On course prices
 

I am currently trying to collect on course bookmaker prices and Prepost prices. Trying back test a few theories. Have been able to go back to Sept 2013 but that's it. I am able to go forward on a daily basis.

Is there any where that I can get this data from? Any databases that includes them?
Alternatively has anybody got any results in excel that they can share?

Unibet has bookmaker flucs going back to Jan 2012, but others may know where you can get historical prepost prices.

Thanks Stugots That's a good start. I will organise to obtain them. Any body got any earlier records. My objective is to match other records back to 2009.

Still open for PP or alternatively W2B.

Are you after the fluctuations or the SP?
SP can be taken from any database, including mine ;)
Fluctuations are still obtainable from BPS (bookmakers pricing service).
Called something else now - I think it's APN, but you have to pay handsomely for those fluctuations.
Note that the course fluctuations are not all fluctuations, they are taken at set times in betting, and leave out many prices in between. Also the openers can change as they fill the prices, so the opening price can disappear off the left of the screen, especially in high turnover betting races.

Edited to add:
There is also another slight problem, sometimes prices change dramatically as they are loading into the gates, so you can miss those final fluctuations if you're working a lot of races and barely have time to get on elsewhere.

Agree CP with the issues you point out.

I follow flucs fairly closely & there are often differences between the 2 online sources I use, as well at times changes after the jump. They are a very useful tool but need to be 'handled with care', if that makes sense.

Each and every race is different. Tomorrow's races will be different to today's and everything before now. Humans however do work in reasonably set patterns. Using the patterns as a precursor may give enough of an edge. So I am trying to see what the relationship of the oncourse is to betfair and the tote.
If I can get the PP and match that in as well will be great.
Purists will say that you need exact data. That is only going to produce possible for today's events at a cost exceeding reward. Thus I understand that the data available is not 100% correct, it is reasonably correct. In the last 6 mths we have see that a lot of the corps that have recorded the oncourse prices have often missed the last call.

My thoughts are that laying is better than betting. Betting is hard work. but knowing the trends in the market will help me with the laying. ie we can check the value of the fav that is the PP, OP, BF, Bookies and tote fav. And we can see the value of openers that open equal or more than the PP. etc

Yep, is all valuable info beton,

You trying to outdo the late Alan Wood with this bot you're building Wally? The super algorithm. Good luck with it.

I use the fluctuations, as you know, and would just like to add my two cents worth. It's the age old adage 'put the cart before the horse'?

In other words, consider the reverse of the accepted or logical order of things! I learnt the art of using fluctuations to profit from, by studying race after race live. Many weeks went by before I could start to recognise patterns and interactions. My brain developed theories about successful methods...AND then I started to record and build my database to confirm my beliefs. Not the other way round.

Just a thought :)

RP You have two key elements in this equation. You have the time and the desire to sit and watch the fluctuations. Maybe the watching came out of necessity but you were able to sit and watch and continue doing so. I neither have the time or the inkling to watch the fluctuations.

However I realize that they are crucial, maybe the crux, to betting. Form is history, ratings are history with experience. Ratings are selective (specific qualifying races), formula based where all races are rated. Prepost is history with experience. The oncourse openers bring history and new data since the last start. Fluctuations are two pronged. They are an indication of how the market is incorporating new, up to the minute, data and shows what the bookie must do to balance his book. The SP is the culmination of all available data right or wrong.

Thus not being able to sit and observe, I will collect and sieve. Then I can have a full set to work with. Not just random races or just metro or just rateable races. I can test the lot.

True!