on Wednesday. Personally I am very worried about Dundee united, we lost to Ross County and it looks like we will get relegated but there are still a few games to claw our way out of it.

A couple of new categories I added to the Builder are causing me some issues and I am having to monitor them in real time. I have resisted the temptation to just pull them off and instead am trying to find a solution. I will need to take the Builder offline for a short time when I upload a fix. It means that some of the categories are not producing saved results but are producing qualifiers. I think I have a fix and as soon as I am certain its fully rectified I will arrange the reload. The problem as with many other areas is the huge amount of data involved and making changes is slow and troublesome, so as I say it is good not to pull them and have to start again. My apologies if you are affected with the issue, I am in direct contact with a few members to help me resolve the problem.

Sincerely appreciate your support of the site, thank you. Chris

Saturday 29th April 23

Just keeping going at a very busy time indeed from a data management perspective, as I have repeated many times over the years I just prefer to put in as many checks needed now as possible because with the database size growing there are more and more duplicate names etc. So yeah, some days there are is a huge workload and preparing for a day like today with so many races to also check through does make it tricky, but its all good. The racing today is really good, as I type I am watching Sandown. Very enjoyable. Otherwise I am keeping an eye on the snooker also. I like the attacking players, just my own style. I play pool and my mate is the opposite and likes Selby etc and thats how he plays as well - I take on everything and if I am in form win, he plays safe and tends to grind me down. Overall we are always roughly level over a longer period of time. Like most sports this is what makes it fun, never good if you just either thrash someone or get thrashed every time.

Actually in life I have found that comparing things week on week, month on month and year on year is also better than doing so day on day or hour on hour. Its hard sometimes but it does encourage me to keep going and to keep trying to do the right things. Ultimately what else can you do? I will be working hard and will try stay on top of mails etc, but I will be off for couple days when Jamie turns 21 so we are all looking forward to that and it will be great to get all the family together to celebrate. It is important to make the most of these moments when they come, otherwise whats the point? In this regard, I did a bungee jump with Jamie. We basically decided, why not? Its something to say we have done and we done it as a dad and son. I know the thought of it scares people but actually I wasnt scared at all. I basically thought to myself as long as I trust the technology then its like going on a rollercoaster or a plane. We did it near Pitlochry. Was amazing and I would recommend it to anyone.

I hope that you are well, thanks so much for your continued support. Chris

Tuesday 18th April 23

Certainly an interesting few days and I have been very busy indeed, the number of new horses out always causes me issues but hey ho. I enjoyed the Grand National but wont comment on the protesting except to say I think its farcical and ill-judged just as I did when I saw someone pour paint over himself on a snooker table. Well done to Corach Rambler, Lucinda Russell and Scotland for having the winner!

Would you believe my son is about to turn 21, wow, certainly makes me feel old, but I did have him quite young! He is a wonderful lad and I am so proud of him.

I will press on with the work I am doing and keep up with a rough sort of personal routine I now have that is pretty decent, always needs work but I am getting there. I did this voluntary blood test thing and thankfully am fine but it said slightly high cholesterol and slightly low Vitamin D and Iron levels. So I am trying to do something about it. Why are so many of the things we enjoy the most bad for us. That is a philisophical question I guess and I suppose the answer lies somewhere in survival of early humans. At the time they didnt have Tesco Express on their doorstep. Iron, I suppose I need to eat some spinach. As for Vitamin D, I live in Scotland and we dont get any sun ha ha. I am rambling. I will keep going. Thanks so much. Chris

Wednesday 5th April 23

Hello and I hope you are well. I am doing okay thanks and just getting on with it. There are continued stories of chaos if you delve into the news too much but I have found a good balance and only do what I suppose they used to do before we had global 24 hour news. What seems like a huge story comes, gets a load of attention and then it moves on and you realise that what seemed enormous in the past is like the current thing seeming huge and somehow you find a way to make sense of it. Of course in our personal lives it is different and when something massive happens then it really does take over, the illness or death of a loved one, losing your job, relationship break ups and so on. I had a few years of real chaos in my private life and as I have alluded to I did turn in an unhealthy way to things that gave me a temporary boost (in the most simple terms flooding the brain with dopamine) as really it seems such a sensible thing to do at the time as you get some sort of respite. I found a song called Avalanche by Leonard Cohen that became something of a way I used to describe to myself those years. It was relentless, but it passed and as cheesy as it sounds you come out of it stronger and you find a way to cope (hopefully!). Accepting you are human and not perfect is a good step to getting back control of your life.

I have said so before but will do so again because of the importance of the message, I am so very grateful to HorseRaceBase and to you the customer. I try my very best to offer a safe, reliable and useful service for all of us that love horse racing. And every tool on here is a direct result of feedback from customers. There are many more areas of improvement I have in numerous folders and will keep working away on. The start of the flat season brings with it a lot of new horses and data to manage and also there is a very busy Easter weekend, but I will stay on top of it all and answer all queries etc as quickly as possible and will continue with the upgrades.

I hope you have some nice plans for Easter, I will actually be busy working but will make sure to have some time with family too. Look after yourself and again thanks. Chris

Wednesday 29 March 23

Wow! That is what sport can do for you. A monumental performance, a famous victory and without exaggeration one of the best nights of my life. Scotland 2 Spain 0 and I was there to see it with Jamie and several other members of my family. We sang, screamed, panicked and cheered. It was an electric night in a jam packed Hampden Park and Glasgow before and afterwards was absolutely buzzing. Strangers hugged each other and everyone in that stadium will today have a sore throat. You perhaps have to be Scottish to understand but we have been through some astonishing lows and this result ranks up somewhere alongside the famous 1-0 win in France when James McFadden scored a wonder goal (I was there!). What is so special is we deserved to win and the attitude of the players, their connection with the crowd and the way they were set up is something I will never forget. A truly special evening. The noise in the stadium was astonishing.

Fantastic! Thanks for your support of the site, it is so very much appreciated. I will keep going with the improvements. Chris

Tuesday 21st March 23

I hope that you enjoyed Cheltenham and got a few winners, there were some brilliant races. I am back into the work I am doing and will continue to do until there is nothing else I can do! Please be aware I am doing everything I possibly can to stay on top of emails, the day to day stuff and get improvements on to meet requests. I appreciate your understanding and patience. Again, for those who do not know, I am a one man business and in an industry that is obviously heavily related to gambling and to bookmakers and I have chosen a route that is different from the norm for the industry. I am trying to promote sensible strategic punting and I work with members to develop tools that allow safe following of the sport. A government paper is due out soon on gambling regulations again because unfortunately there is a thin line between having fun and it getting out of control. In these tough times please do take care.

Thank you for all your support. I will be working extensively on the live site in the days to come and will list everything I get on to the right hand side. There should be no issues, so please report any. Chris

Monday 13th March 23

Just a quick message to say I wont put any more stuff on while Cheltenham is on, got stuck on some categories I have ready that are to do with Run Comments, bit tricky but will get there. Will pick back up again once we get through the week. I always love Cheltenham and I think most racing fans do. Enjoy it!

I hope you are well, many thanks indeed for your support. Chris

Sunday 5th March 23

I have now successfully managed to get the new workings across. As I mentioned on 12th February, the new way I tried did not work, so I have had to roll back the years and dig out a lot of my old workings and they are now in place. I need to make sure that tonight the overnight automated load works okay and the same for tomorrow morning. I apologise that across the last couple of weeks there have been some issues with the 48hr Declarations, this is because I have been using the area to live test as it was the safest way to do so. Tonight I am only adding one new category. There will be dozens more to come in the next few days and on the back of that I will be moving on to other things that are now possible. Everything I get on will be listed in the column to the right hand side.

I am very grateful for your support. Thank you. Chris

Tuesday 28th February 23

Hello, sorry I have been a bit quiet and that I have been a bit slow with email replies. I am doing everything to get all I can on and will be carrying on with this across the next week, dont want to just keep saying the same things basically, so I am just getting on with it and we will see where it leads us. I will post again in the lead up to Cheltenham.

Thanks very much for supporting the site. Chris

Sunday 12th February 23

Unfortunately the code I outlined below and tested again tonight is not going to work, once I put it in place and have more than a few users doing things that are quite complex it just starts causing problems. This is disappointing as it is far easier than the other way, which I will have to resort to. Plus I have spent many hours on it. But hey ho, there are far worse problems in the world. I know what I have to do and thats the positive. I will get everything on by start of March and have a push for Cheltenham and we will see how it goes.

I hope you are well and I thank you for your support, which is greatly appreciated. Chris

Tuesday 7th February 23

Hows it going? I am okay. The System Builder categories I have been working on are fully ready and work in a local environment. This weekend I installed a whole new set of code to try and incorporate all of them on to the site without removing any existing. It is not easy. I will be doing more work on late evenings and on this Sunday on the live site but there will be no disruption for more than ten to fifteen minutes and it will be at a time when no racing is on. Once the data for the categories successfully loads, the next steps will be possible. Essentially I dont want to make changes elsewhere that then need changed again because of the new categories, as everything can cross with everything else (hope that makes sense). All of this I hope to complete before the start of March.

Cheltenham is approaching and starting to see quite a bit of advertising and articles etc now, I love it and cant wait. Some of the things I am doing will I hope be really useful for the festival and might help attract some new customers.

Just another quick note about the rail movements, they sometimes change quite late and by large amounts, today Taunton have rail moves of over a furlong in several of the races and they werent on the BHA site till late today. Chris

Tuesday 24th January 23

Hello. Just thought I would do a short post to check in really. I am working very hard to get everything I can on before the start of March as I have discussed. I have spoke a lot in the blogs of the complexities especially in certain areas and also that I am a one man business, so it just has to be done in a way that makes common sense (as best I can manage ha ha) in terms of order and just what is possible. My current thinking is that on Sunday 5th February once racing has finished I will try implement some System Builder upgrades including some categories that are ready and working in a test environment. I have quite an extensive range of videos to add, they will help newcomers but be very useful for many people. I know that a lot of the features of the site go unnoticed and the issue of having written all the code myself is I sometime take it for granted its obvious, when it clearly is not! The videos have not been recorded yet but I have guidelines to go by, which might help me overcome my dislike of doing them (who likes the sound of their own voice!). The RPI figure I spoke of before Christmas was around 15%, some of you may have seen that in the news. Clearly, it has a negative impact on site costs and blah blah. This is life, money controls just about everything, I dont worry about it and will do all I can. In its simplest form, my view is that I will make HorseRaceBase as good as I can and try attract some new users that way, and we shall see.

Its January and there is not too much to report on a personal level, I picked up a minor injury on my calf when I played 5-asides, its annoying as it sets back the running. I have found a pretty good work/life balance and I wont be changing that element no matter what happens. I see a lot of my family and talk regularly with Jamie and I try and eat right and exercise but importantly (for me) I allow myself to have a few pints now and again, place bets in a responsible way and in general not follow some sort of life that my younger inner selves would view as boring. Moderation is the key. The site taught me that and is another thing I am so thankful to HorseRaceBase for.

I really hope that you are well and I would like to thank you with sincerity for your continued support of the site. Chris

Monday 9th January 23

Hope that you are well and enjoyed the festive period. I had a wonderful time with my son and saw a lot of my family, which I am extremely grateful for. With the busy racing period over it is back to now getting stuck into the projects and work I want to do with the site and for the next few weeks in January and February there is a great opportunity to get stuff on. I have tested extensively in preparation. With the Builder, I will note if it needs to come offline but if it does it will be for periods of less than half an hour and will be at times that there is no racing on. We shall have to see where it leads but I will try my very best.

Thank you for your support. Cheers. Chris

Saturday 31st December 22

Happy new year to you all. Just a quick but important point regarding systems, I have used the same patch as in previous years that applies a change to mean if you specified 2022 as a criteria, 2023 is also now included, but please do check.

Have a great time. Chris

Friday 23rd December 22

Firstly, let me wish you and all your family and friends a very merry Christmas. Secondly, let me thank you with sincerity for your support of HorseRaceBase, it is greatly appreciated.

The cards for 26th will appear as Todays Cards for all days from now until then. All downloads should also work as if it is the 26th.

I will be doing some offline testing to monitor things on Boxing Day as the day unfolds, its always busy and there is so much racing on. A lot of my decisions on features and download limits and this sort of thing is heavily affected by these very busy days (Easter Monday is another). There are 77 races and 895 runners and they are all in the afternoon so at times you have thousands of updates coming through at the same time. As I said previously, any changes on the live site will resume after the busy spell.

Its busy times so I have to work of course but I will be spending lots of time with my family and Jamie will be here for a week. My advice to all of you is blindingly obvious and the same as I intend to do myself - enjoy whatever time you can get together with those you love and make the most of it!

Thanks again, any issues mail me, I will be checking in regularly. Chris

Tuesday 13th December 22

Obviously the cold weather is affecting racing like it is affecting everything. It got to -8 where I am so far. My sister lives in Sweden and I have visited a few times when it has got to as low as -20. Also as kids, we went out and played in any old conditions and it was no different no matter how wet or cold it got. I think it is really about how prepared you are for it and if the infastructure is set up to cope with such conditions. My personal opinion is that its not a big deal and I dont care about driving in it and just take it sensibly. I think it looks extremely appealing on the eye and at night you get these amazing blankets of stars if you can venture out to a clear area.

In regards the site, its not so good, the Cheltenham cards and others that have been lost are a blow, people are far more likely to watch the racing when its the good quality stuff and of course that means visitors to the site etc. I am waiting for the yearly RPI (Retail Price Index) increase being released, its likely to mean another very large rise in the ongoing costs associated with the site and the data costs I pay in particular have risen massively in recent years. People are struggling and I will not be increasing prices myself. I will do all I can to attract new customers by making the site as user friendly and useful as possible and I will keep working on this. As I have mentioned many times in my blog and to everyone I ever speak to, the site is aimed at those who enjoy horse racing study and analysis but know there are no simple answers and you cant just be told what to back and expect long term success, there are no magic answers but you can do well if you have discipline, strategy and common sense. Thats what the site caters to. My decision not to specifically try and push customers to bookmakers sign up offers and other tipping websites or indeed to try and sell on products and selections to you comes from my personal history as I have explained throughout these blogs. I am no saint and this is no moral crusade, it is simply that if the site is to exist there must be a genuine need for it. There is and has been and thats why it has lasted so long but its being squeezed at both ends as tends to happen to many small businesses. We continue to battle on and I thank all of you sincerely for that.

In my personal world I am out running a lot even on the icy pavements, I enjoy it. I went to the Ice Hockey with my nephew, very good fun. Me and my Son will be together for New Year in Inverness but are struggling to get tickets for the event thats on. For Christmas I am going to my brothers for a meal as they have kindly invited me. I am working a lot but also taking very good care of myself and its all good. I hope that you and yours are well and I really hope you know how grateful I am for your continued support of the site. Take care and enjoy!

Cheers, Chris

Tuesday 6th December 22

The update I gave last week on the site is basically the position in that regard, I am getting through stuff, some of it is more fun to code than other bits, but will get through all I can. It all helps, so thank you very much for all the suggestions and feedback.

The World Cup has offered a mixed bag of entertainment in terms of the games, some of them have lived up to expectations and others have not. Whatever peoples views on all the money side of things, it is hard to not accept that this is part of all elements of society including the rich horse racing owners and so on. Nothing wrong with protesting but neither is there anything wrong with enjoying watching Lionel Messi bring great skills to the world. As you will know I am Scottish and as I have previously said to a few people my Mum and Dad are/was English, so I have nothing whatsoever against them, except the media hype. I think it is undeniable that England have a great squad, we shall see how they cope with Mbappe!

There is a wonderful card at Cheltenham this weekend as well as a couple of cracking cards elsewhere including Navan, Doncaster and Hereford. An area I created a long time ago, purely for fun were these Seconditis tables, a friend of mine was recently having a moan about having extreme bad luck with so many seconds. He was talking about a few trainers he follows and 7 of them appeared at the top of the 'unlucky' trainers lists!

I am making as many plans as I can to see people, especially family in the lead up to and over Christmas. I am looking forward to it. I hope you are too.

Thanks so much for your continued support. Chris

Monday 28th November 22

I am continuing to work hard on getting as many updates and things on as I can across these weeks/months that give the best opportunity to do so. As I have described previously, the coding and table structures and combinations of so many variables mean that making adjustments and adding new categories is complex and so too is the data management. I coded it all, so I have nobody to blame but myself but often it is a case of digging through my own notes and making adjustments to certain areas is very difficult. I have managed to keep any times that I have had to stop access to the Builder at a real minimum as I know the disruption it causes. I have a logical order to everything I am doing and some of the table structure changes I am making will allow upgrades to other areas, its all sort of connected and its the case that when one thing successfully goes through others open up. The videos I have planned, it just makes sense to do them once the pages are finalised. My plan is to keep going with what I am doing right through until around the 21st December, so that gives another three weeks for now. I will keep doing as I am and note anything confirmed to the right hand side and when the Builder is unavailable make a clear note on the site, it will only ever be when no racing is on and the days results are settled and I will keep it to a minimum. The reason to stop with any site changes on 21st is that the last racing day before Christmas is 22nd and I dont want to start messing around with things before what is the biggest racing day of the year (26th). I will then take a break for the few days there is no racing and then we have the very busy Christmas and New Year period. Upgrades and work on the site will then recommence in another very good time period to do so, January/February and up to the week or so before Cheltenham.

Work is keeping me very busy and there is not much else to report, I have seen family and friends of course and thats all good, which is what matters. I have learned to accept that you can only control certain things and it has helped me a lot. If you genuinely try your best and keep working hard on improving yourself and try to be the best person you can for those around you and that you come into contact with, it does offer some real inner calm.

I would like to thank you with sincerity for continuing to support HorseRaceBase.

Thanks. Chris

Sunday 20th November 22

There are no All Weather meetings in UK all week and as such it is a perfect opportunity for me to do things on the live site while there is no night racing on as the last race of the day should be settled and done Mon/Tue/Fri/Sun by 4pm and on Wednesday by 6pm. Its back at Wolverhampton on Saturday. What I am doing today/tonight wont impact users at all and much of it wont. But on some nights across the week every day up to next Sunday it will do. It will be clearly marked when I am doing something and I will minimise the periods. It will be after the last race is settled.

Everything I do is based on user feedback and support, the site is built on it. I really hope you and yours are well.

Thanks. Chris

Saturday 12th November 22

Will be working all this week with the live site and trying to get a few things on, I might also do a couple of videos in line with some requests I have had. The Builder work I have been doing will I think be ready to apply some stuff on the next two Sundays (20th and 27th Nov), I will as I have said minimise the time it is not available and it will be after racing has finished that I do it. I will confirm this nearer and will put up a clear message while the work is being done.

A great days racing today, hope you are enjoying it. All okay in my life, not much to report, which is quite good actually!

Thanks so much for supporting the site. Thanks. Chris

Tuesday 2nd November 22

I am working extensively on the forthcoming upgrade programme. I will confirm the dates that I need to take the Builder offline but as always will plan it for times that are least likely to cause inconvenience, November I hope will see a lot of things happening and the next 4 weeks or so are a great time to do it. I am trying to get as much on as I can. Testing is always different to going live as I found out with a minor change to the Odds page that caused a few people to see an annoying and incorrect warning message, sorry if you were affected.

Not too much to say in terms of my own life, I was at my Uncle Tony's 70th birthday party and saw many members of my family I have not seen in many years, cousins and so on. So that was a lot of fun. The full marathon training is an 18 week programme, so that begins soon and I am actually looking forward to it. We did a Halloween pub quiz, was quite a good laugh. Invented by the Irish apparently. I got most of the music and film stuff right but struggled badly with TV as the last series I had any interest in was Mr T and The A Team. Just cant invest my time in 22 seasons of 24 episodes. The weather has been weird, when I was in Brighton (for my Uncles 70th), it was 19 degrees and people were sunbathing. Today in Glasgow its horrendous rain. North v South I guess.

I really hope you are well. Thanks. Chris

Friday 21st October 22

Hello. I hope that you are well. The insanity of British politics continues and it is not going to stop, if it were not for the hideous damage they are doing to normal people and businesses, especially small ones, it would make for entertaining and amusing viewing. We are a global laughing stock and it is hard to find anyone who does not think its a shambolic mess with self-serving individuals taking it in turns to make it worse. Everyone has an agenda and that dictates their next move and what they say, but they cant say so, so spin more hyperbole. And so it goes and on we go.

I was stopped today in Glasgow by two fourth year students who said they were doing a project on gambling awareness and policy and would I comment on camera with any thoughts I had. I did so and spoke for a few minutes about how the issue with gambling is not that different from the issue with many other society issues, although it does not have the same visible view as substance disorders (perhaps making it worse) those with an issue are more than likely self-medicating, escaping real life or have became addicted. There are many people who do not have a problem. This is the same as food, gaming and so many other things. Anything that can lead to 'positive' feelings can in theory be used to change your mood and if your life is not how you want it to be or you feel bad, it can be very tempting. Once the brain makes those connections it becomes habit and unwittingly creates more problems, with the original escaped issue still there waiting to be resolved. Changing those patterns is horrific as is known by anyone who has at any stage ever tried to quit anything and gone through withdrawal. Therefore the issues are extremely complicated and of neuroscience and how the human brain works and of society and how it works. But, as I say, many people do not have a problem and can safely have fun and experience the good side. Was quite amusing to see their reaction after my unexpected answer.

As I knew I was due to post up a blog, I thought I would share my view with you the users of HorseRaceBase. I will add to this, that my opinions explain a lot about the website. I love horse racing and I love the tactical puzzle of trying to pick a winner/loser etc and this site is for other people who have came across it and feel the same way and helped build the tools. I have a link to William Hill on the odds page because they kindly supply the live odds to the site, otherwise I deliberately have stayed away from any link with gambling and I also have deliberately stayed away from telling users what they should or should not back. My point is that you know bookmakers exist and you do not need me forcing sign up offers or whatever else down your throat just so that I can earn more money. It is my opinion that horse racing is a wonderful sport and it can be enjoyed and followed and yes bets can be placed on it, all in a way that is not harmful or detrimental to you or society. By providing indepth analysis tools and storage facilities and a reasonably priced service it should and has worked as a business, the only difference now is the same one everyone faces with costs everywhere rising. I am eternally grateful to you the users of the site and to the living I have been provided from running the site and as long as it is viable, I shall keep it going with the same mentality and approach.

Take care and thanks. Chris

Tuesday 11th October 22

I did the Manchester half marathon. My time was 1:49, which considering I done my ankle in so badly, I am very pleased with. It was a great atmosphere and I must say that running in these events is one of those great things in life where it seems everybody is full of good will and egging each other on. There were a load of families out cheering with signs, giving high fives and handing out jelly babies. I would recommend it to anyone. The training is difficult enough but it keeps you in shape mentally and physically and the race days really are great fun. I have decided to stay in training and go for a full marathon next April. We shall see how that goes!

I am carefully planning out the best days to do work on the Builder and areas of the site that require me to take them offline. I will announce these in the normal way and the disruption will hopefully be very minimal. Certainly I have tested extensively. When the flat racing ends in early November until Christmas is a particularly good opportunity to do things but I have some upcoming days earmarked for other upgrades. Its a great card at Ascot this Saturday with the 4 group ones on Champions Day.

Cheers for supporting the site, it is greatly appreciated. Chris

Friday 30th September 22

Not too much to report on a personal level beyond my delight at the continued improvement of the Scottish national team under Steve Clarke! We go up to A in the Nations league, we get into pot 2 for the draw and we get a play off should we need one, so it really was a big result. I was at the Ireland match with my son Jamie and many of my family. It was a bit strange for him as he chose to support Scotland because of me really (I used to make a big deal for any game and he loved it) but he is Irish. Its a friendly rivalry between the two sets of fans so that helps.

As previously described I am preparing a number of updates and scheduling these in an order that makes sense in terms of getting them on. It tends to be the case that if the code is successful in one area then I can apply it in another. It can be the case that one of my data tables holds a column that is not easily accessed by other areas, adding a new column to a huge table is not straightforward. Anyway I am really pleased with the progress I am making in preparation and as mentioned last week the best months to get these things on are now coming up. This last week has been busy enough still, its the number of meetings and races that affect me most and for example yesterday with the 2 Irish meetings and 3 All Weather plus Warwick and Salisbury. In a couple of weeks we start getting down to 3,4 or 5 meetings several days a week. With this said, it is a good weekends racing coming up and also the London and Manchester derbies in the football to keep an eye on. No complaints!

I have stuck to my guns with the news and check it once in the morning and once at night. It is just a rolling barrage of doom, rotating between stories. It is hard not to pay attention when the pound drops to a historic low versus the dollar and so on and so forth.

I hope you are well. Thanks. Chris

Thursday 22nd September 22

I hope you are keeping well. I am very much back into the work and life is a bit more normal. As I have mentioned I am planning to do upgrades and get on quite a lot of things I have prepared at a good opportunity, this has historically been when the darker nights come and the racing volume calms down. For now, it is the end of the very busy period. There are 547 entries tomorrow (Fri 23rd) and 749 entries on Saturday. As I have discussed before the greatest workload for me is managing the data and new horses etc. Plus managing the site when people are using it and that is when racing is on. There are some great opportunities especially in October to February (excluding the busy Christmas/New Year period) and I am extensively testing and preparing for that. There are a few things I am confident I can get on now in line with requests and feedback and I will be processing them and note them to the right as usual.

In my own life, I saw Scotland beat Ukraine and that was a surprisingly good performance. My half marathon training is going pretty well, I am not very good/consistent at the nutrition side of things or the stretching but I am managing the runs okay and I am so happy that the ankle I twisted now feels strong. I am trying my best to find balance in life and moderation seems to be the key, but it can be tricky to actually see it through!

I really hope you are well and thanks so much for your support. Chris

Wednesday 14th September 22

Thanks again to everyone over last few weeks, Jamie is now fine and got accepted to a University course he wanted in Dublin, so that is great news. I am working on the next round of upgrade work and will be doing a Builder upgrade once the racing volume reduces in the darker nights. Other stuff can be done much sooner and I will get things online soon as I can. Some people are very affected by the Queens death and I offer my sincere condolences. Obviously UK racing on Monday is affected by the Queens funeral, but there are two Irish meetings, so from a site perspective there will be no non racing days.

Thanks so much for your support of the site. Chris

Monday 5th September 22

The name of what Jamie suffered with was cellulitis, I have never seen anything like it. At the hospital they drew lines in marker pen round the wound, the red patches of infection continued to spread in spite of the antibiotics being pumped in. Those first few days were crazy and a real worry. I shall not go into too much more detail but it was scary and the wound utterly disgusting. The good news is he is very much on the mend and will be fine, thanks to the medical care he received. In later days it became more about finding ways to stay amused round the hospital and following the routine of when drips were due, so we played cards and so on. It is not something Jamie will ever forget (nor I) but he is a great lad and will come back even stronger.

I am now playing catch up and will reply to all mails in due course. I am very grateful for your understanding. Chris

Monday 29th August 22

It has been a really rough time of late and unfortunately it got worse. My son Jamie was admitted to hospital last week and I have been here with him since, a seemingly minor enough sports injury got infected and led to a very dangerous situation and being taken to A and E, thankfully five days later he is now stable and it seems to be more of a waiting game ensuring that the antibiotics have the upper hand, with luck he will be deemed fit to leave and allowed to continue his recovery from home soon. He is only 20 years old and a fit guy, shows you that these things can happen to anyone.

Thanks for your support. Chris

Monday 22nd August 22

It is not very often nowadays I find myself in the bookies, back in the day I used to love going in but anyway times have changed. I was in the other day and was a little bit shocked actually at the lack of people and the fact most of them were just playing one of those FOBT things. I had some time to kill waiting on someone and it was torrential rain outside. Kilbeggan, Killarney, Newcastle, Salisbury and Wolverhampton were on. I really enjoyed myself. I remembered so vividly why I started the site. The whole point is that you will never win just blindly backing, but with some research and knowledge and discipline it is a different story. It gave me some fresh ideas on how to approach things going forward, and you will I hope see the results of my efforts in due course.

It is hard to see anything but a complicated and difficult few months for a lot of people in the next while, some of the politics are very hard to comprehend, but I guess that has always been the way. Where I live there are people who simply will not be able to find the money to pay the costs they are talking about when it comes to heating the house in Winter. As members of the public and community there is only so much that you can contribute to and do to help. Quite frankly, it is a complete mess and the incompetence of those in positions of power is a joke. When people are struggling and desperate is when things start to break down. They need to come up with a coherent plan and do it soon.

I have been trying out a few classic films. I got this magazine that listed out the 500 must see films and ticked off those I have already seen and am trying some I have not. I watched a couple of really old classic films, one was Harvey with James Stewart and his invisible rabbit from 1950, sounds rubbish but I really enjoyed it, he is a decent happy guy with no real desires for riches but in order to be so he has to escape reality and is labelled insane. My favourite ever film is The Good The Bad and The Ugly. Closely followed by Once Upon A Time In The West.

You may like to help try and spread the word of HRB and give a review, this is a review site that is run by a user of the site. I hope that you are well and I thank you very much for your support of the site.

Chris

Monday 15th August 22

I would say the main things that both my dad and my granddad taught me (the biggest influences of my life and sadly both now departed) and that I have now passed to my son Jamie is that of loyalty and of sticking together when the shit inevitably hits the fan as it will for everyone at some point and of enjoying the good times when they happen. I am very proud of that and it has held me and my family in good stead as we navigate life. Yes there are issues, but you have people you can rely on to turn to and even if you are at rock bottom you know you have someone that will stand by you. And at other times you can laugh and share great experiences without all the bickering many have.

An amusing sidenote to this comes in the form of team loyalties. I live West Coast of Scotland and just about everyone here supports Rangers or Celtic. When I was 5, Dundee Utd won the league and from then till late 80's we were a good side including a run to the UEFA cup final in 87. Most of my class all supported 'The Terrors' or Aberdeen and we all had the wee strips etc. Indeed I was at Hampden a few days after losing to Gothenburg when StMirren also beat us. In the subsequent years nearly everyone in my class changed their allegiances and became mainly Rangers fans. I however had my mindset firmly in place, no way I am changing team etc, even at the age of 10 or whatever I was.

Fast forward to the present day and we are not very good and have not been ever since I was a kid. The joys come in things like getting back to the SPL after having been relegated and in the lower league for years or an occasional cup run. Anyway, we had this amazing result (for us) beating AZ Alkmaar 1-0 in the first leg. My son (who stupidly decided to follow the same team as me) and I were really excited, he is over in Dublin so we were not together, but we text etc and I arranged to meet up with my brother and we made this big deal out of a European run. First half hour we played quite well, then it fell apart. At half time we were losing 5-0. At full time it was 7-0. Great fun! But in all sincerity, it sort of was, the enjoyment comes in the enjoying it, laughing about it, sharing the moments both good and bad.

I hope you are well. Your loyalty to the site is extremely appreciated. Chris

Saturday 6th August 22

Again, my thanks for understanding a quiet spell for the last couple of weeks as my personal life took over. It is a simple fact for all of us that the important things in life must be given priority when they arise and that shall not change, however it is another fact that this is not a fairytale and we all need to make a living and pay bills. I am so very grateful to the users of the site and shall continue to do all I can to keep the site going and improving.

Inflation is soaring and it is a bit dubious when it comes to the various costs continuing to rise, I do not believe in worrying and you can only do the best you can and find a way through these things. With this said, I must make some changes to try and combat it. I will not be raising prices though for members and if I gave you a lifetime lock-in price then I shall continue to honour that.

The Premiership is back and despite the obscene money involved etc, it remains a great distraction when a game is on at night, I have tried to watch normal TV but in all honesty boxsets and all those dramas etc just do nothing for me, if I do watch TV and it isnt live sport or news, it tends to be classic comedies like Only Fools and Horses, Blackadder, Fawlty Towers, One Foot In The Grave, Father Ted etc. Perhaps some of the new stuff is good but to me it comes across as always trying to make a point or to educate or whatever else, all good intentions I am sure but its not funny and thats why I watch a comedy. Separately I used to like Columbo, Morse, Frost and those type of one off dramas, do they exist anymore in that form, seems to be you need to dedicate yourself to 8 series of 24 episodes in each!

Take care. Chris

Friday 29th July 22

My thanks for the kind words I received from quite a few of you in relation to my relative who remains in hospital. Obviously I wont give a running commentary but I do appreciate the understanding, these things affect all of us at some point in our lives. My son is over with me for a few days and its great having him around.

I hope you are enjoying Goodwood and Galway. I like the week with them both on, lots to study and some real contrasting types of race across the two meetings. I have not had an opportunity to watch any of the woman euros, I will try see the final. Is England v Germany likely to be a family affair in this competition or a fierce rivalry?

I am still running behind with mails I am sorry to say but I will catch up.

Take care. Chris

Wednesday 20th July 22

We have some difficult times as a family as a very serious illness has struck and put one of us in ICU. At these times you all pull together and we know thats all you can really do. Plus of course hope for the best and be thankful for the NHS.

The hot weather caused a bit of carnage and racing was affected also with a good few sensible cancellations, pretty impossible to expect horses/jockeys or anyone to compete in 40 degrees. I struggle to walk to the shops if its above 30! I wonder if it shall indeed become the new normal. Strange times and in Scotland to see some of the days we get is just plain odd.

I fell a bit behind with mails and stuff but am catching up. Hope you understand. I really hope you are well, take care.

Cheers. Chris

Wednesday 14th July 22

Last week I mentioned the high possibility that Boris Johnson would leave based on the odds and of course things have moved on since then. The news moves on too. The press pack now focus on the leadership contest. And in time we will refer to Johnson's time as Prime Minister in the same way we mention previous prime ministers. I do not mean in terms of legacy because that is down to individual opinions and circumstances etc, I mean that life moves on and the fervour surrounding the situation goes away. The rolling news was almost obsessive just as it was about the story beforehand and just as it will be about the next thing. I learned during Covid that for me, a check on the news once a day is absolutely fine. Finding a reliable unbias news source is half the battle. So many people I know lean one way or another and their opinions are backed up by what they watch and read. You only need to look at the front pages each day to see the complete absurdity of how they report. My favourite example of this was a few years ago when the day before Theresa May had attended a conference and entered to Abba. The left leaning papers had headlines along the lines of what an embarrassment and the right had stuff like dancing queen.

I am working as always on a multi-project approach and am enjoying the challenge of some of the areas of coding. The reason the site has managed to stay in existence is because it caters to a wide range of areas and because you the members have helped develop and build every tool that we have and I am very grateful indeed for your loyalty. The vast majority of people I speak to and say 'I run a horse racing website' when they ask what I do, follow it up by asking me for a tip, obviously in a trying to be funny way, but it does reflect in the harsh reality that there are not that many people who want to/are able to study form and so on.

I have really rediscovered my love of walking and am enjoying searching out waterfalls and areas of beauty. Some of the views are just sensational. I dont take my phone and I just disappear for a couple of hours. It is so good for you and it is free.

I meet up with my son Jamie for a few days soon, anyone who knows me knows that it is my favourite time, it makes me so happy to just hang out with him, it really doesnt matter where. He has been on some amazing trips recently with his friend including to Petra and its so deserved after working hard to save up. The experiences will only add to his character, I am so proud of him.

I hope you are well and I would like to sincerely thank you again for your support of HorseRaceBase. Chris

Wednesday 7th July 22

A very busy period in the racing calendar and some days when there are the two Irish meetings plus five or six in the UK and it certainly keeps me occupied. As I have spent large amounts of time in Ireland I know quite a few people from there and its part of their culture especially out in the country. Nearly every pub has a racing theme. Although there are many cultural similarities, the UK and Ireland are very different in a lot of respects and that is certainly the difference with the racing. Scotland has 5 tracks and Republic of Ireland has about 24. Bigger fields and less racing days. I think they get a lot right.

Been following the politics, which continues to be farcical and no matter your allegiances it is hard to sing the praises of any of them. As I type Boris Johnson is 1.09 to go in 2022. So maybe the end is actually indeed nigh this time.

Lots of Sport on in addition to the July meeting etc, including Wimbledon, the womens Euros, Tour De France and not long till the Open at StAndrews. Always good to have something to keep an eye on.

I shall keep plodding away, have got on a good bit and shall always keep progressing in line with requests and feedback.

Cheers. Chris

Tuesday 28th June 22

Just a very quick post this week as I am writing in between a couple of programmes I am running that are close to finishing off. Managed to get some more things on and will keep going with it, couple of new areas in line with requests and feedback.

I was back at the hospital and thankfully do not need to return for three months and hopefully my eye will be fine. Makes you very grateful.

Appreciate your support. Thanks. Chris

Tuesday 21st June 22

Did you enjoy Ascot? There were some real cracking races, although I must admit I prefer Cheltenham were there to be a contest between the two. I was a little shocked to hear some of the criticism aimed at Dettori, nobody is beyond scrutiny of course and anything constructive and analysis is always good but some of it was really over the top. I guess this is one of the things a top sports star or indeed anyone in politics or entertainment has to accept and bear, who can forget how they turned on the likes of Beckham and so many others. It is why I stay off social media and avoid the newspapers, like everything there is good and bad but life is too short to even bother being in the same vicinity as the poisonous nonsense some of these keyboard warriors spout.

My work on the data checking and areas I may open up to volunteers has continued and I am getting somewhere with it. There are a few areas I just can not see a way to avoid some considerable human input, they just can not be automated without blind hope that they are correct. An example of this are the race names, I have built a very extensive program over the years to categorise races and spot them and nearly always they correctly get allocated but sometimes a race will get a name like 'We Sponsor The Champion Hurdle on Tuesday Handicap' and it should be labelled as a handicap, sometimes this can be spotted and when it is you can put in an exception, other times its trickier, point really is they need checked over by a human. You can just take the end text to get the race type but this too has thrown up exceptions. Anyway, I am getting somewhere with it.

They say things come in threes and I hope that this is my final health related thing, after many years of having zero issues and I consider myself very healthy, I badly twisted my ankle, then had a horrendous wisdom tooth through the nerve requiring extraction and this third thing was a routine visit for an eye exam and they do all those tests, one of them is eye pressure and the guy said I had to go up the hospital as it was far too high. Anyway the eye doctor up the hospital couldnt really make sense of it and my eye seems perfectly fine to me but the pressure jumps all over the place, so they put me on pills and drops and I have to go back in. Fingers crossed its a weird anomoly and whatever he has given me works and I can go back to thinking of myself as very healthy.

Thank you very much for your support of the site. Chris

Monday 13th June 22

Running the website involves many aspects, over the years I have had to learn quite a lot of differing skills to deal with these various areas. But when it comes down to it, the main thing is the database and it is the data that throws up the most interesting quirks too. Yesterday at Gowran Park there were two horses out for the first time called Sierra Nevada who both entered and ran in the same maiden (4.50). Apparently this is the first time in 28 years it has happened. As you may expect it caused a number of complications and this morning one of the areas I use as a checkpoint on my local machine completely crashed because of it. As I knew the likely reason I was able to put in an exception and that fixed it, so it wasnt too much of a headache. My code said something like match this horse name to this race and check that X,Y,Z matches X,Y,Z from this table and make sure there is exactly 1 match, if there are 0 matches then throw up an error message - I hadnt told Mr Computer what to do if there was more than 1 match, so he got confused and whirred and went round in circles. Most of the tables do not use such logic and instead use a primary key, but this one did for whatever reason I came up with when I made the table. Ultimately a computer will only do what it is programmed to do, they are obviously not human beings that can (in some cases) apply some logic.

With regards the data checks etc, for the last few years I have intermittently been working on introducing some areas where members who have a bit of free time can if they wish help me out with some of the more common and easy things, areas such as a brand new jockey (have they actually ran before), yard change update checks, new horse spot checks and so on. It is difficult to achieve because it is the raw data and I just have to be so careful with it. Anyway, I am getting closer and will perhaps put some live soon.

On the personal front, Scotland were humiliatingly bad in the football and in the words of Rod Stewart I dont want to talk about it. My nephew turned 13 and as a day out we all went to the Speedway at Glasgow Tigers, was a lot of fun once it got going but the Scottish weather played its part in holding things up for two hours. I have an old banger of a car (Astra) and dont use it much but it passed its MOT last month and I will drive it till it dies, me and my niece named him Vinny when I got him and he is doing me proud, shame he costs so much to feed nowadays and I was very shocked when I filled him up and it cost 80 pounds! My sister got engaged so that was some great news for us all. I have found a liking for various teas of the world after initially being very skeptical and insisting I only liked normal breakfast tea, I have tried obvious ones like Peppermint and Green but enjoyed some weird one beginning with an R (roobio?) and then my brother gave me ginger and I also tried dandelion. Without getting too personal they do good things for your digestion system!!

Many thanks indeed for your support of HorseRaceBase. Chris

Monday 6th June 22

Hope you enjoyed the bank holiday weekend, lots of racing and an enjoyable few races. Desert Crown was a good Derby winner but in some ways the horse I have heard talked about more is Westover who finished a flying third after not getting a run. Seems it will run in the Irish Derby and last time I looked was being very heavily backed in the Ante-Post market.

I spent the weekend working, mainly on large tables of data and it can be quite challenging, run the wrong query and its so time consuming. I found a good way to break down some of the heavier queries I run each morning. These data checks are so important and they can not be avoided because back-fixing is even more difficult. Before this, my son was over, we went to the Scotland v Ukraine game, it was extremely disappointing from a Scottish perspective, the result was certainly deservedly by Ukraine who then went on to lose to Wales. We continue to wait for our World Cup reappearance. It was a fun night as it was me, Jamie (my son), two of my brothers, my sister and her husband. In spite of the disappointment it was a great day to spend hanging out with them all.

Cheers for everything. Chris

Thursday 26th May 22

I have uploaded a bit more workings to Hot Races Extra. Nowadays I am extremely lucky to have put together a loyal but small membership base of people who I think understand my ethos and what I am trying to do with the site, I enjoy coding up new tools and the challenges they pose, finding new ways to get round very tricky data problems. The coding required for these types of projects is very convoluted and can not be done in conventional ways. Thats the same with many of the tools. So I find a way for each one, some are quite easy to make changes to and others are a bit of a nightmare. I have an enormous set of folders with feedback and requests for all tools and I am just going to keep plugging away. Over the years what we have built with all the feedback and suggestions is a really quite extensive set of varying tools covering many areas. There is no way I could have done it without you.

I turned 45 the other day. I cant say I feel old. If anything I feel younger than I did in my 30s as I started taking better care of myself. But the mirror does not lie! There is a great song by The Eels called Mistakes of My Youth and it contains the lines "In the dark of night I might be able to make myself think that I'm still a younger man, but when the light of day shines down theres no way to get around it, I am not the younger man". I believe there is a lot that can be so positive by facing up to the realities of life. It sounds like an over the top load of cheesy crap but you learn to appreciate the simplest things. Its a working progress!

Thank you sincerely for your support of the website, it is very much appreciated. Chris

Wednesday 18th May 22

I have discussed before about rail movements at the tracks. But I thought I would mention them again today just to highlight how big an impact they can sometimes have. Some sites do not record them, some do but as a note within the text of the race and some do as I do, which is to amend the race distance as per the advisory. The information is given to the BHA each day by each track and shown on their site in the Fixture Updates section, there is no way it can be automated. Most of the time the information is readily available a day or so in advance but it has been known to be advised on the day and very occasionaly as an afterthought. Basically, the rails are moved to provide fresh ground for the horses to run on and in the process of moving the rails, the distance that the horses travel can increase or decrease. Using a couple of deliberately large recent examples that are good to illustrate the point of why this is important, have a look at the 4.45 Hurdle at Exeter on 2nd Feb this year. The rail move was 338 yards! Thats one and a half furlongs extra! Tomorrow at Market Rasen nearly all distances are significantly changed as indeed they are today at Southwell. I believe these changes are something that can definitely give an edge for those taking notice, just as a going/jockey or any other change can do. Of course they do not impact in every race but they certainly do sometimes and every little bit of information you take on board is a further piece of analysis worth doing.

I am plodding away on many areas and shall continue to do the best I can, I am pretty much working solidly now until maybe taking a break or two in the Summer. I got out the other day to do a nice long walk. For those in Scotland, it was the Greenock Cut, absolutely stunning up there and I would thoroughly recommend. Otherwise, I have been playing pool once a week and find it a great form of zoning out and focusing for a while only on the competition with my friend. We are both average but being the same standard and competitive is what makes it so enjoyable.

Many thanks indeed for your support of HorseRaceBase, it is greatly appreciated. Chris

Monday 9th May 22

I mentioned previously about some things in the past where I have been told someone took offence and I had no understanding of why. The example that always springs to mind for me is the apparent horror of a couple of people because I have a Henry Ford quote. The point I make is, I like the quote, I may be ignorant but I know very little about him. It is a very difficult area and I try my best to stay out of any of these things where people feel so passionately and I dont really have much of an opinion beyond that I of course believe in peace and freedom but also that you can't deny the past or pretend it didnt exist. I guess everyone has their own limits, I wouldnt use a Gary Glitter quote. The reason I mention it today is because I just spent half an hour trying to work out why some of my scripts have gone haywire and throwing up all sorts of errors that need checking and I could make no sense of. To cut it short, the reason is that a horse was named Buggerlugs and due to run at 2.10 Beverley for Tim Easterby, but has since been renamed to Sling Yer Hook! I thought Buggerlugs was an affectionate name given to someone with slightly bigger ears by those of a certain generation, is it offensive? Anyway, Sling Yer Hook is an interesting replacement name given with a perhaps thinly veiled message!

My son turned 20 and I joined him and his friends in drinking like someone of that age. Fun times. I enjoyed Chester, especially the Chester Cup. I am looking forward to Scotland v Ukraine but still am not sure how it can go ahead, the whole world will I expect be supporting them. Real Madrid staged an amazing comeback and Rangers are in the Europa league final. Ronnie O'Sullivan deservedly won his 7th championship, then awkwardly hugged Judd Trump for about 2 minutes. You have to love Sport.

Cheers, Chris

Sunday 1st May 22

Hopefully you are enjoying the Bank Holiday weekend. I am working but enjoying lots of sports with of course Guineas weekend, the snooker and plenty of football etc too. So, no complaints.

I have been working on a project for a while now that I have decided to put on at a very early point, far earlier than usual. The reason being, I could do with a hand bug-spotting. It pretty much sits somewhere between Form Follow and Hot Races. I have called it Hot Races Extra. An area that I find extremely useful and I know others do too is to look at the races producing good form. It is already based on a folder of feedback I have collated. The code is particularly tricky but most members have been around long enough to know how the site works and that I am not particularly bothered about how pretty it is! I am adding it in its infancy because of the tricky code, once its in place it is far harder to change, so suggestions now are easier to implement as I progress it. I will, like other things, keep notes on the page, feel free to mail me if you have some ideas or notice anything, as I say, I will update that page as I go.

Cheers, Chris

Tuesday 26th April 22

I have always been pretty lucky with my health, so no complaints in that regard, but I have had a bad couple of months with different things. I woke up with my mouth in absolute agony and long story short had to have a wisdom tooth pulled out. Not fun I can tell you, but I will be fine and am just so grateful for the emergency appointment and getting it out. Chris

Tuesday 19th April 22

There are some periods in the year when it really is just so busy and most other people are off then there are others when everyone else is busy but I am quiet and try and use that time to process changes. Easter is one of them with all the meetings and so on, so I have been working a lot of hours. I did manage to catch up with family for a day out at a place called Almond Valley, which is near Livingston. It was me, two of my sisters, one of my brothers, my mum, their partners, five of my nieces and one of my nephews. I became a big child for the day and had a brilliant time. It has many things that adults are allowed to go on, so I was kind of in my element. It was pouring with rain so it meant there was no queues as other people huddled inside the cafe and so on.

My son turns 20 in early May (wow) and I then turn 45 soon after, I am going to meet up with him of course, so I look forward to that. Otherwise, I shall be working hard to try and progress a few things and to completely clear a backlog of work I am slowly getting through.

Many thanks indeed for supporting the site. Chris

Sunday 10th April 2022

In recent years I have became very sceptical of emotional stories that the media love to exploit and in a way ram down peoples throats. Very cynical of me yes, but I feel justified. The soft piano music they stick on so many sporting events, charity appeals and news stories. I could waffle on but I shall refrain from doing so as no doubt I would offend somebody. The reason I say it, is because I actually think the 50/1 winner of the Grand National on the very last ride of Sam Waley-Cohens career is like something out of a film. It would be very hard to make it up. So well done to all and a great story for the sport. I hope someone found the winner?

As mentioned in my last post I am incredibly busy at the moment (I have no complaints about this) and am playing catch up, I am sorry to those I am taking longer to respond to via emails etc, I am grateful to the vast majority who understand and are polite, I will get there.

Thank you for supporting HorseRaceBase, it is something I will forever be grateful for.

Chris

Wednesday 30th March 2022

Just a quick hello today, I am working on various things but when the flat season starts the large numbers of new horses becomes a real priority for me. Ultimately there is no way of completely automating this without making a load of cock ups. The dam and stallion data always throws up issues if it isnt thoroughly checked, so I learned a long time ago that it is far better just to put in the hard work in to get it right before an issue arises. What I do when a new horse has the same name as an old horse is to add (OLD) after the old entry. So for example War of Words (IRE) gets its first run at Southwell in a Maiden on Friday but there is an older entry with the same name. Database management can be tricky so it is best to just change the old entry. In that case its fairly easy and my spot checks are not really needed, I just say yeah it is clearly a new horse (its 3, in a maiden and the last one ran in 2013 when it was 7) and have a process set up to do the code required. Dams are much more difficult in particular to stay on top of, matching up new ones to their race career and so on. It is all just part of the job, but yeah when you get a lot of new horses out it is of course just that bit more time consuming.

I quite enjoy keeping myself busy and time moves quickly, I do not have too much to report personally. My ankle is far better than it was but I must be getting old as thats 6 weeks recovery. I was out with a few friends the other night one of whom is Ukrainian and whose parents are over there, pretty unbelievable stuff for him as he tries to live as normal a life as he can here for his young kids etc while simultaneously feeling helpless about family/friends and so on who are over there and sending him messages about heading down the bomb shelter. On a rather nicer note I visited several of my nieces and nephews who are of varying ages, the younger ones in particular have a great way of showing how ludicrous half the stuff us adults do is. I spent a rather wonderful half an hour just lying looking at clouds and giving the shapes names and picking a cloud each for a race across the blue sky. Also went to a beach and made up a stupid but fun game about the waves catching us. Simple pleasures.

Cheers for your support, it is greatly appreciated. Have fun.

Chris

Wednesday 23rd March 2022

I must say I really enjoyed Cheltenham, although I was very busy I must admit. When the big days come, as you would expect most users are online and that means it is very important to manage things and keep stuff running smoothly. Boxing Day is still by far the day that takes most managing because of the number of races on that day adding to the complexity (thousands of update files coming through at same time as a lot of users online). I try my very best to allow users to do as they please on the site, within limits obviously, but when there are a lot on at the same time it can become quite tricky. Anyway, it all went well and I am now back to coding up some things I have been working on. The next major events are the Scottish Grand National meeting at Ayr followed of course by Aintree and the Grand National meeting. I hope to get some more of the things I have been developing on by then, testing has been good and I will keep you updated. I am very grateful for so much feedback that I get, as always I would like to acknowledge that the site only exists because of that feedback and the suggestions, plus of course the monthly payments.

Chris

Monday 14th March 2022

Hello. I hope that you are well. I genuinely love Cheltenham and engrossing myself in the races, top quality stuff and so many favourite horses who return. I just wanted to post quickly to say enjoy and best of luck to you, no matter what your chosen strategy. Have fun!

Chris

Monday 7th March 2022

Cheltenham is now only a week away, long term users will know this but I always get a few mails, so just to confirm that the cards for Cheltenham follow the same pattern as with all other cards (Today/Tomo/48hr Decs) and therefore Sunday will be the 48hr declarations for the Supreme Novices on Tuesday etc. There are several reasons I can not do them earlier but the main one is down to data agreements and costs.

I am greatly looking forward to it this year probably as being engrossed in it right now can only be a good thing. I hope you and yours are well and thank you sincerely for supporting HorseRaceBase.

Chris

Monday 28th February 2022

We are living through very difficult times, Covid and now this situation in Ukraine. I have long lived with the belief and mindset there is no advantage to worrying about the things we can not control, but nor should you just completely ignore them and try blank them out if you are concerned (which is what escaping via gambling or any other means is). Take care of yourself and those around you and know you can only do what you can.

Today, I thought I would go a bit further to explain to users a bit about HRB and how it came about, because explaining the backstory may answer some of the questions I often get asked such as why I refuse to give tips, tell people what to bet or just team up more with bookies etc. And also why it is a one man thing, it is just me with the help of my son and of course all the great feedback and support from you the users.

Everything I have wrote in the about page back when I created the site is true and at the end of the day this is a horse racing site and my own individual life story is irrelevant. But what I will say to give some context, is that as a younger man I was not in a very good place, in my mid twenties I had a son whom I developed an incredible bond with, I had zero interest in the jobs I had but knew I had to find a way to earn money. Believe me when I say I had so many failed ideas, so many crazy schemes, indeed so many jobs.

Many of those ideas had a gambling base, the basic thinking being if I can just come up with some sort of scheme I can turn this amount into a much bigger amount. I came to the conclusion it is just not that easy, otherwise everyone would do it. Anything that is fixed odds payout such as roulette, slots and so on are definitely not possible (unless there is some loophole, it is basic maths you can not win long term) and winning on Sports betting and the like is possible but needs discipline, needs strategy and needs managed competently and without emotion.

At the time I enjoyed a few bets with the lads, with beers and so on (still do). Each of us saying who we had backed in the next at Cheltenham or whatever else. I started to note patterns in their and my betting. "You always back the favourite", "no, I dont, only if its ridden by certain jockeys" etc. Through a combination of necessity (life circumstances), boredom/time on hands (my job) and sheer perseverance and willingness to learn new things, I started to create tools and information to help with the process. My wonderful but now sadly passed Dad offered me amazing advice and support and it led to me coming up with the name HorseRaceBase, he got me the domain and it went live on my 30th birthday in 2007. In the years that followed it ran as a hobby but always with some sort of belief/hope I could turn it into something bigger. Suddenly I had a few customers and they offered me honest advice and feedback, which I listened to and acted on.

Life is not a fairytale and has thrown up some very different and difficult challenges, as it does for everyone, both personally and professionally. My initial idea in truth was far more simplistic than what HRB became. Along the way came wake up calls when it comes to money (data costs, payment costs, tax, VAT etc), the 1% that make life difficult (troublemakers, hackers, rude people), my personal life and those things we all face (covid, war, society).

The point that matters, is that the customers of HorseRaceBase built it and continue to keep it in existence with their contributions, and in doing so also supported me through my own circumstances. For whatever reason, since its inception I decided I simply refuse to do anything other than be sincere and honest with the users. And thats what kept me in business, even when things got very tough, even when there was no horse racing on.

Right back at the very start I had this tagline I never used 'not all gamblers are idiots'. I was told it would offend people. Recently I was told that the one I did use (the Henry Ford quote at the bottom) offended someone as apparently Ford wasnt a very nice man (of which I had no idea). So, maybe I will change it. What I meant by 'not all gamblers are idiots' is that I knew I was no idiot and yet I was gambling. Sometimes I lost and sometimes I won. I looked for advice and saw a picture of a yacht. I tried to join sites and was bombarded with 'incentives' and what I considered get rich quick schemes. My idea was (and is) to create something for those of us who understand it just is not that simple and to see if we could work together without all the bullshit. It is important to note, of course many many tipsters and sites, some of whom I know, are very good people. There are many very good websites and places to get advice.

I am pressing on with my plans to get more stuff on this week and next, stopping the weekend before Cheltenham. I will note these changes to the right. Again, look after yourself and thank you.

Chris

Saturday 19th February 2022

How is it going? I am okay, but suffered a very bad twisted ankle and have been hopping around, annoying as I was only few weeks away from another half marathon. It is not that serious but a few weeks till I am out jogging I would guess. It was so innocuous, just stepped down awkwardly and went down on it with all my weight. I was with my brother at the time who had to get me some ice and help me up the road, it was in one of those laugh at self ways quite amusing actually, just so ridiculous looking flailing about helplessly. First couple of days I had to stay in bed, which was far from fun, especially as I am very restless and hate sitting still, and the pain was pretty horrible but OB LA DI OB LA DA, life goes on. I now have an impressive bruising and am thankful to the strange way the body heals itself, very impressive!

In regards the odds situation, I believe it was indeed down to a technical issue. In these days of sensible gambling promotion and with my very firm belief that it is important to stress this, I am now looking at ways I can do a better job of using my William Hill affiliation in a responsible way. How do you promote a gambling website in such a way? That is what I have tried to do. If you do not have a William Hill account, please be aware that the odds feed is provided by them and if you would like to join, you can do so via the link to them on the Live Odds Tracker page getting a sign up bonus in the process.

The storms passed through while I had my ankle up and watched 24 hour rolling news far too often. We lost a few race meetings on Friday but today has been a very good days racing so far. I hope you are well and thank you so much for your support.

Chris

Monday 14th February 2022 - Pre Live Show Odds Issue

The issue for now is resolved. Thanks for understanding

Chris

Sunday 13th February 2022 - Pre Live Show Odds Issue

Hi all, I hope you are well

I am very sorry about the pre live show odds issue currently affecting the site, basically these come from William Hill as part of an affiliate programme. As you will know I do not like plastering adverts everywhere so placed a simple but honest link stating we are reliant on the feed for the odds on the Live Odds Tracker, which if clicked takes you to an introductory offer. I must admit very few people have ever clicked it.

On Saturday the odds feed stopped working and I have been unable to get a response so far as to why, I would hope it is merely a technical difficulty. As I always do, I can only be entirely honest with you, I am absolutely reliant on that feed for pre live show odds, doing it manually is simply impossible.

I am trying to source another feed for pre live show odds as well. My main data feed comes from the PA and it contains an odds forecast and then the live show (ten minutes pre race) and SP etc from the track.

I will keep you updated and as always if you want to get in touch please give me a mail.

Chris

Thursday 3rd February 2022

Hi all, I wrote out a quick post last week actually and now that I have come in to write something quick today see I did not transfer it over. Oops!

Really the update in terms of the site is that I am doing everything I can now so that I can get some stuff on in time for Cheltenham, a few things that I feel will be very useful for us all, and all based as always on member feedback. The Dublin Racing Festival is on this weekend and I will be using it to run some tests locally so that I can get it on for everyone for the festival.

The Dublin festival has become a huge event now in the calendar, some real top quality stuff and I am very much looking forward to it.

In the non racing world the latest news moves on to an energy crisis, a potential war, endless scandals and whatever else. As I have said before, I think the key is to focus on those things that you can control. The reality of the current economic situation faced by many is that hobbies and so on are the first to go, which is completely understandable. I greatly appreciate all of you who can and do continue to support the site and therefore me. For my part I will continue to do all I can to keep improving the service and will absolutely keep the price the same for all existing members as promised.

Chris

Thursday 20th January 2022

How are things going? I am okay and am working through some pretty heavy data to automate one of the processes I do every day, it is a job that will prove very worthwhile in the long run as it will free up some more time. I have got very used to working with very large datasets and nowadays break it up into manageable chunks as otherwise you spend so long waiting for transfers etc. I am going to need to do a Builder refresh at the weekend but the time it will be unavailable to users will be minimal and I will do it at a time when no racing is on this Sunday (hopefully, as long as it is all ready by then). I am looking forward to the Winter Million at Lingfield, quite an ambitious new venture.

There is not much to say about my life otherwise right now, I am just like many people at this time of year I expect getting on with it. Politics and events on the world stage continue to at times beggar belief but I suppose it has always been that way really.

I really hope that you and yours are well, and let me again thank you for your support of HorseRaceBase

Chris

Thursday 13th January 2022

I am in the process of uploading across some of the workings I have been testing on the local side, a few fixes and some changes here and there will come on the back of it. I will post anything significant. I was monitoring the live data on the site after I spotted some issues in a couple of logs I take. I did not think it anything too concerning but kept an eye. Basically when the market becomes active at the track the live feeds start coming through in very quick succession, they are numbered and should process in order but I spotted a few out of sync that had to be rectified. Trying to catch them in real time was troublesome. I dont know if you have ever called out a handyman or a mechanic to look at an issue you are experiencing and then it doesnt happen when they look at it, well its a bit like that and I seemed to just sit looking at everything operating absolutely perfectly. Anyway, I eventually found the issue, something extremely minor.

In my personal life I did my half marathon in Mid December and have decided to stay in training (after a few weeks of over indulgence and my body telling me I should!) and will do another one in March just before Cheltenham begins, which I as always am already looking forward to.

Cheers for supporting the site, I greatly appreciate it.

Chris

Monday 10th January 2022

I had a wonderful few days, which was much needed actually. I was in Scotland enjoying the at times astonishing countryside with my son and meeting up with others too in line with what is possible and taking tests etc. I really hope that you have enjoyed yourself too.

Been playing catch up for the last few days but that is fine and I am getting there, I will be back to pushing on with some of the projects in the next few days and shall post on here far more regularly.

So just a quick post to say I am alive and well and to say I hope you are well.

Chris

Friday 31st December 21 - HAPPY NEW YEAR

I just wanted to post quickly and say that I hope you are all well and have been enjoying yourself over the festive period and to say happy new year. I am well and have been taking most of the time off and seeing family a lot and in particular spending time with my son Jamie. I love him very much and he is a fine young man, I could not be more proud of him. We have had a very enjoyable time together and have another few days still to come.

It is hard to know what 2022 shall bring, but I will be trying my very best to make it a better year than this one.

I would like to wish you a very happy new year and thank you sincerely for being a supporter of HorseRaceBase. I really hope that you know just how much I appreciate it.

In the New Year, it is of course my intention to push on with existing projects and to keep going and make the site as good as I possibly can. Again, thank you so much and Happy New Year to you and all yours. Chris

Thursday 23rd December 21

Boxing Day cards are now up and will be for today, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, all downloads etc should work across all days.

I will soon collect my son and we will spend a few days together, switch off and have a laugh.

My sincere thanks for your support, have a wonderful Christmas. Chris

Wednesday 22nd December 21

As promised I have now updated the systems and trends so that any that specified the year 2021 now also specify 2022. From now on, if you are using the Date Year filter, you must specify 2022 yourself, if you wish to keep getting qualifiers in the New Year.

As soon as the cards for Boxing Day are released I will start working on them and get them up, it is usually the afternoon of the 23rd. I will post again then to confirm but basically they will be available from then until Boxing Day.

Thank you. Take care. Chris

Thursday 16th December 21

The times we are living in are complicated and affect people in such different ways whether it be health, social, economic or whatever else. Take care of yourself and those around you and try your best to accept much is outwith your control. You can only do what you can.

One of the most common things I am asked about is the ratings produced by the Ratings Machine. The question that comes up most, can we have full backdated ratings. Unfortunately the answer I have to give is no. The reason for this is that all ratings are calculated in real time (to elaborate slightly, tools such as Stat Attack use stored static figures, the Ratings Machine uses live time calculations based on what the user has set), the HRB Standard, HRB Example etc are simply example sets. The main purpose of these was to show what can be done with the Ratings Machine. Many people change a setting or two or have several sets. So at present what can be done in terms of backtesting the ratings is quite limited and is the last 750 races, I am working on increasing this but for the reasons explained it is extremely troublesome.

The site costs have again gone up because of a crazy RPI figure. But there you go, just got to get on with it. Please note my comments below regarding dates for the festive period. I will post again at that time. Thank you. Take care. Chris

Thursday 9th December 21

How is it going? I am okay and trying my best to get through some things. As always some stuff takes longer than others, often when you least expect it. I will continue to update the panel to the right for anything I manage to get on.

I wanted to give a clear timetable for the new year changes this year. Every year I update members saved systems (and trends) so that if they include the current year as a specification, they also include the following year, so that you keep getting qualifiers. Put simply any system that includes the year 2021 will be updated to include 2022. This year I will make that change on 22nd December 21 after all racing has finished. After that, you must make sure to include 2022 yourself in any system/trend (obviously only need to if you are specifying years). As always for the days that there are no racing (23rd-25th) I will put up the Boxing Day cards (as soon as they are available).

The festive period is always extremely busy with racing and I will not make any site changes during those couple of weeks, but from now through till then I will continue to do as much as I can. I always enjoy this Cheltenham card tomorrow and Saturday actually. Thanks so much for supporting HorseRaceBase, I greatly appreciate it. Chris

Sunday 5th December 21

I hope you are well. I managed to get the Builder files over and this time they loaded okay and it all seems stable. This is a big step for me after many many weeks of preparation and a couple of failed efforts! I have added some changes now and will be adding more in the coming days, assuming all is okay. The Builder powers a lot of other areas and now this step has been done I can also move on other things in those too. If you notice any issues please do let me know. I shall continue to update the panel to the right. Thanks for your support. Chris

Tuesday 30th November 21

Hi all, hope you are well. I have booked my booster appointment, way I am looking at it personally is that I will trust in them and do absolutely anything they ask of me in the hope there are no more lockdowns. The isolation for someone like me that lives on their own is to be honest very difficult and I just hope they never return to it. I mean its fine and I can absolutely pass time by myself and enjoy my own company but not for months at a time. I hope Christmas can happen for everyone, people need to see their families etc! You can not just exist, you have to live.

In respect of the Builder I just wanted to explain a little bit more about why it is so complex. What you have is billions of potential combinations, thats the power of it and a great tool it is that I am very proud of. But making changes in a test environment then trying to put them into the live site is so complex. Over the years I have probably spent thousands of hours coding it. Anway, making changes to its structure or trying to add in a new category etc is just very complicated and the size of the data files make it extremely tricky. There are a couple of categories in particular I have tried a few times to get on, one is Runs Since Gelded, I have changed the code again and will try again Sunday. That is the one that caused me a real headache at the weekend - test site worked perfectly, live site nope! I shall attempt to update again on Sunday, if I can process the files through correctly it then means I can press on to the next things.

For those that read this blog, they will know I am a big Scotland fan. You may have saw the draw. Ukraine at home, and if we get through that it will be followed by Wales/Austria away. What do you reckon? Can we do it? I am unusually optimistic.

I hope you are well. Thanks for your support. Chris

Sunday 28th November 21

Considering the horrendous circumstances many face I will refrain from using stronger descriptions to describe my day, and simply say that it was very frustrating. Or to use the words of Blackadder, it was as much fun "as getting an arrow through the neck and discovering there's a gas bill tied to it". I will try again with the update in one weeks time, Sunday 5th December. If at first you dont succeed, try again. Etc.

I hope you are well. Thanks for your support. Chris

Tuesday 23rd November 21

Just to confirm that this Sunday (28th Nov) I will take the Builder offline for periods after racing finishes, this is necessary to upload some changes , improvements and fixes. For the next few weeks I will be getting all that I can online before the busy Christmas period. I will do my upmost to remember to list any changes on this page on the right hand side. It is my plan to really work extensively for the next few weeks and then hopefully take a break over Christmas. That means a lot of site work but also I am training for a half marathon and that is a very enjoyable way to stay fit and sane. Out of all the things you can do for your mental and physical health I always come back to really basic stuff, like walking or jogging in the countryside. It works.

It is quite strange to reflect on one year ago, the lockdowns and circumstances we all individually faced. I turn on the news and see the situation in Austria, Germany and all across Europe and it is human nature to wonder if it will lead to something here, although it seems likely we are actually a wave ahead (to use the lingo) and might not need to. But I think we have all learned not to second guess governments or indeed the virus in these truly bizarre times. I was chatting to my niece the other day who is only 10 years old, to her this is normality. Who knows how things will look in ten/twenty/thirty years time when the people who are now kids and teenagers become those who are making decisions. In my opinion it is the kids and teenagers who are amongst those to have suffered most and to be honest I do not think they have been treated fairly. With that said, I do not have any miracle answer to the situation and I do not think there is a country you can point at and say, thats how it should be done. Its a long road and it will only be history that can judge. But in Sweden (where one of my sisters live) the kids did not miss school at all and they have had far more normality and time with their friends etc than here. If youth is the future, which it factually must be, I think decisions should be made with their interests and wellbeing at the forefront of decision makers. But again, I do not have any definitive answers to an incredibly complex situatuon and am merely thinking out loud.

One of my close family members was taken into hospital last week and I was up there visiting, thankfully now out. Its an extremely obvious comment but it does put it all into perspective. I hope you and all yours are alright.

Thank you for supporting the site. Chris

Wednesday 17th November 21

I am finalising some uploads and will give a date soon for when I will need to take the Builder offline for a bit to process some upgrades and fixes on there. Probably do it a week on Sunday (28th NOV) but as I say, I will confirm in my next post. There are a few other areas I have stuff ready for. I hope to start the live transfers pretty soon, its always different in a test environment. I have touched a little on it before but so often with the tools/features on the site, it comes down to design choices and managing the different ways members use them.

I was at the Scotland v Denmark game. Back at the start of Steve Clarke's appointment I was one of those highly encouraged by his time at Kilmarnock. It has taken him some time to win over a few people, but I have always said to stick with him. He has turned us from being a bit of a joke into a seriously decent side. I do not remember a better performance. And the atmosphere was genuinely electric. In the previous game Moldova got a penalty, we were two nil up and it was not that big a deal but would I suppose have made the last few minutes a little nervy, Craig Gordon saved the penalty but the Kieran Tierney tackle in the aftermath really epitomised the togetherness of the squad Clarke has built. Of course we may not qualify for the World Cup and we await the draw, but I doubt teams want to come to Hampden. And whatever happens we now have a group of players (Robertson, McGinn, Tierney, McTominay, Gilmour etc) that will be part of this set up for many years to come.

Seeing Hampden Park full and rocking with everyone singing and behind the team, standing by and joyfully celebrating with my son - its what life is all about - sharing the good moments when they come with people you love. And in our case it is about the fact we have gone through his entire life (19 years old) watching the other side of it all, disappointment, losing horrendously in places like Kazakhstan and Georgia but always knowing we will be back together for the next game to share these moments.

My thanks again for your support. Chris

Tuesday 9th November 21

Today, I just want to reiterate my thanks to you, if it were not for HRB members the site would not exist. It is that simple. Your feedback and suggestions and monthly subscription is what keeps the site alive. It is extremely important to me that members know how appreciative I am. For my part I will continue to uphold my ethos of the site and the whole point it exists - a horse racing site that offers genuinely useful powerful tools to help with your form study, ideas and data management without bombarding you with adverts or crazy get rich quick rhetoric. I am no gambling guru and there are no magical answers or failproof schemes that everyone can use, the simple fact is that if enough people back/lay something the whole race changes in terms of value, and in my opinion there is no such thing as a meaningful tip unless it comes with a load of labels such as 'is a good price if you can get 8/1 assuming no significant going changes or non runners'.

You definitely can make a profit and you definitely should not be losing heavily. But be realistic about it. There will be losers. If you have a start bank of 1,000 pounds and at the end of the month you have 1,100 pounds, that is a 10% return, amazing and way better than a bank or whatever else. If you expect to turn that 1,000 pounds into 10,000 pounds in a month, it is important you understand just how unlikely that is.

All the talk of safe gambling is very important but often it seems to me that its said with insincerity or because it has been forced upon those saying it. And in a world that its sometimes viewed as wrong to be blunt, I am going to be - if you are losing money then stop gambling at least for a while. Paper trade, take some time to step back. Think about your bets. Record them and meaningfully ask yourself if you are backing something for the sake of backing it or because your bored or desperate. And if you are backing things that its impossible to win long-term on (for example slot machines or using stupid sentimentality) then stop. And if you cant stop, accept that and dont feel ashamed about it or put it on the backburner - get help and stop digging a deeper hole.

My thanks again for your support. Chris

Tuesday 2nd November 21

In regards the site, I am continuing, some good progress and I am beginning to see light at the end of some of the projects. This means a Builder upgrade may happen relatively soon. As always I will need to take it offline when I do, but I will give plenty of notice, for now it is just an occasional overnight work. Some of the checks I do sometimes feel like overkill but thats the reason things fail if I dont go through them all. The new Win Times report is another example, its just about how the data gets pulled and making sure it does so efficiently and reliably and also with different members settings and account types. That one I am pretty confident I can push it out soon. Ultimately staring at data and treble checking everything I have learned is worth it in the long run.

In my own life, I made the dreadful mistake of trying to drive into Glasgow during Cop26 in spite of all the warnings and spent 2 hours on the M8, had a wonderful family reunion after all the Covid stuff with 19 of us all together, am up to 6 miles in my half marathon training (first in ages), came second in a pub quiz, played online bridge with my brother after a break, went to a Halloween spooky house with my nieces/nephew and am excited about Scotland facing Moldova to get a play off spot for the World Cup. My son and I were at the amazing game at Hampden v Israel when we got a 90th minute winner.

I really hope that you are well and are finding time to enjoy life as much as you can. I would like to thank you very much for being a member of the site.

Chris

Tuesday 26th October 21

How are you doing? I am okay, interesting times here in the west of Scotland as we await the Cop26 summit and unions etc battle out over rail strikes and bin collections, as an interesting aside there are no hotels available and smaller towns within reach are getting visitors from all over the world.

I am going to try to remember to keep this blog up as has been requested of me now several times. By that I mean not clear away the old ones that I sometimes do as a matter of routine. I have today put a column to the right and will list any site changes made in there.

I wanted to talk briefly about distance changes. These are adjustments to the official race distance made by the tracks and notified to the BHA each day, you can see them including historically on their site. Most tracks update these very prudently, some are awful. Some tracks like Fakenham seem to have huge adjustments every single meeting and to be honest its quite baffling (but at least they always seem to update them on time). Like everything on the site I try my very best to get the updates on as quickly as they are made available, as part of the data project I am working on and discussed below I will soon I hope start to illustrate the changes in detail. Distances on HRB are rounded to the nearest half furlong and as such a distance change of even 15 yards can be quite significant. Now that the NH season starts to become the real focus again some days I find myself sitting refreshing the page waiting for the updates to come through - keep an eye because honestly it really does make a big difference. Imagine a race where its over 3 miles and you are studying distance form, with these distance changes which can go either way, it could become a 2m7f or 3m1f race instead! A big shout out to the people who help me spot check these as it has even been known that the track update them and then change their minds!

My sincere thanks to you for supporting the site.

Chris

Wednesday 20th October 21

Hope you are doing okay. I am going to try post a couple times a week. I had a scare earlier today when I was working on the server and it suddenly wasnt available, turned out it was a DDOS attack on the datacentre where the server is, was only down for a few minutes for me thankfully. The longer I have operated the site, the more I have had to accept the realities of the world.

I continue persevering with some of the very long winded technical projects I am working on. The data involved is at times really tricky. A good example is a category such as Rides Since Jockey Win, if you set this as 1 it means the jockey won on his last ride, two it would mean he won on his second last ride etc.

From a backchecking statistical point of view this is easy and when the data is stored based on results it is no problem. The project I am working on is looking at live data changes and I have been watching this one in real time. It can change if the jockey has a ride but also can change based on non runners, jockey changes and my favourite thing of all (sarcasm) when a reserve becomes a runner. It is the last of these I realised still causing an issue based on Gowran Park.

Small changes to the scripts that process results etc sometimes run very smoothly, other times like last Friday they do not! When you start looking at anything that uses odds (where there are several thousand updates across the day) it becomes a bit of a horror show if you get it wrong. A query that takes a couple of seconds as opposed to under a second can be catastrophic.

I am down now to a handful of remaining tricky ones but once this project is complete I will be making a lot of the workings available for all to see. The goal is to get to the stage you can witness the flow of data changes across the various time points, 48hr declarations, next day cards, overnight load, early morning prices etc, pre live show, live show, the off, race result. In amongst it comes non runners and jockey changes and overweights and again my favourite reserves plus of course odds.

Thanks so much for supporting the site, I greatly appreciate it.

Talk soon. Chris

Friday 15th October 21

Hello. I hope that you are well. It is has been a while since I wrote, I am okay and will try and start posting again more regularly.

I am really sorry about the problem with the site early this morning until I managed to finally fix it around 10am, and I believe there were some issues from around 5pm yesterday too in terms of live results. This is an obvious inconvenience to users and as I say, I can only apologise. I am proud of the site reliability and when there is an issue I take it very seriously.

The cause was a seemingly minor change I made to a small data checking script, as always with the intentions of improving things. Regrettably it hideously backfired and essentially blocked many things from processing. I always try to take the positives as what else can you do, and the big positive here is that all of these updates are necessary steps in the direction of what I am trying to achieve.

Thanks so much to the vast majority of users who understood and were supportive, I greatly appreciate it.

As I say, I will start posting more frequently again. Take care and thanks. Chris

Site Changes

• Earnings report now includes all horses even if they have had no run
• Class filter added to Horses pages - the filters all interact with each other plus a 'reset all' link.
• Stallion Stat Attack Extra download now shows additional data columns
• Track tab of cards now includes breakdown columns so that the record in both UK and Ireland is shown
• OR, Median and Avg OR added to the Live Odds Tracker
• New Big Race Trend added - Doncaster, 2m3.5f Mares Novice Hurdle (Class 3, Nov/Dec)
• Daily H2H Report - Additional columns of data (OR, weight for both horses and the archive race class)
• Ratings Top Rated vs Newcomer Max Rating - Shortcut added
• Advanced tab of Results expanded to show additional display similar to that on the Form Tab of Cards
• Tomorrow and Early options added to Stand Out Stats
• Tomorrow and 48hr options added to the Daily H2H/Collateral report
• In the Horse Form Report, if the horse did not complete, the DistBt now shows 2000 rather than a blank column
• Archive Daily OR report functionality added
• Foal date added as option to My Report
• Foal date added to the extra data line in race cards
• Added 1 day stats (today report only as meaningless for tomo/48hr reports) and 3 day stats to both the daily jockey and trainer report downloads
• New Big Race Trend added - Goodwood, 1m Maiden (Class 2, Early September)
• Added 7 day stats to the daily jockey report downloads
• New option to race cards 'Add Extra Data Line' - it will show breeding details of the horse and owner. Your selection will be remembered.
• Total/Runs column added to Hore Earnings (+ download)
• Placing column added to download for My Qualifiers
• Reserves (including recent) Shortcut added
• 132 New Big Race Trends added, these are -
  • Ayr, 1m2f Handicap (Class 3, Jul/Aug)
  • Glorious Goodwood, 1m Fillies Handicap (3yo+, Class 3)
  • Glorious Goodwood, 1m2f Fillies Handicap (Class 2, Day 2)
  • Perth, 2m Handicap Hurdle (Class 3, End July)
  • Newmarket, 1m Handicap (Class 3, August)
  • Newmarket, 1m6f Fillies Handicap (Class 3, August)
  • Perth Summer Hurdle (2m, Class 2, August)
  • Yarmouth, 1m2f Handicap (Class 2, Aug/Sep)
  • Cartmel, 2m1.5f Handicap Chase (Class 2, End August)
  • Goodwood, 6f Fillies Nursery (Sep)
  • Hamilton, 6f Nursery Final (Sep)
  • Haydock, 1m2.5f Fillies Handicap (Class 2, Aug/Sep)
  • Ascot, 1m Handicap (Class 2, Early Sep)
  • Ascot, 6f Handicap (Class 2, Early Sep)
  • Doncaster, 1m4f Fillies Handicap (St Leger Meeting)
  • Kelso, 2m1f Handicap Chase (Class 3, September)
  • Goodwood, 1m6f Fillies Handicap (Class 3, September)
  • Gowran Park, Listed 2m Mares Flat Race (Sep/Oct)
  • Newmarket, 1m2f Fillies Handicap (Class 2, Sep/Oct)
  • Tattersalls October 2yo Auction Stakes (6f)
  • Wolverhampton, 6f Handicap (Class 3, Sep/Oct)
  • Naas, EBF Auction Race (2YO, 7f, October)
  • Kempton, 2m2f Handicap Chase (Class 3, October)
  • Cheltenham, Class 2, 2m Handicap Chase, October
  • Ayr, 2m4.5f Handicap Chase (Class 3, Oct/Nov)
  • Newbury, 2m4f Handicap Chase (Class 3, November)
  • Newbury, 2m.5f Novices Hurdle (Class 2, November)
  • Newbury, 2m.5f Handicap Hurdle (Class 3, November)
  • Chelmsford, 1m2f Handicap (Class 2, November)
  • Aintree, 2m4f Hurdle (Class 2, November)
  • Kelso, 2m5.5f Handicap Chase (Class 3, November)
  • Sandown, 3m Veterans Handicap Chase (Class 2, November)
  • Sandown, 2m4f Novices Handicap Chase (Class 3, November)
  • Market Rasen, Listed 3m Mares Chase (November)
  • Wetherby, 2m3.5f Handicap Chase (Class 3, November)
  • Bangor, 2m1.5f Mares Novice Chase (Listed, November)
  • Lingfield, 2m7.5f Handicap Chase (Class 3, November)
  • Lingfield, 2m3.5f Handicap Hurdle (Class 3, November)
  • Wincanton, 1m7.5f Novices Handicap Chase (Class 3, November)
  • Ascot, 2m5f Handicap Chase (Class 3, November)
  • Huntingdon, 2m Handicap Hurdle (Class 3, November)
  • Uttoxeter, 2m7.5f Handicap Hurdle (Class 3, November)
  • Newbury, 2m4.5f Handicap Hurdle (Class 2, Hennessy Festival)
  • Doncaster, 2m3.5f Handicap Hurdle (Class 3, November)
  • Doncaster, 2m3f Novices Handicap Chase (Class 3, November)
  • Sandown, 1m7.5f Handicap Chase (Class 3, Early Dec)
  • Newcastle, 7f Handicap (Class 2, December)
  • Chelmsford, 1m Handicap (Class 2, December)
  • Taunton, 2m2f Handicap Chase (Class 3, December)
  • Cheltenham, 2m4.5f Mares Handicap Chase (Class 3, December)
  • Thurles, 2m Mares Novice Hurdle (Listed, December)
  • Warwick, 2m4f Mares Novices Chase (Listed, December)
  • Exeter, 2m2.5f Handicap Hurdle (Class 3, December)
  • Exeter, 2m1.5f Mares Novices Chase (Class 3, December)
  • Ascot, 2m5.5f Conditional Jockeys Handicap Hurdle (Class 3, December)
  • Chepstow, 2m NHF Race (Class 3, Dec 27th)
  • Chepstow, 2m3.5f Maiden Hurdle (Class 3, Dec 27th)
  • Doncaster, Listed Mares Chase (Late December)
  • Exeter, 3m Handicap Chase (Class 3, New Years Day)
  • Ludlow, 3m Handicap Hurdle (Class 3, January)
  • Kempton, 2m4.5f Handicap Chase (Class 3, January)
  • Kelso, 2m Handicap Hurdle (Class 2, January)
  • Kelso, 2m5.5f Handicap Chase (Class 3, January)
  • Wetherby, 2m3.5f Handicap Chase (Class 3, January)
  • Huntingdon, Lady Protectress Mares Chase (Listed 2m4f)
  • Newcastle, 2m7.5f Handicap Chase (Class 3, January)
  • Edinburgh National
  • Sandown, 2m Novices Hurdle (Class 3, Jan/Feb)
  • Scottish Trial Novices Hurdle
  • Taunton, 2m7f Handicap Chase (Class 3, Jan/Feb)
  • Newbury, 2m7.5f Novice Handicap Chase (Class 3, Feb)
  • Plumpton, 2m3.5f Limited Novices Handicap Chase (Feb)
  • Plumpton, 2m4.5f Handicap Hurdle (Feb)
  • Sandown, 1m7.5f Handicap Chase (Class 3, Feb)
  • Carlisle, 3m.5f Handicap Chase (Class 3, Feb)
  • Quevega Mares Hurdle (Listed, 2m4f)
  • Ludlow, 2m4f Novices Handicap Chase (Class 3, Feb/Mar)
  • Wincanton, 3m1f Handicap Chase (Class 3, Early March)
  • Thurles, 2m2f Novice Chase (Listed, March)
  • Newbury, 2m4.5f Novices Hurdle (Class 3, Mar/Apr)
  • Newbury, 2m6.5f Handicap Chase (Class 3, Mar/Apr)
  • Newbury, 2m7.5f Novices Handicap Chase (Class 3, Mar/Apr)
  • Exeter, 2m1f Handicap Hurdle (Class 3, Mar/Apr)
  • Haydock, 2m7f Stayers Handicap Hurdle Final (Class 2, Easter)
  • Haydock, 2m Handicap Hurdle Series Final (Class 2, Easter)
  • Ffos Las, West Wales National Handicap Chase (Easter)
  • Cheptow, 2m Handicap Chase (Class 2, Easter)
  • Pontefract, 5f Handicap (Class 3, April)
  • Ludlow, 3m Handicap Chase (Class 3, Mar/Apr)
  • Kempton, 6f Handicap (Class 2, April)
  • Uttoxeter, 2m4f Novices Handicap Chase (Class 3, Mar/Apr)
  • Newcastle, 2m4f Handicap Chase (Class 3, April)
  • Newmarket, 7f Conditions Stakes (Class 3, April)
  • Newmarket, 5f Handicap (Class 3, April)
  • Newmarket, 6f Handicap (Class 2, 4yo+, April)
  • Newmarket, 7f Handicap (Class 2, April)
  • Cheltenham, 2m4.5f Mares Novice Hurdle (Listed, April)
  • Wincanton, 2m5.5f Handicap Hurdle (Class 3, April)
  • Warwick, 3m1f Handicap Hurdle (Class 3, April)
  • Noblesse Stakes (1m4f, April)
  • Navan, Coolmore Stud Power Stakes (Listed, 6f, May)
  • Punchestown Festival, Listed Mares Bumper
  • Uttoxeter, 3m Handicap Chase (Class 2, Apr/May)
  • Fakenham, Norfolk National 3m5f Handicap Chase (Class 3, May)
  • Kelso, 2m1f Handicap Chase (Class 3, May)
  • Ascot, 2m Apprentice Handicap (Class 3, May)
  • Market Rasen, 3m Handicap Chase (Class 3, May)
  • Ascot, 5f Novice Stakes (Class 3, May)
  • Windsor, 6f Handicap (Class 3, May)
  • Killarney, An Riocht Chase
  • Yeats Stakes
  • Uttoxeter, 3m Handicap Chase (Class 3, Mid May)
  • Newmarket, 7f Handicap (Class 3, Mid May)
  • Newbury, 1m Handicap (Class 2, Mid May)
  • Rothesay Stakes
  • Goodwood, 1m4f Fillies Handicap (Class 3, Mid May)
  • York, 6f Novice Stakes (Class 3, May)
  • Uttoxeter, 2m4f Handicap Chase (Class 2, May/June)
  • Cartmel, 3m1.5f Handicap Hurdle (Class 2, May/June)
  • Stratford, 2m6.5f Novices Hunters Chase (Class 3, May)
  • Maggie Dickson Fillies Stakes
  • York, 6f Fillies Handicap (Class 2, June)
  • York, 7f Handicap (Class 2, June)
  • Salisbury, 6f Novice Stakes (Class 3, June)
  • Northumberland Vase (Consolation for Northumberland Plate)
  • Newcastle, 5f Novice Stakes (Class 3, End June)
  • Cartmel, 2m1f Handicap Hurdle (Class 2, End June)
  • Thirsk, 6f Handicap (Class 3, June/July)
  • Newmarket, 6f Fillies Maiden (Class 3, July Festival)
  • Newbury, 1m5.5f Fillies Handicap (Class 3, Mid July)
  • Newton Abbot, 2m1f Juvenile Hurdle (Class 3, Mid July)
  • Ascot, 1m4f Handicap (Class 3, End July)
• Going order in Horse Profiler now uses more logical sorting (I will roll this out to other areas)
• Download option added to Run Comments Project, Option 3
• Race_Restrictions_Age column added to Ratings Report download
• Course Direction stats added to Stallion Profiler
• Tomorrow option added to Jock/Trainer report
• Race type options in Track Stats extended
• Quick switch race links (prev and next on day and at track) added to Horse and Horse Profilers
• Further updates to Run Comments project - please report issues
• NEW feature - Stand Out Stats
• Several owners added to Builder
• NEW feature - Festivals
• Non runners removed from Stat Attack
• Several areas of My Qualifiers improved as per feedback
• Option to sort Yesterdays Confirmed Qualifiers By Slot by race time
• With run 48hr Decs option added to Track Stats
• Runs Since Wind Op to My Report
• Link to race added to One Day Ratings - 48hr Decs added
• Code updated when looking for last winner if it is a Div 2 race and there is none listed, it will display the same as the Div 1 (if there was a winner)
• Work on Speed tab of Cards has begun - see tab for updates
• Restarted development of H2H/ Collateral Form report - feedback welcome
• Additional sort options (By Race for back or lay) added to Stat Attack
• SubForm(Next run) added to the Form tab of Race Cards
• 3 and 5 year options added to Performance Report
• Fixtures added for 2024 and festivals updated for inclusion in saved systems
• Last Price column added to Non Runners page
• LR Number Runners added as an extra download category option for V4 Builder
• 30 days all qualifiers download added to Performance Report
• Multi Delete option added to Notes
• More race trends added that have enough years to justify (4 or more). Send me any you think should be added.
• Option added to Run Comments Search to specify text NOT in the comment
• Shortcuts - "Click LOAD to pass this criteria to the System Builder (opens a new tab)" options being added. I am going through each and will add to as many as I can. Initially its on a few, please report any issue
• New shortcut - Dropping at least 2 classes since last race
• New feature to Form Follow - Performance Breakdown by OR
• NHF filter option added to Track Stats
• Odds column added to Form tab of Cards
• Distance filter option added to Horse Profiler
• Horse Form Report extended to last 10 races for each horse
• Horse Form Report now available for 48hr declarations
• Functionality to test on last race element of Ratings (as well as Total) added to Ratings Report
• Age Restrictiond column added to Ratings Report
• Jockey and Trainer reports addded for 48hr declarations
• Place percentage column added to many Shortcuts as per requests - these include Jockey and Trainer 14d/30d/Track strike rate Shortcuts
• Maidens + Novices option added to theRace Type filters on several tabs of cards
• LR position in market added as option to My Report
• Season Runs added to Big Race Trends
• Years options (last 15,10,5 or select individually) added to the Big Race Trends Profiler
• Horses having first run since gelded will display sex as G1 on race cards
• Going filter option added to Horse Profiler
• Race Card Number added to A-Z
• Ratings Report max options upped from 300 to 500
• (LR) Prize column added to Horse Earnings page
• 48hr decs options added for daily OR and Weight reports
• New shortcut added - Last win was at same track as todays
• Curragh, Spring Fillies mile handicap added as a trend
• Sort options added to the Speed tab on Cards
• New columns added to My Report 1. Last Race Avg OR, Last Race Jockey and Last Race Jockey Claim
• New workings added to PATHS TO AND PATHS FROM
  New columns added to show Wins and P/L at SP.
  If viewing Paths From these figures show what would have happened had you backed all of the horses in THIS big race trend.
  If viewing Paths To these figures show what would have happened had you backed all of the horses in the NEXT big race trend.
  Option added to view the horses involved
• Winners stallion added to Advanced Results output
• Chester Plate added to Trends
• Jockeys report on screen filters added for 14 day and 2 year rides
• Columns added to excel card download - LR_Placing, Horse_Season_Runs, TodayDistance_Yards, Max_DistanceYards_Run, Max_DistanceYards_Win, SameDistance_Wins, GreaterDistance_Wins, LesserDistance_Wins LR_Track and HorseRuns_365days
• MaxORinRace column added to the results download
• Ratings backtesting increased to last 1000 races
• Sex of horse, dam and damsire added to the results download
• Track and UK/Ire filter options added to A-Z
• Min and max odds filters added to Ratings Report
• Position in market and details of how favourites finished added to Trends display
• Dam stallion added to race results (for space reasons the sex/breeding info is shown when you hover over the horse name)
• Owner data added to Fast Results.
• Addition to H2H tab of cards. Weight columns. W=H2H winners weight. L=H2H losers weight. W_T=H2H winners weight TODAY. L_T=H2H losers weight TODAY.
• New shortcut added - Horses - Distance and Surface Winners
• Time of race added to the Track column in Advanced Results output
• New shortcut - Only runner in todays race that have won
• New trends compiled - Ludlow, 3m Mares Handicap Hurdle (Feb/Mar) & Newbury, 2m4f Seniors Handicap Hurdle (Feb/Mar)
• New tool - My Multicuts Qualifier Check
• Issue identified in certain criteria when downloading Jockey and Trainer Stat Attack - this is now rectified, please report any issues
• New shortcut added - Horses Who have won 2 Classes higher than todays race
• New shortcut added - Horses - UK Runners, Ran in Ireland in last 4 races
• New shortcut added - Horses - Greater Distance Winners
• New shortcut added - Horses - Greater Distance + Going Winners
• New shortcut added - Horses - Shorter Distance Winners
• Going and Distance filters added to the main Horses pages
• A to Z - option added - Click to only show horses saved in My Horses
• Exchange calculations added to track stats pages shown to 2 decimal places using commission as in user settings. P/L at SP figures also now shown to 2 decimal places
• Form line added to Big Race Trends display
• Further years added to Last Years Winner section at bottom of cards. This uses a look up process and stops when there is no matching year
• RC_Start - Front Runner (development stage) added as a System Builder category
• RC_Start - Prominent (development stage) added as a System Builder category
• RC_Start - Tracked/Chased (development stage) added as a System Builder category
• RC_Start - Mid Division (development stage) added as a System Builder category
• RC_Start - Held Up (development stage) added as a System Builder category
• RC_Start - Poor Start (development stage) added as a System Builder category
• Pos Days Since Run added as a System Builder category
• (LR) Draw Segment added as a System Builder category
• (LR) Month added as a System Builder category
• (LR) Surface added as a System Builder category
• Origin of Dams Stallion added as a System Builder category
• (LR) Odds Move (O v SP) added as a System Builder category
• (LR) T-Win% (14 Days) added as a System Builder category
• (2LR) Odds Move (O v SP) added as a System Builder category
• (2LR) Stall added as a System Builder category
• Days Since Class Win added as a System Builder category
• Days Since >=Class Win added as a System Builder category
• Days Since Code and >=Class Win added as a System Builder category
• T+J-Runners (Day) added as a System Builder category
• Rail Movements added as a System Builder category
• H-Run (Dist/Going) added as a System Builder category
• H-Win (Dist/Going) added as a System Builder category
• H-Place (Dist/Going) added as a System Builder category
• Runs Since Wind Op added as a System Builder category
• H-Run (Any Headgear) added as a System Builder category
• H-Win (Any Headgear) added as a System Builder category
• H-Run (RR Age) added as a System Builder category
• H-Win (RR Age) added as a System Builder category
• H-Run (Code/Hcap) added as a System Builder category
• H-Win (Code/Hcap) added as a System Builder category
• H-Win (Higher Class) added as a System Builder category
• H-Run (Code/Surface) added as a System Builder category
• H-Win (Code/Surface) added as a System Builder category
• H-Run (>Dist/Going) added as a System Builder category
• H-Win (>Dist/Going) added as a System Builder category
• T-Win% (Code) added as a System Builder category
• T-Place% (Code) added as a System Builder category
• T-Win% (Hcap-Non) added as a System Builder category
• T-Place% (Hcap-Non) added as a System Builder category
• S-Win% (5yr) (Distance) added as a System Builder category
• S-Win% (5yr) (Track) added as a System Builder category
• S-Win% (5yr) (Going) added as a System Builder category
• S-Win% (5yr) (>Distance) added as a System Builder category
• S-Win% (5yr) (Age) added as a System Builder category
• S-Win% (5 Year) added as a System Builder category
• Additional sort option (runners asc) added to cards
• New shortcut - Horses who have been non runner since last run
• Owner section added to summary information on card pages (below breeding)
• Breeding data fully cross referenced and updated if necessary, old records amended to include (OLD), couple of anomolies, no major issues
• Festivals for 23 in Builder set up, a couple that have gone away since Covid are back
• 2023 fixtures added
• Performance report Last Days download doubled to 14
• LR BF data stored in systems should now produce qualifiers if any matches (please report issues)
• Transfer to V4 of certain datasets in results/cards bug rectified
• Run Comments Options 2 and 3 integrated to horse summary pages
• Improvements to "Run Comments Option 1 - Run Comments Search" as per requests, including Tomo and 48hr declaration options
• Mysterious issue on Ratings Report downloads identified and fixed, any issues please let me know. It only affected certain people.
• Over 100 new trend races compiled, these are as follows - Haydock, 1m7.5f Introductory Hurdle (Nov/Dec), Haydock, 2m3f Handicap Hurdle (Nov/Dec), Haydock, 2m5.5f Novice Chase (Nov/Dec), Cork, 2m4f Handicap Hurdle (Early Jan), Naas, 2m Novice Chase (Early Jan), Fairyhouse, 2m4f Handicap Hurdle (Late Feb), Galway, 2m0.5f Mares Handicap Hurdle (Galway Festival), Galway, 2m4.5f Novice Hurdle (Galway Festival), Galway, 2m6.5f Chase (Galway Festival), Galway Blazers Handicap Chase (Galway Festival), Galway, 7f Fillies Maiden (Galway Festival), Galway, 7f 3yo+ Maiden (Galway Festival), Cork, 7f Filliies Handicap (August), Gowran Park, 1m4.5f Handicap (August), Chelmsford City Cup (7f Handicap), Killarney, 2m6f Handicap Hurdle (August), Stratford, 2m0.5f Novice Hurdle (Class 3, Early Sep), York, 5.5f Novice Stakes (Class 3, Early Sep), Newmarket, 7f Fillies Handicap (Class 3, September), Listowel 1m4f Premier Handicap (September), Listowel 2m4f Handicap Hurdle (September), Listowel 2m1f Handicap Chase (September), Warwick, 2m5f Handicap Hurdle (Class3, Sep/Oct), Dundalk, 1m4f 70-100 Handicap (Sep/Oct), Fontwell, 2m5.5f Handicap Chase (Class 2, Sep/Oct), Fontwell, 2m2f Handicap Chase (Class 3, Sep/Oct), Newmarket, 7f Fillies Handicap (Class 3, Sep/Oct), Galway, 2m2f Handicap Chase (October), Newmarket, 7f Nursery (Class 2, October), York, 1m Nursery (Class 2, October), York, Stayers Handicap (Class 3, October), York, 1m2.5f Handicap (Class 3, October), Musselburgh, 7f Handicap (Class 2, October), Wetherby, 3m Handicap Hurdle (Class 3, October), Sedgefield, 2m4f Handicap Hurdle (Class 3, October), Newcastle, 6f Conditions Stakes (Class 2, October), Newmarket, 1m Novice Stakes (Class 2, October), Newbury, 6f Handicap (Class 3, October), Leopardstown, 7f Fillies Nursery (End October), Galway, 2m6.5f Handicap Chase (End October), Dundalk, 6f Valuable Handicap (Oct/Nov), Newmarket, 1m2f Handicap (Class 3, Oct/Nov), Wetherby, 3m Handicap Hurdle (Class 3, Oct/Nov), Newbury, 3m1f Handicap Hurdle (Class 2, November), Dundalk, 1m Valuable Handicap (November), Carlisle, 2m Graduation Chase (Class 2, November), Lingfield, 2m6.5f Novice Hurdle (Class 3, November), Newcastle, 1m4.5f Handicap (Class 2, November), Uttoxeter, 3m2f Handicap Chase (Class 3, November), Wetherby, 2m4f Novice Hurdle (Class 3, November), Punchestown, 2m6.5f Handicap Chase (November), Hexham, 3m Novice Chase (Class 3, November), Catterick, 3m1f Handicap Chase (Class 3, November), Haydock, 2m5.5f Graduation Chase (Class 2, November), Kempton, 2m Conditional Jockeys Handicap Hurdle (Class 3, End Nov), Fairyhouse, 2m4f Mares Handicap Chase (Nov/Dec), Leicester, 1m7.5f Novices Hurdle (Class 3, Early Dec), Dundalk, 1m Valuable Handicap (Early Dec), Newcastle, 6f Handicap (Class 3, Nov/Dec), Wolverhampton, 6f Conditions Stakes (Class 2, December), Dundalk, 6f Valuable Handicap (December), Hereford, 2m4f Handicap Hurdle (Class 2, December), Newcastle, 2m0.5f Conditions Stakes (Class 2, December), Newbury, 2m0.5f Handicap Chase (Class 3, December), Dundalk, 7f Valuable Handicap (December), Dundalk, 1m2.5f Valuable Handicap (December), Haydock, 2m Handicap Hurdle (Class 3, Mid December), Wolverhampton, 5f Handicap (Class 2, December), Leopardstown, 2m1f Handicap Chase (Late December), Leopardstown, 2m5f Handicap Chase (Late December), Leopardstown, 2m4f Novice Handicap Hurdle (Late December), Newcastle, 7f Handicap (3YO, Class 3, January), Wolverhampton, 1m1.5f Handicap (Class 3, January), Southwell, 2m0.5f Handicap (Class 3, February), Warwick, 3m0.5f Mares Handicap Chase, (Class 3, February), Kempton, 1m Conditions Stakes (Class 2, March), Lingfield, 6f Handicap (3YO, Class 3, March), Plumpton, 3m0.5f Handicap Hurdle (Class 3, March), Newmarket, 1m6f Handicap (Class 2, July), Killarney, 1m 3YO EBF Race (July), Killarney, 1m3f Fillies Handicap (July), Newbury, 2m0.5f Handicap (Class 2, July), Kilbeggan, 2m4f Handicap Chase, Curragh, 1m4f Fillies Handicap (August), Goodwood, 6f Handicap (Class 2, End August), Goodwood, 1m3f Selling Stakes (End August), Navan, Valuable 5f Handicap (Early September), Perth, 3m Handicap Chase (Class 3, Early Sep), Kelso, 2m5f Handicap Hurdle (Class 2, September), Yarmouth, 6f Handicap (Class 3, September), Pontefract 5f Handicap (Class 3, End September), Market Rasen, 2m6.5f Handicap Chase (Class 3, End September), Hamilton, 1m0.5f Fillies Handicap (Class 3, End September), Tipperary, Valuable 1m1f Handicap (Early October), Nottingham, 1m2f Nursery (Class 3, October), Hereford, 2m5f Mares Handicap Chase (Class 3, October), Fontwell, 2m3.5f Handicap Hurdle (Class 3, October), Newmarket, Stayers Nursery (Class 2, October), Wetherby, 2m3.5f Handicap Chase (Class 3, Oct/Nov), Kempton, 2m5f Mares Handicap Chase (Class 3, November), Aintree, 2m4f Novice Hurdle (Oct/Nov), Wetherby, 2m4f Handicap Hurdle (Class 3, November), Wetherby, 2m Introductory Hurdle (Class 2, November), Warwick, 3m0.5f Veterans Handicap Chase (Class 2, November)
• (LR) BF In Play (Min) added as a System Builder category
• (LR) BF In Play (Max) added as a System Builder category
• (LR) BF-Plc In Play (Min) added as a System Builder category
• (LR) BF-Plc In Play (Max) added as a System Builder category
• Runs Since Gelded added as a System Builder category
• Big Race Trend added as a System Builder category
• (LR) Big Race Trend added as a System Builder category
• (2LR) Big Race Trend added as a System Builder category
• (LWIN) Big Race Trend added as a System Builder category
• H-Win (Odds) added as a System Builder category
• BF Placed (Settled) added as a System Builder category (for stat building only)
• Last Years Winner section at bottom of cards extended for previous years also where available (not just trends), this is new code and I am testing it
• Change going manually option added to Stallions tab of cards (autoloads and updates going column stats)
• last 7 days qualifiers all systems option added to performance report, I have plans to expand this
• Horses summary pages, extra detail added to the run comment line showing SubForm(Next run) runs wins and places. This is the number of runners from the race listed who have ran since and what they did on that first run after. This data shows only for races within the last 1 year.
• LR info section in Live Odds Tracker updated in line with feedback, including own columns for the data and distance won shown for winners of previous race
• Tomo and 48hr Decs options added to Horse Lifetime Formline Report
• CSV download option added to Horse Lifetime Formline Report
• Tomo and 48hr Decs options added to Horse Lifetime OR Report
• CSV download option added to Horse Lifetime OR Report
• Leopardstown October Stakes added to Trends
• Further workings added to In Play project
• New Shortcut (and Multicut) added (extension of existing 'Entered' last year SC) - Horses Recompeting Race Won Last Year
• 'All todays handicaps' option added to One Day Ratings
• Rectified issue with Horse Earnings report so that Date, Form and Hcap filters can be combined
• OR and Odds added to line indicating upcoming entry on Horse pages
• Going and Distance filter options added to Track Stats
• New columns LR, 2LR, 3LR, 4LR Placings in numeric format added as options to My Report
• New feature added at very early stage as I work on it. H2H & Collateral
• Option to sort by seasonal runs on the race card
• Owner added to race results (in same line as run comment)
• prevrace_grade column added to Winners Times Report
• horse_prizewin column added to results download
• Basic sort options and filter added to In Play project
• RaceCode and RaceType categories added to the cards CSV download
• Number of hurdles/fences shown on all results
• Detailed track infor added to the line underneath each form line on horse pages
• Race type and handicap/non filters added to Horse Lifetime FormLine Report
• Several additional options added to My Report as per requests
• Date filter option added to Horse Earnings report
• Non runner archive output doubled to 200
• Stallion Profiler Addition - Change form (handicap type) included in the table
• RMV2 option added to Horse pages, this is as per requests and shows the Ratings Machine calculated ratings as they would have been for each previous run of the horse
• 4 new columns added as requested to Shortcut - Horses odds in this race vs Odds in last race
• No. Runners option added to the Transfer to V4 tab of cards
• New feature project - In Play Analysis
• New feature added - Dam Stat Attack Extra
• All column added to Progeny section of Dams pages
• Performance Breakdown by Race Type added to the Form Follow tool
• Time Withdrawn & Last Price added to the Non Runners section on all cards
• Shortcut expansion, 14 days figures added to Strike Rate of Trainers/Jockeys with runs today
• Jockeys Claim given own column in several Shortcuts
• Odds and Pos columns added to Shortcut - Horses who have changed Trainer since last run
• Option 6, Jockey Analysis, added to Run Comments Project
• Rectified bug in Collateral Form Tool Back button
• Hot Races output extended to 300. Option to show Today/Tom, Today only or Tomorrow only (when up)
• Race link added to time column of upcoming qualifiers
• 2 new Shortcuts. Todays Market Drifters - Early v Now and Todays Market Drifters - FC v Early
• Ran program for Speed tab on todays cards to prevent the occasional 0 caused by unusual track/distance/going combo.
• New feature added - Non Runners Archive
• Tidied the messy non runners presentation on results where there were several
• Manage Multicut Settings - option to amend existing Multicuts within My Account
• Trends added - Galway, 2m.5f Listed Novice Hurdle (Jul/Aug), Legacy Stakes, Cailin Alainn Mares Hurdle (Limerick, 2m6.5f, Oct), Newbury, 3m Mares Chase (Listed, December)
• New feature project - Hot Races Extra
• Trends added - Perth 3m Mares Chase (Listed, April), Bronte Cup, Vintage Tipple Stakes, First Flier Stakes, Scottish Sprint EBF Fillies Stakes, Polonia Stakes, Queen Charlotte Fillies Stakes, Vinnie Roe Stakes, Sandown, Novices Championship Final Handicap Hurdle (April), Punchestown, 2m Mares Novice Hurdle (Apr/May)
• Good Friday AW Championships are moving to Newcastle (from Lingfield), updated the trend names appropriately and compiled the remaining ones so all are covered.
• Trend added - Cheltenham Mares NHF (April)
• The winning distance added to the output of Advanced Results Search
• Download options added to the My Qualifiers 48hr Decs
• Change number of days in test option added to FS/Odds tab of Cards
• Auto-tick Fav categories option added to My System Builder Settings
• Option to sort display by placing added to Lifetime Form report
• Number of fences/hurdles column added to card download
• Advanced Results output doubled to 500 rows
• Notification time added to non runners on results pages
• 4 race histories added - Devoy Stakes, Burradon Stakes, Devenish Chase, Fairyhouse, Listed Mares NHF (April)
• Run comments option 4 - see page for details
• Tabs Distance, Track and Month on Race Cards. The number of days setting will remember your last choice when you enter the page. Note these three tabs share workings for the number of days setting and it will apply to all three.
• Today OR column added to Horse Lifetime OR Report
• Sort option added to going column of Horses pages (using the order - Heavy, Soft To Heavy, Soft, Yielding To Soft, Yielding, Good To Yielding, Good To Soft, Good, Good To Firm, Firm, Hard, Slow, Standard To Slow, Standard, Standard To Fast, Fast)
• Sort option added to distance column of Horses pages
• New report - Horse Lifetime OR Line
• New report - Horse Lifetime FormLine
• Form Follow - option to search next 730 days added
• Jockey/Trainer report - option to show runners today below the stats
• Builder - issue with Direction in Compare LR v 2LR and Compare 2LR v 3LR fixed
• 7 race histories added so that all races at the Dublin Racing Festival are covered. Also the Scottish Stayers Hurdle at Musselburgh
• Day of week added to the historic race results page
• Rectified issue with fixtures, which should now show in all areas. 2022 festivals coded to hopefully automate in the Builder but will keep eye.
• Builder reload performed 25th January, bug fixes and workings for upcoming updates
• Download added to option 2 of Run Comments
• Track filter added to Horse Summary pages (shows all tracks with a run, select to view those races only)
• New columns added to Win Times report
• Race type column added (after Track column) to the Horse Earnings page and CSV download
• Race Histories - Killiney Novice Chase updated as it actually moved from Leopardstown to Punchestown. 6 new ones added. Leicester Mares Chase, Alan Swinbank Mares NHF, Doncaster Fillies Juvenile Hurdle, Navan graded Hcap Hurdle (all January), Beckford Stakes, Ingabelle Fillies Stakes.
• Identified and fixed problem with option 1 (search) on Run Comments project
• New shortcut added - Horses Max OR By Code
• Daily OR Report changed - columns added to show HighOR and High Win OR for Flat, AW, Hurdle and Chase codes
• Builder - New calculation available - Num_Horses
• Builder - New calculation available - Num_Seconds
• Builder - New calculation available - SPWAX
• Builder - New calculation available - BSPWAX
• Builder - New calculation available - WAXDIFF
• Builder - Breakdown - New grouping added - NH Distance Range
• Builder - Breakdown - New grouping added - Flat Distance Range
• Builder - Breakdown rows doubled from 750 to 1500
• Builder - Several more owners added to meet user requests
• Builder - New category - Compare LR v 2LR
• Builder - New category - Compare 2LR v 3LR
• Trend added - Houghton Mares Chase
• Back/Lay categorisation view option added to My Qualifiers by Slot
• Min Weight column added to Jockey pages
• Further changes to option 3 of Run Comments project in line with feedback including a sort option
• New daily report created - Jockey/Trainer
• Trainer added to the section on Jockey pages showing upcoming rides
• Additional sort options on Age and OR added to results
• New daily report created - Win Times (extended to 10 runs and more columns added as of 30th NOV)
• FC Odds added as an option in the System Builder Download categories
• Dams pages updated to include going and race information, distance, class given individual columns