Information on Form Providers.
 

Well it is time to make some changes as we all should from time to time, mine are more forced due to changes in websites, getting harder to scrape what i need.

What i need is info on some form providers something i can download each day here is a list of my needs.

last 3 starts
Avg prize money ( i can work this out if needed)
Distance stats
Track stats
Course stats
Wet stats
Class stats
Weight changes
Race times

I am sure i am not wanting anything out of the normal, i suppose something that is not too expensive would be nice.

The other thing i need is the ability to download past form at least 12 months worth so i can develop some new ratings the one big inability i have had is to test criteria of my ratings to see how they perform then make adjustments as needed, i have always live tested, if past form is not available maybe some kind person on here may have some they could share.

Shaun, may I ask which ones are causing you trouble or are going to cause you trouble as I use a varied version of your spreadsheet.

I'd suggest using the racingaustralia form as its unlikely to change to my knowledge and you can either scrape recent form (last 5 starts) or all form. Scraping all form can be a hassle for large meetings as its about 5000 lines of data but I haven't found that it slows excel at all and its pretty easy to scrape what you need (prizemoney, number of starts, settling positions etc etc.)

One thing I would caution that I recently found out is that if your recording any stats post-race, depending on how quickly their website updates it can sometimes contain the race from that day - just something to be mindful of.

At the moment all is working fine, i have looked at the site and it would be of great use.

The main this is i want to develope some new version of ratings, as i don't keep the old form for back testing i am looking at downloading some.

I am going to take a look at bet selector form, i have been given todays races so i can see how it is set out, looks like that is pretty good, i have always tried to do all this on a free basis so any one can use my sheets and learn from them, i just want a fresh start and will work from the fround up with what i already know works with my ratings.

Ah I see makes sense.

From all the searching I've done I think the racing australia website has the most freely available information with the only other one being R&S however their website is incredibly messy to deal with as you'd well know.

Hope I was of some help :)