Don’t Over Complicate Things

Tag: TrackMate Data

  • 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!

  • 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.