TrackMate Terminology

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  • TrackMate Terminology

    TrackMate Terminology

    Whether you are new to horse racing or a seasoned punter, you may have a limited or vast understanding of horse racing phrases or TrackMate Terminology and what they mean. Either way this page is here to help explain what each phrase means.

    FORM

    A list of positions a horse placed in its previous runs.

    QUALIFYING FORM

    Races that the TrackMate algorithms deams “qualifying” depending numerous factors like; type of race and surface. These races are then included in the TrackMate ratings as each runner’s “qualifying form”.

    PLACE / PLACING

    The position a horse comes in a race.

    RATING / RATINGS

    TrackMate’s advanced rating algorithms rate all runners in each race. These ratings produce numerical scores to help rate multiple aspects for each runner so they can be compared to other runners in the same race.

    TrackMate’s latest rating algorithm which rates horse differently from the advanced ratings which provides a greater variety of ratings to help create each race card picture.

    mySLIPS

    A popup sidebar feature containing all your race card betting selections so you can keep track of them easily. (read more about mySlips)

    myTRACKER

    This feature allows you to add a horse to your myTRACKER so each tracked horse will be highlighted with a yellow star on every race card it’s entered in. (read more about myTracker)

    PICTURE

    This is a term used to explain what the race card looks like when there are colour-coded ratings and graphs. The “picture” is how the card looks at a glance. It is a quick reference to which horses are most likely to be winners.

    LAY / LAYING

    A betting type where you back a horse to NOT do something. Basically it’s a opposite bet.

    TREND

    A feature found on race cards. It is a horizontal and vertical graphical representation of a horse’s form. Vertically it changes colour from red to green from top to bottom respectively… with top and green meaning a better placing/rating.

    TREND LINE

    The horizontal coloured graphical line which represents the trend.

    TREND POINT

    Each dot on the horizontal coloured trend line represents a race… with is a “trend point”.

    STACK

    A feature found on race cards. It is a horizontal graphical representation of a horse’s ratings from it’s form. Left (red) is a lower rating and right (green) is therefore a higher ratings. Each stack for all runners can be compare vertically, therefore giving you a performance comparison between all the runners.

    RACE CARD FILTER

    When viewing a race card there is a Race Card Filter popup which can be customised to change the settings for the race card. You can alter things like the quantity of races, the type of races and the to be included. Changing these settings will re-rate the race card and show a new picture.

    CLEAN / CLEANING

    The term clean is used to explain the process of ignoring races and runners from race cards to expose hidden value.

    VALUE

    This is a type of bet with a good return/profit. For example, a £10 stake at 20/1 would be better “value” than at 2/1.

    HIDDEN VALUE

    The term hidden value means that you found a better race card picture from a race that didn’t have an obvious winner. It is what you are looking for when using the Race Card Filters and/or cleaning process.

    …have we missed anything?

    Please contact us if you are having trouble understanding any TrackMate Terminology that we have missed from above. We are more than happy to help… in fact you would be helping us expand the above TrackMate Terminology.

  • I’m NEW to Horse Racing & Confused… HELP!

    I’m NEW to Horse Racing & Confused… HELP!

    If you are new to horse racing and confused? Don’t be scared or intimidated… TrackMate is here to help you understand how to be successful using TrackMate’s Advanced Horse Racing Ratings.

    There has been a huge increase in interest in horse racing along with an increased presence on television. Anyone new to this incredible sport can be completely flummoxed by the task of unraveling a winner. Apart from the information provided by the excellent TV pundits, you have little or no idea where to start.

    Confused?

    Newcomers can be easily confused and find it hard to fathom out all the ins and outs. Only a few ever really take investing their hard-earned cash seriously.

    There is so much information available for you to make your choices it just gets so confusing.

    Race cards are available in newspapers, in the dedicated press, or online. Nobody ever teaches you how to read them properly and actually understand what they are telling you.

    The Old Days

    If you are not new to the game then you might remember the old days. When looking through the racing papers for form and information was so complicated it literally took years to interpret.

    It was the norm for punters to spend hours trolling through form books and stats trying to find an edge. The truth is only people in the know were really in with a chance of beating the bookies.

    When looking for help with making selections for horse racing there seems to be a huge amount of “experts” willing to share their knowledge with you… but at a price! Where is the fun in just getting a tip?

    Win or lose the real fun is the whole experience of making your selection and watching it run to see how well you and your selections have performed.

    Modern Racing Data

    Now in modern times there is just so much information and statistics! In fact maybe too much. There is so much data available to the racing enthusiast these days that it can sometimes have the same effect as the lack of data from many moons ago.

    The age of the computer has allowed us to go crazy with data and data-driven stats. Even though the availability of this data is great for some, for most of us it’s just too much information.

    So what do you do with all of this modern data? This is where TrackMate come to the rescue.

    TrackMate to the Rescue!

    The TrackMate Systems takes all of the information available and make thousands of calculations for each horse and every race. TrackMate does all the hard work so you don’t have to!

    There is no need to baffle punters with endless lists of numbers and stats to digest. Simply look at a TrackMate race guide and get all of that knowledge at a glance.

    The TrackMate Team

    All of the data analysed by the TrackMate rating algorithms are processed and displayed in an easier to understand format. Everyone understands a basic traffic light system. Green is go, amber is wait and red is stop. TrackMate’s Rating System uses a similar format. Green is good all the way to red which is bad. Ratings are then portrait in simple block form for the ratings and line graphs for the stack and trend.

    If you want to learn more about the ratings and their colours, read the post called The Ratings Explained.

    TrackMate has many more in-depth features that can be incorporated into your personal selection processes. As you learn to use the TrackMate Ratings System you will find these features amazingly easy to use. In no time you won’t be confused and will be using the interactive race guides quickly and easily to make your racing enjoyable and hopefully profitable.

    Easy to use, easy to understand and gain an EDGE that 99% of other punters do not have!

    The mere fact that you have taken the time to read this article shows that you are sensible enough to know that the best chance you have of enjoying horse racing is to try and get yourself an “EDGE”.

    TrackMate’s Ratings are integrated into our easy to read race cards. Quickly zoom in on the colour-coded likely contenders. It’s really simple to use… don’t be confused. Green is best and you want as many green ratings as possible. No endless lists of numbers and tables that make you go goggle-eyed after 5 minutes.

    Let’s have a look at a real TrackMate race card ratings…

    This image is the race card from Newcastle on 28th January 2021 at 4:12pm. Let’s have a look at the colour-coded ratings… remember GREEN is GOOD and the more the better!

    Sample Green is Good Ratings (Before Race) - TrackMate
    TrackMate Race Card showing lots of Green – Newcastle, 28th January 2021 at 4:12pm

    You can see from the above race card that the horse “Greengage” has lots of green… green is even in the horse’s name!

    • 9 green ratings (3 are clear top rated)
    • 3 yellow ratings (which is the second best rating)
    • The stack and trend also have lots of green

    So looking at this race only using the colour-coded ratings, you could expect “Greengage” to be a good contender.

    Now let’s see how it ran… The image below is the same race card but from after the race had run.

    Sample Green is Good Ratings (After Race) - TrackMate
    TrackMate Race Card after the race – Newcastle, 28th January 2021 at 4:12pm

    Wouldn’t you believe it… “Greengage” actually won the race! On this occasion TrackMate identified the winner perfectly. At the same time made the race card easy to understand so you could select the eventual winner.

    Did you also notice that “Tannadice Park” was heavily red rated (red identifies the worst ratings). You don’t always back a horse to win, there are plenty of different types of bets you could wager on. On this occasion the TrackMate Ratings System also identified a good horse to back to NOT win.

    Conclusion

    Obviously just because a horse has lots of green ratings doesn’t mean it is always going to win. TrackMate, time after time, identifies potential winners and gives you an easy to understand way of selecting contenders.

    It doesn’t matter whether you are new to racing and confused or a well oiled “old timer”. With TrackMate you have found the best ratings system available anywhere to help you gain your edge.

    TrackMate’s race cards are the easiest to read and the most accurate ratings you are likely to find. Years of endless development and our unique algorithms give you the most powerful rating system available anywhere today.

    Take the stress out of horse racing is to make it about having fun and not winning money. The money may come or not but by visiting this page it shows you are at least willing to learn. Make your bets affordable, in other words if you do lose it doesn’t matter. There will always be another race to bet on.

    Please ALWAYS remember… if you have or think you might have any issues with gambling PLEASE STOP. Do not join TrackMate and please get some help as soon as possible.

  • Should I bet to Win, Place or Both?

    Should I bet to Win, Place or Both?

    When thinking about what to bet on… DO NOT bet on ANTHING unless you can afford to. Betting on horses should be fun and pressure free. If it is not then please do not bet at all.

    There are no rules when it comes to how you should invest your hard-earned cash when having a bet.

    We strongly believe, the only real way to have any chance of making a profit, is to have a solid staking plan and proper bankroll management.

    It also helps to have a great rating system such as TrackMate to steer you in the right direction when deciding what to invest in.

    Here’s what this page will discuss:

    Win or Place?

    We have many members who bet in all sorts of different ways in order to gain an edge when backing horses.

    Some back mostly “place only” and prefer lower returns but with more consistent and regular “winning” bets. Others bet “win only”, preferring to have slightly lower strike rates but larger returns. Both methods will work and can be very profitable if staked correctly.

    At TrackMate we like to mix it up a bit and we use a combination of the above when making our investments.

    Our standard stake is 1% of our current bankroll with incremental stake increases at pre-set targets. We also set minimum price targets for our investments. For us, this is a minimum price of 2/1 (3.0) on Win bets and Evens (2.0) for Place bets. We have more information on these methods if you read the bankroll management article.

    Win Only Bets

    Many people prefer to only place “win only” bets. This is fine as long as you are staking properly and your bankroll and you can handle long losing runs. This will happen and you need to be prepared.

    We suggest that you place “win only” bets when the selection is too short (low odds) in the market and there is no value in a place bet. Normally these selections will fall into the 2/1 – 4/1 price range.

    Once the price of your selection reaches 4/1 and above you might decide that “win & place” is the way to go.

    Place Only Bets

    There are more options for punters available these days and the betting exchanges are a good option for using a more cautious approach with your bets.

    The number of runner in a race determines the number of places that will be paid. 7 or less runners will normally pay out for top 2 places. 15 or less will normally pay out on the top places. Over 15 runners normally pays out on the top 4 places.

    The ability to back horses to “place only” gives us the opportunity to play a more cautious game when protecting our bankroll.

    Win & Place Bets

    If you think your selection can win the race and the price offered is large enough you might decide to back your selection both to “win” and to “place”.

    This is similar to an “each/way” bet except that if you so desire you can place more on the place side of the bet than on the win side. Potentially locking up a profit as long as your selection places.

    For example:

    If your stake is £5 (recommended with a £500 bankroll) A more cautious approach to backing your 10/1 shot would be to stake £3 to place and £2 to win. You can change the ratio to suit your style of betting. Maybe 80/20 or 70/30 suits you more.

    myTrackMate Profit & Loss Statistics

    Remember you can follow your stats and your “profit & loss” figures in your myTrackMate page where your stats are automatically updated daily.

    This is an incredible tool for you to monitor your bets, streamline your betting techniques, and spot leaks in your strategy. Just add the odds taken and your stake and TrackMate will do the rest! You can read more about how myTrackMate works here.

  • Be Cautious When Seasons Change

    Be Cautious When Seasons Change

    Unless you are new to this wonderful sport then you will be aware that there are two definite seasons to the horse racing calendar. Each of which is preceded by a “settling in period”. This period is dangerous to all punters and should be treated with caution.

    Table of Contents:

    Summer Season

    You will see three types of racing during the summer season which kicks of in April with the early flat turf racing and end in November. Here are the types:

    • Flat Racing on Turf (Flat)
    • All-Weather Flat Racing (AW)
    • Summer Jumps Racing (National Hunt / NH)

    The Change-Over Period

    As mentioned the summer season for flat turf racing starts in April and runs until November (a long summer!). This means that for the early part of the season (at least 4 weeks) the ratings will be few and far between and form will be limited until the majority of horses have started running on a fairly regular basis.

    The TrackMate ratings are predominantly based on recent form and the more form the system has the better and more accurate the ratings will be.

    We understand this can be frustrating but it is very important we make use of this time by making notes, tracking horses who run well and maybe going over historical races and test your ratings systems on past races. This is a great way to get a feel for the race cards and ratings for reading future cards.

    There is no point in backing a horse in an 8 runner race when only 2 of the runners have any recent form. You do not know how fit the horses are and generally, horses will improve for their first race and sometimes will not reach peak race fitness for at least a couple of races. When looking to invest in a race you should make sure there is enough available form to make a reasonable assumption that most of the horses in the race have valid rateable form.

    We generally advise that it is best to only back horses after they have had at least 2 runs during the current season. This will normally mean they are fit and raring to go and there will be meaningful form to compare with the other runners in the race. This is not a rule though. Quite often horses are fit and ready when the season kicks off and if this is the case then a well-rated horse might well be worth considering if its first run of the season is trustworthy in the context of the race you are looking at.

    Change-Over Danger Periods

    These are times of year to be cautious… read on to learn why for each type.

    Flat (Turf)

    Early Season – April / May:
    • Lack of current form for flat turf analysis
    • Horse race fitness concerns
    Late Season – Oct / Nov:
    • Inconsistent ground conditions
    • Horses who have “Had enough” or gone over for the season

    National Hunt (Jumps)

    Early season – Oct / Nov:
    • No real form yet for analysis
    • Race fitness concerns
    Late season – April / May:
    • Horses who have “Had enough” or gone over for the season
    • Poorer quality “summer” jumpers starting to appear.

    Every race is different but we should be aware that the more races we choose to invest in that have little or no form will only harm our strategy in the long run. It is not a winning strategy. There is so much racing available to us these days that patience will always be rewarded.

    Be as selective as you can when there are lots of races to choose from.

    Use sensible bankroll management and you will reap the long term rewards. Start “gambling” on races with no recent form and you will quickly become disillusioned with the whole thing and just make more mistakes.

    Be aware of the time of year and make your investments with that knowledge firmly at the front of your decision making process.

    Winter Season

    The national hunt season starts for real at the beginning of November and runs until the end of April. There are two types of racing in the UK during the winter months:

    • National Hunt Racing (Jumps)
    • All-Weather Racing (Flat – Artificial Surface)

    It is a similar story to the flat racing in the summer. At the start of the season the vast majority of horses will need their first couple of runs to reach peak race fitness. There is no need to jump in early and start betting in races with no form. Wait, watch and enjoy the spectacle until there is plenty of form available for you to use your edge.

    All Weather Racing

    We are very fortunate that we have a full and regular schedule of all-weather racing in this country. These tracks race all year round and have some good quality racing to keep you amused during the “off-peak” periods for turf racing. This type of racing can be very profitable. Generally, especially during the winter months, the same group of horses tend to run on the same tracks. This makes it easier to get a grip on the form and can be very profitable. Some of the big yards now regularly send quality horses to the better meetings and most All-Weather tracks offer very fair surfaces that tend to suit most horses.

    There are similar periods of time to be a little cautious with the all weather ratings and form.

    Early season – Nov / Dec

    From about November through to December the new batch of winter all-weather horses start to appear. Some of them will be fit from the flat but this also means that they might be a little “jaded” after a long season. Fresher horses that have been prepared for a winter all-weather campaign will be in the same position as the flat turf horses in the spring and will need a little time for the form to settle down.

    Late season – April / May

    Many trainers will send their horses to the local All-Weather track early in, or just before the start of, the new season to warm them up for the coming months. This can be a difficult time of year for the punter as these horses coupled with the ones who have now passed their best and are thinking of their summer break make reading races a lot harder. So please be careful.

    Conclusion

    Always know your seasons. Also what period you are in of that season. Early or late can make a difference to performance. Being caution in these seasons can help you make the right choices at the right times.

  • The Perfect Picture

    The Perfect Picture

    Is this what the ideal potential bet should look like ? We think so!

    There is a horse running today that seems to fit the ideal profile of a TrackMate investment.

    In the above race, the 16.12 at Newcastle Greengage is clearly the one to be interested in.

    Clear top-rated over all 3 time periods in the EDGE ratings he is also clear top-rated in the TM ratings.

    His TM speed ratings “stack” is clear of the field indicating that his latest run is better than the rest of the field’s best run! He is consistent and has form in the same conditions as today’s race.

    The only negative here is the fact that the race is a class 6 which are generally contested by poor, inconsistent horses.

    Greengage is a course and distance winner and in fine form which is more than can be said for the rest of the field.

    At the time of writing this one is 3/1 so looks like a great value investment.

    Either way and win or lose a picture like this is definitely one you should all be looking out for.

  • Rain rain go away

    Rain rain go away

    You will hear me go on about this on a regular basis. Not just to help our members with sound advice but also to remind me that just because a horse is well rated does not mean that it will win the race.

    TrackMate is a great tool for just looking at the colours and picking the one with the best ratings but as with anything in life you will miss opportunities and make unnecessary mistakes or losses that could be avoided with just a little investigation.

    All the information you need is available on the TrackMate racecard including the forecast ground conditions.

    Racing League: New $2.3 million series to introduce whip ...

    The Going and the weather

    There are many reasons why well rated horses don’t run to their best all the time.

    Sometimes they just have an off day. We all have them and horses are no different. They could be poorly drawn and literally have no chance from their starting stall or they could meet trouble in running which means they just couldn’t get there in time.

    The main reason for horses not performing at their best is that the ground conditions on the day of the race were unsuitable for the horse.

    Some horses (not many) will be able to perform to their best on most surfaces or ground conditions but the vast majority have a “favoured” surface for them to perform at their best.

    Most horses will go well on a turf surface when the ground is anywhere from “Good” to “Good to Firm” some will prefer it a bit quicker (Firm) and some will appreciate a little bit of juice in the ground (Good to Soft or Yielding).

    The Majority of the time the horses are declared for races that will be suitable for the animal and the Trainers will have normally checked the forecast ground conditions as a matter of course.

    You should always check the ground conditions before you invest. Often the Weather changes and with it the ground conditions.

    It is not unheard of for the going to change from “good to firm” to “Soft” in the space of a couple of hours when it rains heavily.

    If your selection has never run well with the ground softer than “good” then it is highly unlikely that today will be any different.

    Sometimes it will be beneficial for the trainer to still run the horse under conditions that are not suitable but will help with the horses’ fitness. This is not great for the punters.

    As a Trainer, sometimes it is a good idea to run a horse with conditions less than ideal in order to allow the handicapper to reduce the horse’s official rating which means that in the future the horse will carry less weight.

    Conclusion

    Rain sucks !

    In my experience and from many years of observation it is the best policy in the long run to stop all betting activities while the ground conditions are worse than good to soft. Period.

    The majority of horses will act on ground in the range from “good to soft” to “good to firm” and this is the range of ground conditions we should be betting in.

    This is particularly important on days when the going has changed during the course of the meeting.

    “Heavy” ground is the Devils spawn and should be avoided at all costs during the Flat racing season

    We would even suggest no bets during the National Hunt season when the ground is “Heavy”.

    TrackMate Tip

    Make use of your Notebook / Horse Tracking system that is provided for TrackMate members.

    Very often, well rated horses who run poorly on unsuitable ground will run a big race next time out even if not so well rated.

    Each race is rated individually in the TrackMate system and ratings will differ depending on the form of the other horses in the race.

    Have a look at the Trend, is there an obvious bad rating that is affecting the horses overall rating? If there is, try removing the race from the ratings (click race in trend to remove run) and see how this changes the “Picture” of the race.

  • Don’t Over Complicate Things

    Don’t Over Complicate Things

    TrackMate has been designed to make your selection process quick and easy whether you are new to horse racing or a seasoned pro. To help make sure you don’t over complicate your selection process.

    Many services that offer similar platforms to TrackMate are often so desperate to impress that they invent new ways of representing what is essentially the same information with a new name.

    They publish confusing lists of numbers. Statistics that are nearly always unnecessary and time-consuming to digest and therefore just complicate things.

    At TrackMate we keep what is an incredibly complex ratings system simple.

    TrackMate’s ratings and visual aids are integrated into our unique race guides so each and every race can be assessed within seconds.

    Anything Can Happen!

    There are literally hundreds of variables in the preparation of a race horse. It starts with the trainer and the stable staff:

    • Have they done their job well?
    • Is the horse ready to race?
    • Is it fit?
    • Has it had any problems with its training schedule?
    • How much does it weigh?
    • Did it eat its breakfast this morning?
    • Did it have a good journey to the track?
    • The list goes on and on…

    The truth is, the vast majority of these factors must be taken on trust. It would be almost impossible for anyone to take all of these factors into consideration.

    Horse racing is a very expensive business to be in. Owners and Trainers do not send their horses to the track unless they are in good enough condition to do themselves justice in the race and stay fit and injury free.

    Contrary to popular belief, and we speak with experience, that the costs involved in owning and training a racehorse far outweigh the vast majority of any scullduggery that some people theorise exists in all racing.

    You will never stop horses running that will improve for the run. It’s not often that all the factors are perfect for all the horses in any given race.

    Some may prefer a different surface to race on and some may prefer a different distance.

    So… with all that in mind, what can we summise from the above statements?

    • Most horses in most races are running on their merits. They want to win and definitely want to try and pay for the costs involved in getting to the race.
    • The fitness and well-being of any horse must be taken on trust.
    • Horses will generally improve after one or two runs.

    It is important to realise that there are a lot of poor horses in training.

    They are generally inconsistent performers.

    They rarely win races so the best way to avoid these animals is to try and stay away from poor quality races.

    Read our TrackMate Warning System page for great advice… if you haven’t done so already!

    We have simplified the process of picking value investment opportunities.

    We don’t over complicate the selection process.

    You will quickly spot the most likely contenders in each race using the simple to read, colour-coded ratings on each race card.

    Here’s a sample race card… so let’s put what we have just learnt in to practice.

    Sample TrackMate Race Card

    It’s not a difficult choice in this race. Green is best… simple.

    But before we jump in blindly there are still a few simple checks we should make before betting our hard-earned cash.

    • Is the price good value? In the race above the answer is clearly yes as it is approx 9/4 (3.25).
    • Will the horse act on the prevailing ground conditions?
    • Has the horse got form at the distance of today’s race?
    • Has the horse won or placed before under the same conditions?
    • Is the race suitable for investment?
    • Is the horse reliable enough in this grade of race?
    • Are enough of the runners in the race rated to make a clear assessment of the race?

    All of this information is available on your race card along with the ratings for each horse.

    Stick to what you have learnt above. Find a system that works for you and don’t waiver from it without good reason. Keep it simple, don’t over complicate things and you won’t go far wrong!

  • Staking & Bankroll Management

    Staking & Bankroll Management

    Many members ask us what is the best method for bankroll management and implementing a good solid staking plan. We will provide with you all the information you need to make good decisions with your staking and bankroll management.

    If you are investing your hard-earned money into horse racing you should be doing it for fun. At the same time, you should treat it as an investment that you would rather not lose. By doing this you will already have an advantage against most punters out there.

    • Bankroll Management – Increase profitability and reduce risk by staking correctly
    • Bankroll size – How big should your bankroll be.
    • Staking Plans – Decide correctly and strategically how to stake your investments
    • Losing runs – learn how to stake correctly for risk reduction
    • Bet tracking – Use your MyTm page as a base for bankroll management and bet analysis.

    Bankroll Management

    A Common Mistake

    The first and most important thing to understand is that you must be prepared to lose your WHOLE KITTY.

    If you are not, you cannot stake correctly.

    You would be amazed at how many people, when asked how much of their bankroll they are prepared to lose say anything other than 100%.

    It should be about enjoying the experience and having fun without pressure.

    There is no point in a staking plan that allows for a 100 bet losing sequence if you are not mentally prepared to lose 100 points.

    Having a £100 bankroll but only being prepared to lose £50 is just silly.

    Decide how much you are prepared to invest into a Horse racing Kitty with the knowledge that you could lose it all.

    Bankroll Size

    Firstly. You should not bet on anything if you cannot afford to lose the money in the first place. Please, please think before you bet and if you feel you have a problem do not join our service. Betting on the horses is not an exact science and you are highly likely to lose.

    Betting should be fun. Even if you take it seriously, as many of our members do. Feeling the pressure of every losing bet is no good for you or your profitability.

    We strongly suggest that you use a betting bank of at least 100 bets (points).

    You must be willing to continue with your staking plan. Even if you have lost half or even most of your kitty.

    Losing runs happen. If at the start of your journey, you are prepared to lose your whole bankroll, this should not affect your staking strategy. Remember you can always start again.

    If you lose your entire bankroll due to a terrible run, you should have the ability to shrug it off and start again.

    Take the opportunity of looking back at your selection processes and or staking plan and try to figure out why your selections have not been performing.

    Staking Plans

    There are literally hundreds of staking plans available out there these days.

    At TrackMate we advocate a simple but highly effective staking plan strategy of betting 1% of our initial betting bank on each selection.

    There are two highly effective strategies you can use when deciding when to increase stakes.

    • Set your stake at 1% of your bankroll every day. Keep all bets the same size for that day and reset to 1% of the new balance the following day.
    • Set your stakes at 1% of initial bankroll and only increase stakes when your bankroll hits preset milestones.

    For example:

    Conservative compounding staking plan

    Starting bankroll is £200

    Bet size should be £2 per race and you should stick to this until your kitty reaches £300 or busts (100 bets)

    When your bankroll hits £300 you increase stakes to £3 (still 1% of the kitty) when your kitty hits £400 you start staking at £4 and so on.

    If you hit a losing run and your kitty hits the starting point of £200 again you drop back to £2 stakes.

    In this strategy as your bankroll increases so does your ability to absorb longer losing sequences. By the time you have made 50% profit. Your balance is now 150 bets deep.

    This is a sensible and structured approach to staking.

    Aggressive compounding staking plan

    Although this is still a fairly conservative staking plan as your bankroll should still start at at least 100 bets it is just slightly different to our more cautious approach above.

    This staking plan allows for daily stake sizes to be determined by the daily balance as long it’s above your bankroll starting size.

    As long as you are in profit the stake is set daily at 1% of current bankroll balance.

    If you are not in profit you level stake 1% of starting balance.

    For example:

    Starting balance is £200

    Bet size should be £2 per race and you should stick to this until you are in profit or your kitty busts (100 bets).

    As soon as you are in profit, your stakes increase in line with your balance but stay at 1%.

    If your kitty reaches £210. Your stakes the following day would be £2.10

    If your kitty drops back to £200 or below you resort to level staking £2 until you are in profit again.

    This is an incredibly profitable staking plan.

    These rules are not set in stone but if you follow this practice you will get a lot of fun for your small initial investment.

    Who knows maybe next season you will be able to start with a much larger starting kitty!

    losing runs

    There are so many variables to consider and endless unforeseen events occur which could alter the outcome of a horse race so bankroll preservation should be top of your list.

    You can see from the below table the potential losing sequences you can have with the specified strike rates. It is always best to have as big a bankroll as possible and start with small stakes.

    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Estimated-Longest-Losing-Run-Ready-Reckoner.jpg

    As you can see. Even a 35% strike rate, which is incredibly high can endure losing sequences of up to 20 consecutive bets and we would always double this number at least in order to comfortably cover these inevitable runs.

    It happens. Get used to it.

    Bet Tracking

    One of the most important ways to maintain a proper bankroll management strategy is to incorporate a strict routine for logging your bets and results.

    How else can you keep track of all your investments.

    By keeping a record of all your bets you have the ability to spot “leaks” in your strategy and correct them when you spot them.

    You will find on your personal myTrackMAte page that all bets and stakes that you log in your MYslips are trannsfered automatically into and logged into your bet history page.

    All bets in this log are automatically updated daily with results and will keep a record of your profit/Loss figures as well as your strike rate and ROI.

    This incredible tool is available for all TM members and will help you manage your bets better than ever before.

  • Race Card Filter

    Race Card Filter

    Every race card has a Race Card Filter popup. This features gives you the ability to customise each race using the changeable options; Rated Quantity, Visible Races, Race Distance, Race Types, Surface Types and Going Types.

    Ignore Horse feature

    A great way to clean up messy races.

    You can remove any runner from any race for any reason and re-rate.

    On the right-hand side of the racecard, you will see two pink columns with options **** buttons.

    The column below the racecard filter/options button contains the remove horse function.

    The **** button enables the remove all function so you can remove more than one horse from the race at the same time. Below this button the boxes allow you to tick as many horses as you want.

    How to open Race Card Filters

    On the top right hand side of the race cards (see Fig. 1) you will see the “Race Card Filter Options” button. If you click the button you will see a popup with all the filter options so you can customise the ratings for each interactive race card (see Fig. 2).

    Sample Race Card Filter Options Button - TrackMate
    Fig. 1 – Race Card Filter Option Button
    Sample Race Card Filter Options 1 - TrackMate
    Fig. 2 – Race Card Filter Options Menu

    Quantity of Rated Races

    TrackMate’s default quantity of rated races is set to All qualifying runs. This means after the algorithm filters out all non-qualifying runs it will use all the remaining races.

    This option allows you to re-rate the race using either the last 3, 5, 8 or All qualifying runs. Remember the rating is the average of all runs in the rating time period. By changing the quantity of runs included in the ratings could drastically change the race card picture.

    If you set this option to 8 then a maximum of 8 previous runs will be included in the ratings… and so on.

    If the horse has less than the maximum quantity of rated runs it will be rated only on the qualifying runs for this period. So if the option is set at 8 runs but the horse has only had 3 runs, the system can only rate those 3 runs. On the other hand… if the horse has had 10 runs then only the last 8 runs will be included.

    Quantity of Visible Races

    This sets the maximum quantity of visible races to show in the form, stack and trend for this race card. The default setting for this feature is 8, but you can choose between 3, 5, 8 or All.

    Race Distance Tolerance

    This feature allows a tolerance range in yards for race distances to be included in the ratings algorithms.

    • This option is set to OFF as default.
    • If you turn it ON then a the race distance tolerance is set to 100 yards as default.

    When OFF this allows all qualifying race distances to be included in the algorithms. When ON and you don’t change the default distance from 100 then all races within 100 yards shorter or 100 yards longer than the race card distance you are filtering will be included… and so on.

    Race Type Indicators

    Sample Race Card Filter Legend - TrackMate
    Sample Race Card Filter Legend

    At the bottom of the Race Card Filters popup you’ll see the filters legend which explains all the different indicator types. There are 6 filter indicators to understand, but they are very useful once you get used to them.

    This Race

    “This Race” is a green dot to indicate which is the current race card’s type.

    Manually Selected

    “Manually Selected” is a red dot to indicate which options that you have selected yourself.

    Crossover Filter

    “Crossover Filter” is a blue dot which indicates that equivalent types have been automatically selected by the system. An example of this (see picture above) would be when the current race card “This Race” going is an English going term, in this case Soft, so the equivalent Irish going types are added; Soft to Heavy and Yielding to Soft.

    Addon Filter

    “Addon Filter” is an orange dot which indicates that additional types have been automatically selected by the system. An example of this would be when the current race card is an English track so Irish equivalent going types are added and vice-versa.

    Filter Leeway

    “Filter Leeway” is a red number to indicate the leeway quantity either side of “This Race” type. This customisable user setting can be altered on the myAccount page.

    Grouped Filter

    “Grouped Filter” is a red plus (+) symbol which indicates that a customisable user setting is active.. This customisable user setting can be altered on the myAccount page.

    Race Types

    TrackMate will automatically identify the current race card “Race Type” and as default will only include races of the same type in the ratings algorithms.

    You can include other race types from a selection of “Flat”, “NH Flat”, “Hurdle” and “Chase”, but be careful as you could be adding race types that aren’t relevant and re-rate the race card with inaccurate ratings.

    Surface Types

    TrackMate automatically selects the current race card “Surface Type” and as default will only include races of the same type in the ratings algorithms.

    There is a customisable user setting available for this option. If the current race is all weather then you can decide whether to include all other all weather types or not. When ON you’ll see a red + next to the “This Race” type so

    You can include other race types from a selection of “Turf”, “Sand”, “Fibresand”, “Polytrack”, “Tapeta” and “Dirt”, but be careful as you could be adding race surfaces that aren’t relevant and re-rate the race card with inaccurate ratings.

    Going Types

    TrackMate automatically selects the current race card “Going Type” and as default will only include races of the same type in the ratings algorithms.

    You can include other race types from a selection of “Turf”, “Sand”, “Fibresand”, “Polytrack”, “Tapeta” and “Dirt”, but be careful as you could be adding race surfaces that aren’t relevant and re-rate the race card with inaccurate ratings.

    Reset Race Card Filters

    The “Reset” button at the bottom of the filter options popup box enables you to completely reset the racecard to the original settings and start again. This will light up red when you have made changes to the original race card.

    The adjustments made will stay in play until cancelled and if you re visit this race in your historic racecard library it will stay in the mode you were last using the card in.