The Ratings Explained

Tag: EDGE Ratings

  • The Ratings Explained

    The Ratings Explained

    This page gives you an overview of the TrackMate ratings, what they mean and how to understand them. The ratings are colour coded for ease of use, eliminating the need for confusing tables of numbers and unnecessary racing jargon.

    Assuming you have already familiarised yourself with the race card, it is time to have a look at the ratings. If you need to know more about the race cards then have a look at the ADD LINK TO RACE CARD INFO PAGE page.

    This is a list of what this page includes:

    Rating Colours Explained

    We need to start with explaining what the rating colours mean before trying to explain anything else. TrackMate race cards display the top 3 rated and bottom rated horses in a traffic light style colour scheme as shown below.

    Clear Top
    Top Rated
    2nd Rated
    3rd Rated
    4th Rated
    Rated Last
    No Colour
    Non-Runner
    –
    Not Rated

    Bright green is “Clear Top” meaning they are rated comfortably ahead of 2nd best. Green is “Top Rated” but not by a comfortable margin like clear top would be. “2nd”, “3rd” and “Last” rated continue in a familiar traffic light colour scheme.

    Horses rated “in the middle” are grey or have no colour as are horses without a rating. We only rate the top 3 and bottom as we do not need to know which horse is rated 7th and would void the point of our rating colours. If you hover over the rating boxes you will see the numerical rating. This will not be visible if the horse has no relevant rated form for the qualifying period.

    Now you understand what the different colours represent… let’s move on to the ratings themselves.

    The Ratings

    There are two ratings systems; the TrackMate Speed Ratings and the TrackMate unique EDGE Ratings. Each column for both sets of ratings are colour-coded to help simplify reading the race cards.

    Speed Ratings

    The first 10 ratings boxes are the TrackMate Speed Ratings calculated using our advanced algorithms and unique racecourse standards. Ideally, you are always looking for these boxes to be as well coloured as possible. Remember… green is best.

    The TrackMate race cards display all the rated relevant runs (up to the last 8 runs) in a 200 day period We produce a speed rating for every run and the final speed rating is the average of all ratings combined.

    Win Percentage

    There are two percentages in this column. The top percentage is the win rate from for this exact type of race and the bottom is the overall win rate from all qualifying races.

    Rating 365

    This TrackMate average Speed rating is for the previous 365 days before the current race card you are viewing. We concentrate mostly on recent form so this rating indicates potential dangers from runners who have little or no form in the current season.

    Rating Prev

    TrackMate average Speed rating for the current time period in the previous season. This rating is most helpful for runners who have little or no form for the current seasons latest, 100 or 200 periods, like with Rating 365 but over a shorter period.

    Rating Latest

    The latest speed rating achieved by this horse. Very often an important indicator of the horses current form. A good speed rating for its latest run means that the horse should be fit and well and that the conditions of that last run suited the horse. This rating is also indicated on the stack as the blue circle.

    Rating 100

    This is the TrackMate Speed rating for this horse averaged over the last 100 days. The best indication of recent form. The more runs the more accurate this rating will be.

    Rating 200

    A slightly longer-term speed rating. This Rating is the overall Speed rating for the last 200 days. A good indicator of the horses’ consistency.

    Fastest Time

    The best time rating achieved in the last 200 days.

    Time Average

    This rating is achieved using our standardised race distance and represents the horses’ average time over said distance.

    Standard Average

    The runners average time from the TrackMate standard vs field.

    Fastest Standard

    This is the closest this runner has come to the TrackMate course standard time for this distance.

    Cheltenham - 2020-12-12 - 15-35
    Sample Race Card – Cheltenham, 12th December 2020 at 3:35pm

    It is not always the fastest horse that wins a race nor does it have to be. Some horses win races easily so do not run as fast as they could at the end of the race simply because they don’t have to. Well beaten horses will often leisurely cross the line in 10th place without a care in the world.

    Only good horses can run good times, but both good and bad horses can run bad times.

    The TrackMate Team

    In the scenarios above, no speed rating system can accurately rate this type of run.

    TrackMate speed ratings are no different and it would be ridiculous for us to claim otherwise. What we do claim however is that we believe that they are about as good as it gets.

    EDGE Ratings

    The last 3 boxes are the TrackMate Edge Ratings calculated using TrackMate’s unique algorithms.

    The TrackMate Edge Rating is the result of many years of development. The unique evolutionary algorithms run simulations with thousands, if not millions of iterations per race. Making EDGE a very powerful tool.

    The EDGE ratings are completely different from the speed based ratings and sometimes they will have conflicting assessments of a race. Being a form-based rating, the edge will sometimes find form lines that are better than the rest of the field but the speed ratings do not agree.

    EDGE Latest

    The most recent edge rating achieved.

    EDGE 100

    The Edge rating for the last 100 days.

    EDGE 200

    The edge rating over the last 200 days

    Sample EDGE Rating - Clear Top - Lingfield - 2021-01-21 - 14-00
    Sample Race Card – EDGE Rating Clear Top

    The race card shows that the EDGE ratings have the winner “Highland Dress” as the clear top rated horse in the race. Ideally, we would look for some backup from good speed ratings but it is not always the case.

    Using the Stack and Trend are a couple of ways to back up the ratings.

    Interactive Ratings

    If you feel that one poor race is ruining a rating, the interactive race cards give you the ability to “forgive/ignore” this run by removing it from the race card. This will improve the rating.

    This feature is available by clicking on the trend point for the race you want to remove and then the remove race option is in the pop-up.

    Samples Trend Popup - Ignore Race - Trackmate
    Sample Ignore Race Filter

    Equally, if you feel that as a horse has had only one really good run this season which might be enhancing a rating then you can also remove that run and re-rate the race.

    You can also remove a runner from the race card completely as if it wasn’t running at all. Please see our Race Card Filter guide for more information on how to use the interactive race card options.

  • How does TrackMate Work?

    How does TrackMate Work?

    The TrackMate race guides have been designed in such a way to be easy to read and easy to understand. Below are some examples of real race card ratings and how to easily start to pick winners.

    Rating Colours Explained

    We need to start with explaining what the rating colours mean before trying to explain anything else:

    Clear Top
    Top Rated
    2nd Rated
    3rd Rated
    4th Rated
    Rated Last
    No Colour
    Non-Runner
    –
    Not Rated

    Now you understand what the different colours represent… let’s move on.

    How should I be using TrackMate?

    There are many ways to use the TrackMate system and many ways to read the “picture” created by the colour-coded ratings integrated into the card.

    It can be used as your only method of selection or in conjunction with your own race reading abilities and knowledge of form. Both are extremely powerful.

    Remember, you do not have to bet in every race.

    The TrackMate Team

    Waiting for the right opportunity and most importantly, waiting for value is the key to success.

    Here are some examples of the type of picture you may come across:

    The “Messy Race”

    Sample Messy Race - 2019-08-03 Hamilton 17.50 - TrackMate
    Sample “Messy Race” – 3rd August 2019, Hamilton at 5:50pm

    In this race card example, you can see that the colours (ratings) all over the place. Nothing stands out as any better than the others because the colours are spread out across all of the runners.

    With this type of picture we would normally just move on to the next race… but is it worth a closer look? There might be an opportunity lurking somewhere. We are looking for a well-rated horse that represents good value.

    Can we clean up/filter the card and spot some value?

    Possible ways to clean a messy card:

    • Remove poorly rated horses from the ratings.
    • Check the going settings in the Race Card FIlter match today’s conditions.
    • Rate less runs. You can rate 3, 5 or 8.
    • Filter the remaining runners for Surface, Ground and Distance perhaps?

    If after exhausting all options you do not find an obvious or good value selection just move on to the next race.

    You do not need to find lots of selections. Just well rated and good value ones. If there are none that day, be patient, there will always be another race and another… and another!

    The “Standout Selection”

    You will see from this race card picture that there is an obvious contender. It is not hard to spot… green is good!

    Sample Stand Out Race - 2021-01-20 Southwell at 18.00 - TrackMate
    Sample “Standout Selection” – 12th December 2020, Cheltenham at 3:35pm

    The obvious horse to choose in the race above was “Bay Of Naples“. This picture indicates that the horse is:

    • Clear top-rated in “Rating 365”, “Rating Latest”, “Rating 100”, “Rating 200”, “Edge Latest”, “Edge 100” and “Edge 200”.
    • Top rated in “Win %”, “Fastest Standard” and “Average Standard”.
    • The stack best rating is top as is the stack latest.
    • The trend is improving/consistent.

    Everything you want in an investment based on the TrackMate ratings.

    The “Value Bet”

    Sample Value Bet - 2021-01-09 Kempton at 15.30 - TrackMate
    Sample “Value Bet” – 20th January 2021, Southwell at 6pm

    In theory all your bets should be value bets. The race example above is from this year’s ultra competitive Lanzarote hurdle and amazingly the winner “Boreham Bill” was totally unfancied at an incredible price of 66/1 and even bigger on the exchanges!

    In a scenario like this we would prefer the 80% to place and 20% to win staking strategy.

    In a big race like this one you will be able to obtain prices for as many as 6 places on the exchange.

    The “Lay Bet”

    Sample Lay Bet - 2019-01-05 Kempton at 17.15 - TrackMate
    Sample “Lay Bet” – 5th January 2019, Kempton at 5:15pm

    To those of you already familiar with the betting exchanges you will be aware of laying horses. It is essentially acting as the bookmaker and laying odds against the horse winning.

    In the above example the favourite “Luxford” looks like terrible value based on the TrackMate ratings and could potentially be the sort of horse you might want to lay on the exchanges.

    ALWAYS be cautious when using this function on an exchange. Make sure you understand betting exchanges before you attempt to lay horses.