Bet Selector Horse Racing Software

Bet Selector Online Help File

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Bet Selector Help File

 

Last Updated 29/04/2013

Jump to: Introduction | Form Import | Price Predictor | Tote Pro | Race TAB Live | System Selector | System Analyser | MyCalc | TAB Results File

Introduction

Operating Hints

When you first run the program and attempt to do anything with it, you will be presented with a password dialogue displaying a "computer code". Simply email the "computer code" to us and we will email you back a password. Note that you will also have to follow this procedure if you change your computer hard disk or substantially alter or upgrade your computer.

The program won't do anything (even after you enter your password), until you give it some races to look at. More details on this in the Form Import part of this Help File. Note you can get started quickly by downloading free sample meetings using the "Download Sample Meetings" option off the pull down Import menu.

It is your responsibility to back up the contents of your program folder (c:\price) and we recommend you do this periodically (eg to CD or USB drive) so you can restore the program and all your past data if needed. When doing this you should copy every single file in the program folder as when restoring, the program and past data is only guaranteed to be trouble free if the restored folder and contents is identical to that originally backed up. Note there is a backup facility on the pull down FILE menu that will create the required backup for you.

Note: If you ever misplace the download instructions you can get them by return email if you send an email to demo@capitalinfo.com.au

Punting Hints

The Price Predictor part of Bet Selector (available via the pull down Run menu) not only predicts the finishing order of horses in a race but also calculates what it thinks is a "fair" price for each runner. Some punters are happy to simply bet the top prediction regardless but the professional approach is to only back a horse if the price available for it is equal to or better than what the program says is a "fair" price.

Betting only when you can get a horse's "fair" price or better can be applied just to the top rated horse or to multiple horses in the same race. If using this approach with more than one horse in a race, it is usually best to limit horses under consideration to the top 5 or 6 rated and/or to those rated at $10 or less (this makes sure you concentrate only on the main chances in each race).

Also important is selecting the right races and less experienced punters are advised to start with lower risk races. These are best identified by confining yourself to Saturday Sydney and Melbourne races with above average quality horses. The quality or class of the horses in a race is collectively expressed by the avBASE figure listed alongside the race name within the program (50 and above is good, 60 plus is absolute top - eg Melb Cup. Cox Plate etc). Races with large numbers of first uppers and races for 2 year old horses are best excluded.

The remainder of this Help File concentrates on how to use the features in the program rather than how to bet. To learn more about the betting side of things you can check out our Punting Articles. On the system side of things you can get professionally designed systems for Bet Selector from Grandstand Publishing.

Navigation Hints

Unlike many Windows programs with numerous options to choose from, we have deliberately kept the user interface simple with just a few key paths you can take once in the program. There are only four drop down menus in the program, File, Run, Import and Help.

The remainder of this Help File documents the most important program components mentioned above.

Jump to: Introduction | Form Import | Price Predictor | Tote Pro | Race TAB Live | System Selector | System Analyser | MyCalc | TAB Results File

Form Import

Selecting the pull down "Import" menu will give you access to the following options:

When importing form you will note a number of checkboxes that should be left ticked. Note in the unusual event that you want to change these defaults, you can do so in Bet Selector Ultimate using the Setup function via the pull down FILE menu.

Note: The Download Cyberhorse Historical option is only available in Bet Selector Ultimate and gives you access back to the date when you first subscribed plus one more year further back for every year in advance you are subscribed (or part thereof). If you want four past years of meetings free regardless of your program version you can get this once you take out a $55 a month subscription from Bestform at www.bestform.com.au

Jump to: Introduction | Form Import | Price Predictor | Tote Pro | Race TAB Live | System Selector | System Analyser | MyCalc | TAB Results File

Price Predictor

Once one or more meetings have been imported into the program, they will be available to the Price Predictor part of the program via the pull down RUN menu. Price Predictor is the original ratings part of the program. It lists all meetings available for use in a scrollable list box on the left. A large text box on the right contains basic filed information for the selected meeting including horse name, trainer, jockey, weight, rated price, early market price (if using Bestform downloads) and TAB/Bookie price. More functionality and information can be obtained via a number of buttons below and to the right as follows:

The View/Print options are handy if you wish to quickly view information and optionally print it out but the real guts of the Price Predictor part of Bet Selector lies within the "Load Data Tables" option - see the Horse Window and Form Window sections below for more information.

Horse Window

The Horse Window displays every horse in the race listed down the screen and details for each horse listed across the screen (extra details are available on the right hand side by clicking TABs for additional panes of information). Data presented for each horse is as follows:


Details of horse's past runs can be found at the bottom of the Horse Window but for even more information you must click the "View Past Form/Edit Ratings" pushbutton on the left of the screen. Details on the Form/Edit dialogue that pops up can be found in the Form Window part of this help file below.

Form Window

The Form Window displays detailed horse information in the top half of the screen, a sub-section of items you can edit in the middle of the screen and past form information in the bottom half of the screen. Items that you can edit (eg to modify a horse's predicted status) are as follows (note that after changing anything you should click the "Update" pushbutton to force prediction recalculations):

If you wish to quickly alter a horses rated prediction there are +1 and -1 buttons near the top right of the window that add and subtract one from the selected horses base rating and instantly recalculate the rated prices and rated positions. Note also the Prev Race and Next Race button in the top right of the window for easy race navigation.

At the bottom of the top half of the Form Window you will find the program's bonuses and penalties for each horse. These are as follows:

In regards to the above bonus and penalties, each has a default weighting of one but these weightings can be adjusted in Bet Selector Ultimate via the Setup option off the pull down FILE menu where you canchange any individual weighting to zero or some other number. For example if you don't like Bet Selector's new class bonus/penalties you could zero them out by changing the weighting to zero. But you could also change the weighting to 0.5 to get half the bonus/penalty or to 1.5 to get 50% more! Same for all the other bonuses and penalties!

In the bottom half of the Form Window, each past run available is listed down the screen and details for each past run are listed across the screen. Note if you have access to a large number of past starts (eg more than 16), you may have to scroll down to see them. Items included for past starts are as follows:


Finally below the past runs are F1 for the finishing position of winner (or 2nd to winner), Other1 for the horse name of winner (or 2nd to winner) and Wgt1 for the Weight of winner (or 2nd to winner) - and similarly for second and third.

Note when you go into LOAD DATA TABLES and get to a horses form screen there is a "Extra Form" button that populates the form screen with extra runs (if found). To the right of this button is a "Graph" button that can then be used to produce a ratings graph of all these runs for the selected horse. Each past run is represented on the graph by a bar which contains the actual rating inside the top of the bar and the margin inside the bottom of the bar. Below the bar is the date of the run and below that the distance of the run. Good track runs are coloured green and fast track runs yellow. Wet tracks employ a mixture of blue and green colours with the amount of blue (think of blue as meaning water) increasing as the condition goes from dead through slow to heavy! Letups and spells (anything more than 32 days) are represented by a gap between runs on the graph.

To the right of the Extra Form and Graph buttons is a Find Pkd button that moves the highlight bar to the past run which has the peak distance ratings (if any) and a Steward Reports button that displays Steward Report comments (if using form from Bestform).

Jump to: Introduction | Form Import | Price Predictor | Tote Pro | Race TAB Live | System Selector | System Analyser | MyCalc | TAB Results File

Tote Pro

The Tote Pro module provides exotic betting functionality. It can be run from the Price Predictor part of the program by going into LOAD DATA TABLES and clicking the "Run Tote Pro" button and also from the Race TAB Live part of the program by double left mouse clicking a race in the top list box of races.

Note: The preferred of the above two options is to run Tote Pro from within Race TAB Live as at least then the TAB betting codes will match those of the TAB you are using.

The Tote Pro window provides numerous data entry controls as follows:

Defaults for most of the above settings can be changed in Bet Selector Ultimate using the Setup function via the pull down FILE menu (note however that changes to the defaults will only take effect for newly imported meeting files).

Note if in "Multi" mode there's the ability to "rove" standouts from first place to second and third. This is achieved by selecting the 213, 231, 132, 312, 321 checkboxes at the bottom left of the Tote Pro dialogue. 213 for example indicates you want to include bets with 1st and 2nd selections swapped etc. Note you should always click the "View/Check TAB Bet List" button to see what Tote Pro is doing.

Jump to: Introduction | Form Import | Price Predictor | Tote Pro | Race TAB Live | System Selector | System Analyser | MyCalc | TAB Results File

Race TAB Live

Race TAB Live is available off the pull down RUN menu. It allows automatic access to scratchings, pre-race prices and post-race results via the Internet from the various TABs. It is most frequently used on race day morning to automatically update scratchings and on race day evenings to automatically update TAB results (a handy daily option to having to wait until the end of each month for the master TAB result download files). In the top left hand corner of the Race TAB Live window are the following radio buttons for selecting the TAB data source:

Next on the Race TAB Live window is a date drop down list for selecting the date (today or tomorrow are the defaults with only the UNiTAB (xml) option allowing past days). Then comes the "Get Latest TAB Data" button to start retrieving the TAB data plus the following check boxes for determining what data is to be collected:

Note that the defaults for all of the above settings can be changed in Bet Selector Ultimate using the Setup function via the pull down FILE menu.

Once the above setting have been set and you click "Get Latest TAB Data" the large upper middle list box will fill with details of all the races you requested data for. Then the lower middle list box will fill with details for each race as selected in the upper middle list box. Note there is a Stop button if you wish to stop the process during data collection. The upper middle list box has columns for the various pool sizes followed by a column showing the scratchings for each race. The lower middle list box has details for each runner in a race as follows:

Horses over the odds are highlighted in blue, top rated in grey and winners in gold (top rated winners in grey-gold). After data has been collected you can double left mouse click a race to get the Tote Pro dialogue for that race or double right mouse click a race to get the Price Predictor Form dialogue for the race. Note you can change races and meetings by clicking in both the upper middle list box of races and the left hand list box of meetings. There is also a "Open in TAB Web Site" button for opening the selected race in the respective TAB web site.

Finally there are a number of buttons across the bottom of the window for generating various reports based on the races in the upper middle list box. The first three, Fields Report, Top 6 Report and Place Report, produce Price Predictor style reports and can be produced in meeting order or jump time order (using the Jump Time Order checkbox to toggle between the two orders). The next two, System Picks and System Bets, produce information on system sections selected by running System Selector on and for the day in question. The final "Jockey Changes" report lists jockey changes (if any) in the last race TAB Live update.

Jump to: Introduction | Form Import | Price Predictor | Tote Pro | Race TAB Live | System Selector | System Analyser | MyCalc | TAB Results File

System Selector

Selecting "System Selector" from the pull down RUN menu calls up the System Selector module within the program (all versions except the demo). System Selector was initially designed to help users pick system selections for upcoming races but now also lets users back test systems over past meetings they have downloaded. System Selector lets you select a system in the large left hand list box and then apply one of the following options via the right hand push buttons:

To create a new system you simply (a) use the last "Add 'Blank' System" option to add a system with 'blank' rules and then (b) use the "Edit System Rules" option to give the system a name and define its rules. To run the system you simply (a) use the "Test System" option to do the test and (b) use the "View Last Test" option to view the selections. Note you can pick system selections for any period (past present or future) by simply using the start and end date selection lists. These and other controls available on the Test System dialogue are as follows:

Downloading Free Systems and Other Systems

If you run System Selector in the Gold or above version, you will notice a "Download Free Systems" button at the top center of the screen. This brings up a dialogue with additional buttons to download approximately 130 free systems. Using these buttons results in the free systems being downloaded to your Price folder in specially names and structured DBF files which can be imported using the Import Systems button mentioned earlier.

The following instructions show you step by step how to download free systems into Bet Selector:

  1. Select "System Selector" off the pull down RUN menu.
  2. Click the "Download Free Systems" button at the middle top of the window and then click the "Neale's Systems" button on the resultant pop-up dialogue (make sure you are connected to the internet when you do this). Then close the pop-up dialogue (you can go back to it later to download other systems you may not have).
  3. Click the "Import Systems" button on the far right hand side of the window. A "File Open" dialogue will pop up showing a list of DBF files in your Price folder. Select the file named EXPORT_NEALES_FREE_SYSTEMS.DBF and click the "Open" button.
  4. The new systems will now appear under NEALES FREE SYSTEMS via the drop down tool at the top left of the window. This list will now include my original 46 free systems plus my 5 new systems.

Note that downloading and importing these free systems will in no way affect your existing systems as long as you have not previously downloaded them (if you have downloaded the same systems before then they will be duplicated upon subsequent download unless you delete the original ones first). Note also if you have purchased DBF files of systems from other sources then to get them into the program you simply save the file to your Price folder and import them using the "Import Systems" button on the far right hand side of the window - a "File Open" dialogue will pop up showing a list of DBF files in your Price folder and you just need to select the appropriate file and click the "Open" button. 

Main System Selector Rules

System Selector works by allowing you to set maximum and minimum bounds to a variety of parameters. Parameters are initially set to select as many horses as possible but by simply restricting the upper and lower bounds, a smaller sample of horses is selected. Various Yes/No criteria are also available. A list with descriptions of the main System Selector criteria follows:

Weight above lowest weight: Note there are no separate data entry boxes for this but tests can be done using the existing weight carried range boxes. If the program sees numbers less than 40 it assumes you wish to apply a "weight over lowest weight" range rather than a "weight carried" range. So for example setting "weight carried" minimum to 1 and maximum to 3 would select all horses weighted between 1 and 3 kilograms over the lowest weight. Note you can mix the numbers and could have a minimum of 1 and maximum of 55 which would select horses at least 1 kilogram over the lowest weight but not weighted more than 55 kilograms.

Bestform System Selector Rules

If you have a $55 a month form download subscription from www.bestform.com.au then System Selector can be used to test newspaper markets, official handicapper ratings and the week of the year in which a horse was actually born. A list of the rules for this data is as follows:

Note the above data can only be tested back to 1/12/2011 when it was first introduced by Bestform. Note also early market prices are not available for non-TAB meetings or New Zealand or Hong Kong meetings.

Special Ratings Test Rules

Originally System Selector was only designed to test against the programs main ratings using the abovementioned Predicted Posn/margin and Odds rules. With the addition of Better Ratings and Plus ratings you can now test for these ratings by adding special codes into your system name. Details on how to do this and other special ratings test are listed below:

User Defined Filter String Rules

The following "filter string" rules are available in Bet Selector Ultimate. They allow you to test for multiple/individual horses (like a black book), classes, jockeys, trainers and breeding sire/dams. These new system rules are saved as filter strings and each time you create a new filter string it is saved with a name of your choice. These so called user defined filter strings are linked into your system by selecting them from the drop down lists at the bottom left of the rules screen (note some rules have been rearranged to make space for this). The filter drop downs have the names MyClass, MyHorse, MyTrainer, MyJockey and MyBreed alongside them to indicate what they are for. To the right of the drop downs are small push buttons with the letter "e" (for edit) -these take you to a filter entry/edit dialogue where you can enter and edit your filters for each category.

Note the first entry in each drop down is blank to indicate a choice of no filter, and then other filters are listed underneath. When you first start out there will be no other filters so you must click the "e" button and then "Add New Filter" to add a filter -just give it a name (up to 20 characters) and a filter string (up to 255 characters). The filter strings are basically names or parts of names separated by commas and the filter checking process simply checks each filter in the filter string against each horses relevant details. The following examples illustrate how this works.

A filter to pick three horses would look like this:

Apache Cat,Weekend Hussler,Takeover Target

A filter to pick trainers would look like this:

Waterhouse,Cummings,Hayes

A filter to pick classes 1-6 would look like this:

Class 1,Class 2,Class 3,Class 4,Class 5,Class 6

Note that it does not matter if you type in upper or lower case as the process of checking a horse against the filters is not case sensitive. I suggest however that you type in upper and lower case or all lower case for the sake of readability. Note also that full names need not be used but if you use part of a name like Cummings then all trainers with the name Cummings will be selected. Similarly if you used just Cat in the horse name filter string then all horses with the name Cat in them would be selected.

If you want to exclude instead of include items from your filter lists then just put and exclamation mark (!) at the beginning of the filter string. So to ignore Maidens use the following filter string:

!Maiden

And to ignore Classes 1-6 use the following filter string:

!Class 1,Class 2,Class 3,Class 4,Class 5,Class 6

Note if you run a system test over all horses for a few months you can see a list of all the race classes at towards the end of the System Analyser report. This may be of help to ensure you get the spellings and spacing correct -note in this regard that Class 1 is different from Class1 so it is important to key in the correct letters and spaces (which can vary with different form providers).

Once you click the "e" button to modify or create filters, you can add as many as you like as they don't have to be linked to the system you have loaded at the time. Indeed when you exit the filter entry/edit dialogue and go back to the system, the previous filter choice if any is not changed and you have to change it yourself if you have just added a new filter you wish to use. Note also that once the filter entry/edit dialogue pops up you are not meant to be able to go back to the rule screen until you close it so please remember to close the filter entry/edit dialogue when you are done.

Note when testing the class of the race with the filter string Class, all classes from Class 1 through 6 and others like Class A etc will be included. This is convenient (especially for testing part of the horse name or breeding string) but has the side effect that a class string of Group I will also pick up Group II and Group III. To get around this you can force an exact comparison by putting an equal sign at the front of the filter string, for example =Group I will only pick Group one races.

Jump to: Introduction | Form Import | Price Predictor | Tote Pro | Race TAB Live | System Selector | System Analyser | MyCalc | TAB Results File

System Analyser

In Bet Selector Gold the "Analyse Last Test" button in System Selector opens a spreadsheet file containing full system data for all selected runs. In Bet Selector Ultimate the same button opens a module called System Analyser that generates an HTML file which reports performance for every System Selector criteria (and more) so you can see performance contributions for individual criteria values. This is much more useful for at-a-glance research than the raw spreadsheet file but there is still a button in the System Analyser module for opening the spreadsheet file directly.

System Test Spreadsheet File

Spreadsheet files in comma delimited format are created every time you run System Selector over past meetings. The comma-delimited format (with each column of data separated from the next by a comma) has been chosen as it is the most common format asked for and the format most compatible with all spreadsheet and database programs. It will load into programs like Excel with the data automatically separated into columns within the spreadsheet - so you can sort the data by any column you like and even apply calculations to individual columns.

Labels at the top of each column identify what each column contains. If you just browse the selections in this file as it exists in chronological order, you will get a feel for how your system selections fair in the order they are bet. If however you sort the entire selection list in the spreadsheet file by say average prizemoney ranking, you will be able to browse the list and get a feel for how the lower average prizemoney horses compare to the higher ones. Being able to do this for the different system criteria (once they are all included) will help you quickly identify which minimum and maximum bounds are best for your system. (Note: In Excel you use the SORT option on the pull down DATA menu to sort data). A explanation of the spreadsheet columns is as follows:


System Analyser Output

System Analyser is available in version above Bet Selector Gold via the "Analyse Last Test" button in System Selector (as mentioned earlier if you use this button in the Gold version it will simply open a spreadsheet file as discussed above). The System Analyser output is an HTML file which reports performance for every System Selector criteria (and more) so you can see performance contributions for individual criteria values. Following are the descriptions of the data columns in the System Analyser output:

Following the above columns are two horizontal bar charts - the first for percentage strike rate and the second for percentage profit (only positive values capped at 100% are graphed). Of the above columns the only one that requires further explanation is the Impact Value which are numbers centered around 1 where less than 1 indicates the strike rate is less than the average for all horses in the test and more than 1 indicates the strike rate is greater than the average. (They are better than strike rates for comparison purposes because strike rates by themselves are influenced by filed sizes and individual horse win chances. They are particular good for doing comparisons from one set of criteria to another - eg when you are trying to decide which rule is best to apply next).

The above columns are for the default win/place analysis. If you select the Jockey/Trainer analysis you will get the above columns less the Up and Down columns and with a Rate column in place of he I.V. column (it contains a rating following the traditional scale of 0 for the best through to 8 for the worst).

Going down the page you will see performance for individual criteria values corresponding to most of the System Selector rules. There are a few special performance tables that don't relate exactly to individual rules as follows:

Staking Analyser Output

The Staking Analyser output is a CSV file that loads into your spreadsheet program and reports performance of your system bets based on the application of various staking plans. The option to run win or place staking analysis is made via radio button selections at the point where you would normally run System Analyser.

Each Staking Plan is illustrated by two columns of data -the bet size BET and the bank size BANK. Column headings are prefaced by letters (eg a, b, c etc) to indicate the actual Staking Plan being applied. A legend can be found at the end of the spreadsheet explaining the names of the staking plans and more details on them can be found below:

At the bottom of the spreadsheet you will find absolute $ profit, percentage profit on opening bank (POB) and percentage profit on turnover (POT) for each plan.

Jump to: Introduction | Form Import | Price Predictor | Tote Pro | Race TAB Live | System Selector | System Analyser | MyCalc | TAB Results File

MyCalc

The MyCalc module (only in Bet Selector Ultimate) is used to create formulae for use in System Selector - in particular formulae using calculations and/or data not available from the System Selector rules list. Most commonly it is used to insert one form based item and then use it in System Selector for display and elimination purposes. Basically anything you insert in MyCalc produces a numeric answer that can be displayed in System Selector for each horse and used (in conjunction with the equals, less than or greater than drop downs on the System Selector "Test" dialogue) to eliminate/include specific horses.

Creating, Testing and Saving Formulae in MyCalc

To use the MyCalc module just select it via the pull down RUN menu and click the "New"button in the top left hand corner. This create a new calculation to which you can give a name using the box at the bottom right near the "Save As" button, then enter the form items you wish to use from the appropriate drop down lists below the respective "Insert" buttons at the top of the screen (just select the item from the drop down and click the "Insert" button immediately above the drop down to insert the item) 

The drop down lists for Race, Horse data and Last Start form data give you descriptions of the various items available. When inserted into the formula box, they are prefixed by R for race fields, H: for horse fields and F: for last start form fields. A fourth drop down allows you to insert special variables from System Selector like past start margins and turn positions etc (note these work when using the calc in System Selector but not in MyCalc test mode).

Once you have entered a single form item into the large formulae text box in the middle of the screen you can add additional items with operators like +, -, * or / between them. Such operators can be typed in manually or inserted by clicking on the respective operator buttons at the top right of the screen. Note that left and right brackets can also be inserted or typed in and these may be required depending on what you want to do (as with normal algebra you need to be aware that (A+B)/2 is different from A+B/2). The following example should help you understand the formula format. This example takes a horse's prizemoney earnings and divides them by the number of placings a horse has had:

H:STAKES/(H:WINS+H:PL2+H:PL3)

The first, second and third placings must be added together and enclosed in brackets for the division to work. Note that Last Start SP is inserted as BOOK2DIV(F:SP) where BOOK2DIV is an internal MyCalc function used to convert the price from bookie format to numeric format. Note also that you can use an IF function like in Excel and Min and Max functions (although these are restricted to two arguments).

In My Calc you can test your formula at the click of a button before using it in System Selector. You do this using the "Test" button towards the middle bottom of the screen using the drop down lists next to the "Test" button for selecting the date and meeting you wish to test.

When you run a test the result pop up in a Notepad window where you see the name and date of the meeting at the top followed by a list of each horse (identified by race number and TAB number) with its formulae calculation result.

To save the formula you create you must click the "Save As" button on the middle right of the screen making sure you type a name into the adjacent text box. Once saved, the formulae name will appear in the left hand list box of saved formulae. These can be opened by simply clicking on the names in the list box and they can also be deleted by using the "Delete" button under the formulae name list box.

Using MyCalc Formulae in System Selector

When testing systems in System Selector you will note two drop down lists below the "Start" button on the System Selector "Test" dialogue. The first is where you select the formulae to use -when selected the result of the formulae for each horse is displayed where the rated price (or Better Ratings points score) would normally appear on the "View Last System Test" report. 

The next drop down list in association with the entry box beside it allows you to eliminate horses in system tests that are above or below a formulae result of your specification. This can also be used to display all Better Ratings horses greater than for example 99 (which include some second rated horses that get 100 -something you could not do before). You could also try Better Ratings scores greater than 95 to get all 96, 97, 98, 99 and 100 horses (to do this just run a Better Ratings test and leave the first drop down box set to "Default Rating"). Similarly with your own formulae you can include horses only if their formulae results are greater than or less than the number you enter in the box to the right of the new drop down lists.

Note that there are rules on the system rules window that give you more control over MyCalc tests as follows:

An important example of using these new rules is where you link a system to your MyCalc calculation for Selection Poll points, set the min and max ranges for calc value to 1 and 1 to pick the top MyCalc horse, and then set a minimum of 2 points for the gap between the top and second top horse (gap position number 1). Details on exactly how to do this can be found via the following link:

http://www.capitalinfo.com.au/selection-poll-system.html

Please note that you can also pick races where the gap between the top and second top horse is say at least 2 and then pick the second top horse (doesn’t have to be the top horse). You can also set percentage gap limits – for example a 20% gap would require the top horse to be at least 12 if the second top was 10. Note also that MyCalc rankings assume your MyCalc returns positive numbers with the best horse having the highest number. So if you want to test gaps between something like rated prices then you will have to engineer a MyCalc that returns higher scores for more favoured horses. As an example, the following subtracts the rated price from 20 and replaces negative outcomes with zeros:

MAX(0,20-BOOK2DIV(H:PRICE))

You can also use MyCalc to test the gap in price from the favourite to the second favourite. To do this you need to use the TAB prices in MyCalc (remember to run Race TAB Live to get the prices if doing this before the event). Because Mycalc expects higher numbers to be better, we need to subtract the TAB dividend from 1,000 for the MyCalc to work:

1000-H:CPRICE

More MyCalc Examples

I have given the name "experience" to a calculation that express the number of wins at the track as a percentage of the total number of career starts. Note I do not mean as a normal percentage of starts at the track so the better horses have to have not just a high proportion of wins at the track but also a high proportion of runs at the track relative to their runs at all tracks. An "experience"percentage of 30 or more can boost profits of some systems between 10 to 30%. 

The formula for "experience" is 100*H:TCW/H:STARTS

A similar formulae that refers to distance wins is 100*H:TDW/H:STARTS

Next is a "last start prizemoney" calculation that is of great benefit to last start winner systems. It expresses the prizemoney won last start as a percentage of the prizemoney on offer in the upcoming race. This calculation immediately separates the better last start winners from the rest and by selecting only horses where the calculation is greater than 20, can boost last start winner system profits by over 20%. 

The formula for "last start prizemoney" is 100000*F:PRWIN/R:STAKES

Finally you can test for upcoming race restrictions as follows: 

If("TypeRestrictionHere"$R:REST,1,0)

For example the following returns 1 if the restriction includes the word Fillies, zero otherwise:

If("Fillies"$R:REST,1,0)

Note the restriction formulae are available via the "Race Data" drop down list. They use the IF functions similar to the IF function you use in Excel. IF has three parameters, the first being a logical condition, the second a value to return if the logical condition is true and the third a value to return if the logical condition is false. The above formula is set to return a value of 1 if the condition is true and zero if false (you can change these numbers if you wish). The $ operator means "if the string to the left of the $ is contained in the string to the right of the $ then return true, otherwise return false".

Following is a similar example that returns 1 for 4yo+ races and zero otherwise:

If("4yo+"$R:AGE,1,0)

Note also you can use logical operators like .AND. and .OR. between logical expressions. For example the following returns 1 if every one of the last three margins is less than 3:

If(F:MARG<3.AND.LSM2<3.AND.LSM3<3,1,0)

The following returns 1 if just one of the last three margins is less than 3:

If(F:MARG<3.OR.LSM2<3.OR.LSM3<3,1,0)

Other less commonly used functions you can use are MAX(a,b) which returns the maximum of the two numbers a and b and MIN(a,b) which returns the minimum of the two. Note these functions only support two arguments so if you want the maximum of three numbers you would need to nest the functions like MAX(a,MAX(b,c)).

Keep in mind that while you would normally use the IF statement to return 1 for a condition you want and zero for the opposite, you can use it to return two non-zero values. For example if you have the Ultimate Plus Pack that allows you to test AAP 100 point ratings from Bestform you could use the following calc to choose either the dry track rating or wet track rating relevant to the actual track condition:

IF(LEFT(R:GOING,1)="S".OR.LEFT(R:GOING,1)="H",RTGWET,RTGDRY)

Points Allocation

A special function called MyPts is available to assist you in allocating points for numeric drop down items like TAB number, barrier position etc. The first parameter to this function is the drop down item you want to convert into points, eg H:TNO for TAB number. This is followed by two numbers representing the range of items you want points allocated to which in turn are followed by two numbers representing the range of points you want to allocate.

For example if you want TAB number 1 to 3 to get 3 to 1 points then the required function would be:

MyPts(H:TNO,1,3,3,1,0)

For example if you want barrier number 1 to 24 to get 10 to 1 points then the required function would be:

MyPts(H:BP,1,24,10,1,0)

The last parameter to the MyPts function is a 0 if you don't want points allocated outside the range you specify or a 1 if you want points to be allocated outside the range (in which case a straight line extrapolation is used). For example with the TAB number example above, the last parameter of 0 indicates all TAB numbers outside 1-3 get allocated zero points. If you change the last parameter to 1 then TAB number 4 would be allocated 0, TAB number 5 -1, TAB number 6 -2 and so on.

Special MyCalc Variables

The System Data drop down in MyCalc contains data not saved in the form files but available in system tests. Some of these (from Bet Selector Ultimate Plus) require special mention as follows:


All you need do is select the one you want and click the Insert button above the drop down list. This places the relevant variable name in the large center MyCalc box. Then you save your MyCalc giving it a name. Note you can use the following more advanced MyCalc to pick dry ratings when tracks are dry and wet ratings when tracks are wet (slow or heavy):

IF(LEFT(R:GOING,1)="S".OR.LEFT(R:GOING,1)="H",RTGWET,RTGDRY)

Another special MyCalc variable that you will find in the System Data drop down is INRUN. It is a score set around 100 that attempts to predict where a horse will settle in the race (the higher the number, the closer to the front the horse is expected to race).

Finally if you have Bet Selector Ultimate Plus you can use the variable UNIVAL (note it must be typed in as it is not in the drop down list). This allows you to test AAP dry track 100 point ratings back to January 2009 (for this to work you must start your system name with the letters RTGS and you must install in your Price folder the data files RTGS2009.DBF, RTGS2010.DBF, RTGS2011.DBF and RTGS2012.DBF).

MyReport

MyReport uses the same drop down list items as MyCalc but instead of combining them together in a calculation it concatenates them into a string for reporting purposes. This way you can create reports that are different to the standard ones within the program. For example you can list horse name, jockey and trainer side by side by simply adding these items together like:

MyStr(H:HORSE)+MyStr(H:TRAINER)+MyStr(H:JOCKEY)

To access MyReport you simply change the radio button from MyCalc to MyReport. Note the automatic use of the function MyStr which converts the selected drop down items into text strings.

Finally you should note that in both MyCalc and MyReport you can separate long calculations onto multiple lines by pressing the Enter key to start a new line in place of using the plus sign to add a new item (but not if the items to be added are inside other functions or grouped within parentheses).

Jump to: Introduction | Form Import | Price Predictor | Tote Pro | Race TAB Live | System Selector | System Analyser | MyCalc | TAB Results File

TAB Results File

If you want past TAB results or even recent results that you may not have sourced daily via the Race TAB Live part of the program, you should download the master TAB result files that are updated on our web site around the 2nd or 3rd of each month. These so-called "master result files" can be obtained via the “Download/Reindex TAB Results” option off Bet Selector’s main pull-down FILE menu (the FILE menu you get to when you first start up the program and before you select any other menu options).

The first thing you should notice when you select this menu item is a drop down selection box at the top left hand corner of the pop up dialogue which defaults to the most recent results. You would only change this if you want to download old results (for example from 1999 to 31/12/2009). To start the download procedure you must make sure you are connected to the Internet and click the “Check for Updates” button. The program will then check what updates are available and enable the 3 separate "Download and Install" buttons indicating alongside them the latest month for which results are available. Note there are 3 separate result files - one for win, one for place and one for TAB SPs.

The actual download procedure is a three step process as each button has to be clicked separately to download the respective file - and each download must be completed before the next can be commenced. After each download you will be presented with a Ok pop up which must be accepted to reindex the results just downloaded (this is normal and indeed is an indication the download worked). To make sure the results are copied into your meeting files after downloading you should run a system test over your "new" meetings with the “Force Results Checking” check box ticked.

Once installed, the result files (a) allows TAB results to be displayed alongside race information in the Price Predictor part of the program and (b) allows profit and loss calculations to be determined during back testing of systems in System Selector.

For a free eBook containing 189 free racing systems and a free copy of the Bet Selector Gold software (used to cost $450), just send an email with your first name in the subject line to demo@capitalinfo.com.au