List of Racecourses

[CallumPerry]

That is all perfectly ready for me in that workbook as well, thank you again!

[johnsheppard]

Hello there,

Hope it's ok to add to the of this old post. Nigel's spreadsheet is pretty helpful!

Attached is an excel sheet, which I have converted it into a single table for adding it to a database if anyone is into that jazz... There are still omissions, for example Hong Kong, etc... I also have no idea if any of these have changed since.... anyway, hope it's useful for someone...thanks Nigel!

A sticky thread with spreadsheet/data info like this would be groovy to have. I wonder where Nigel got his list from, or if its the result of many hours hard administrative labour...

Thank you all.
Have a nice day.

[Anbell]

Nigelk the spreadsheet you have kindly shared is absolutely perfect for what I need, thank you very much!
TIA

Note that (for Aus at least) Nigel's spreadsheet doesn't differentiate gallops from harness.

I have an Aus/NZ list with just gallops if anyone wants.

[Anbell]

Anything else that would be noteworthy?

TIA

Weather and track condition would be useful, but I haven't found an easy/simple way to do that (for Aus)

[firlandsfarm]

Being very cautious of overfitting my data and worrying about confirmation bias, so far I've thought of:
Course name, Type of race, time of day, day of the week...

Callum, just curious but do you feel time and day are factors? I have often seen a bias for one or both but because I can't see a reason why and like you I want to avoid 'fitting' I have put it down to statistical anomalies. I will have to explore a bit deeper perhaps.

[CallumPerry]

I have found time of day patterns are just a bit of a coincidence and the major underlining factors actually are the types of markets that occur at these different times. For example, evening races can be quite weak at certain points in the year compared to the early afternoon. This is true also for day to day and week to week and I suppose even (though not been collecting data long enough to confirm this yet) year to year.

If you chop your results up and notice certain times do better don't just leave it at that and blindly say, "I'll run strategy A between 2pm and 5pm only". Let it draw your attention to other factors which may be more responsible i.e. the types of markets that are abundant at those times.

[firlandsfarm]

... evening races can be quite weak at certain points in the year compared to the early afternoon. This is true also for day to day … If you … notice certain [days] do better don't just leave it at that and blindly say, "I'll run strategy A [on Fridays] only". Let it draw your attention to other factors which may be more responsible i.e. the types of markets that are abundant at those times.

I've edited your quote to reflect the following results of 'System A' (AW) …

Table.JPG

Why should Fridays produce more profit than the rest of the week combined and more than double the next most profitable day, Saturday? (rhetorical!). A friend who has been a devoted racing fan since nappies (as was his father) suggested that Saturday is a better racing day so Friday races tend to be weaker because the better horses are held up for the Saturday and a 'well prepared' runner slotted into a weak race can often be missed. I have no idea if that holds weight and perhaps that Saturday is the second best profit day goes a little against that.

And if I explore a little deeper I find that 6 furlong Handicaps on a Friday account for 98 of those 133 profit points! Or, taking a different route I find that on Fridays while selections are split 48/52 afternoon/evening the profits are split 75/25! Any other day of the week the race time and profits (losses) are roughly in proportions. So what's so special about 6 furlong AW races on a Friday afternoon?!!

The unknown factor is that it's based on a rating system but where to draw the line between back-fitting and loop-holing? I am following the whole system but I think I will more closely monitor Friday afternoons!