Author Topic: Building a comprehensive Australian Horse Racing Database - where to start? (Read 3130 times)

LiverpoolCapper · O.P. « 2020-Mar-17, 02:13 PM »

Hi,

Brand new to racehorsetalk and apologize ahead of time if this is the wrong forum for my question. I'm currently swimming in data from a variety of sources for North American horse racing and have managed to build up a comprehensive database that I can backtest and bet from (assuming Coronavirus doesn't shut down every track for the near future) for all tracks in North America.

I'm looking to do something similar for Australia and I'm not sure where the best place to start is in terms of either paid or free data sources. For example, is The Rating Bureau the go-to vendor for getting historical data? What's the Australian equivalent of the Daily Racing Form or Brisnet? I'm interested in charts, past performances, payoffs, workout data, speed figures, breeding etc. Would like to build up several years worth of data for all Australian races that I can backtest from and hopefully develop a winning model.

Realize this is a zero sum game, but any help in being pointed in the right direction would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

LC

wily ole dog · « 2020-Mar-17, 05:59 PM **Reply #1** »

Try these mate

racenet.com.au
racingandsports.com.au
racing saw.com.au
racing.com

LiverpoolCapper · « 2020-Mar-17, 07:27 PM **Reply #2** »

Thanks for the links.

Didn't see much on those sites though for the ability to download raw data that can be uploaded into a custom database for computerized handicapping.

Where do the computerized handicappers in Australia tend to go for their data?

What vendors provide in a downloadable form for Australian tracks:

- bulk data for last several years
- end of day data files with results and charts
- current race day data files with entries and past performances

Also interested in:
- workout data
- breeding

Curious if this is THE go to site: https://trb.com.au/horse-racing-data.aspx or if there's others that handicappers use here.

Thanks

westie · « 2020-Mar-17, 08:12 PM **Reply #3** »

LC
Take a look at: https://www.aapmegaform.com.au/formanalyser/results.aspx Note The aap group is closing down in June 20202.

LiverpoolCapper · « 2020-Mar-18, 10:37 AM **Reply #4** »

Thanks. That looks interesting. I guess the question I'm after though, is where does a group like AAP get their raw data to build their reports off of? I actually emailed them and asked. Waiting to hear back.

Does anyone on this forum download raw data and maintain a racing database for Australia? If so, what are the best sources?

I've come across:

The Rating Bureau: https://trb.com.au/horse-racing-data.aspx which looks promising

As well as an API to pull racing data for Queensland:

https://www.racingqueensland.com.au/corporate/about-racing-queensland/open-data

Anything else people can suggest that they actually use? Happy to share my experience with N. Amer racing for those that might be interested as well.

Thanks,

LC

wily ole dog · « 2020-Mar-18, 04:06 PM **Reply #5** »

I assume they buy the raw data from the governing bodies

LiverpoolCapper · « 2020-Mar-18, 04:52 PM **Reply #6** »

I'm told they get their data from Racing Australia which are cross-checked and verified and available to clients as XML files.

Apparently The Rating Bureau is a client of AAP, but perhaps TRB gets data in addition to what AAP provides? Also looks like TRB has a csv option on their web site which could be advantageous for database uploads.

Still digging in and doing my research.

Dave · « 2020-Mar-18, 10:49 PM **Reply #7** »

If you are willing to pay(and it ain't cheap) probably the best places that would have what you are after are ratings2win.com.au and https://southcoastdatabase.com.au/

Antitab# · « 2020-Mar-19, 04:42 AM **Reply #8** »

Nearly every professional or semi professional uses Paul Daly and Ratings2way so they must be good.

wily ole dog · « 2020-Mar-19, 07:05 AM **Reply #9** »

You’ll have to be betting in telephone numbers to be able to make a profit with ratings2win given the fees they charge

LiverpoolCapper · « 2020-Mar-19, 02:28 PM **Reply #10** »

Thanks for the link. I just looked at one of his videos. I like the idea of having a product that cleans and validates the official data and provides various proprietary speed figures and so on. I didn't see much mention though of export functionality and ability to use their data in your own database. From what I've seen, the product seems really geared to manual handicappers who study form, take trip notes etc.

Maximus · « 2020-Mar-19, 09:34 PM **Reply #11** »

Liverpool, the Racing NSW website racingnsw.com.au might have some of the data you are after. They provide the end of day results for NSW racing in an exportable format, including margins, jockeys, barriers, weights and race times. The information is all free and can be imported into a database.

You are probably aware that racing in Australia is conducted by individual states and NSW is just one of (but the largest) of these states. But it could be a good starting point for you and there is normally one to three meetings conducted in NSW each day.

Unfortunately workout data is not available any more here - it used to be published in newspapers but fell by the wayside many years ago. We do have something called "barrier trials" which are like a practice race and each horse racing in NSW must barrier trial before its first race start. Horses can also barrier trial further into their career as a means of getting fit to return to racing off a layoff. Video footage of all races and barrier trials in NSW can be viewed on the racing NSW website.

Happy to help if you have any other questions, not so strong on the technical IT side but have been to race meetings in the USA so can understand the similarities and differences between racing in our respective countries.

Wenona · « 2020-Mar-20, 10:22 AM **Reply #12** »

Have a look at Warren Blocks Everyrace site: http://www.everyrace.com/

For $5.50 you can download csv files of form for every runner at a TAB meeting in Australia and NZ for the day.

Not sure how many back runs you need - it doesn't have all life runs.

With the Superform option you get a download for a meeting in the Superform layout.

You should probably also look at Ratings2win: https://ratings2win.com.au/ not sure what options they may have around accessing data.

LiverpoolCapper · « 2020-Mar-25, 03:48 PM **Reply #13** »

Thanks for all the responses and insight everyone. Still talking to vendors and figuring things out.

Anyone familiar with sectional times by Sectional Pro Form / abettoredge ?

Seems like interesting technology to use video frames to get accurate sectional times. Anyone have experience getting this data on a historical basis?

bigchop · « 2020-Nov-20, 01:16 AM **Reply #14** »

hey mate how did you go with the data gathering im interested in putting big data sets together and seeing where i can take this just need the raw data

elwickbaggy · « 2020-Dec-06, 06:37 PM **Reply #15** »

What did you decide on?