Errors in RDSS' BC PPs!

[Ted Craven]

Unfortunately, there appear to be a number of errors in various Past Performance lines of many of the European horses. I have investigated a number of them and it appears to stem from missing Race # info in the data supplied by TrackMaster. I checked last year's BC races, and this was also the case, so I don't know why this was not noted last year.

RDSS makes a mistake when copying data into its database when the race is specified as Race #0, which all European races are. (This is never the case for North American races.) The first 'Race #0' for a given day, for a given track is accepted as the definitive info about a race, and even if another race comes along with a different distance and final time, the first recorded distance and final time are used - incorrectly.

I will research this more thoroughly tomorrow and report here.

I urge everyone to double-check European horses' Past Performances shown in RDSS with what is shown in the TrackMaster PDF. The PDF version appears to be correct.

Here are some races and horse #s I have spot checked which show incorrect distances and final times for some of their European races. More tomorrow, including Friday's races.

Race# / Horse #

#2 - 4,6,12
#3 - 4,6,8,12
#4 - 9
#5 - 3,7...
.
.
likely more...

Sigh... Thanks to Bill Lyster for pointing this out to me, and uncovering a can of worms.

Ted

[raceman5]

Thanks for that info Ted and the free pp's for Sat,pissed can u get us Friday's, i figure trackmaster owes us.

[Ted Craven]

OK, a bit more study, and there's good news and bad news. The bad news is more or less per the above post:

For some European horses only, some running lines have incorrect race-related info: the distance, race description (Stake, ALW, Mdn, etc), final time, number of runners, race name if a Stakes.

The good news - horse-related info is correct: TrackMaster Speed Ratings, Odds, finish position and lengths, jockey and comment line.

All races for a horse appear to be included.

This means that you can still confidently use the Speed Rating compared to other North American runners as some kind of a judgement of a European horse's comparative ability.

Summary:

1. The Race # information is indeed missing from the data RDSS gets from TrackMaster, but I suspect this is because Equibase does not get this from its European sources. That Race # is also missing from the TrackMaster PDF files, and I suspect from all other Equibase-sourced resellers: DRF, BRIS, HTR, PTD, etc.

2. It is entirely my fault in RDSS relying on there being a valid race # to file the race-related data properly. I will fix this for RDSS 2.0. I am surprised that this did not come up in the past few years - perhaps no one noticed...

Please see the link further below (post #5) to the Euro and all horses in all Breeders' Cup races.

Ted

[raceman5]

Ted don't beat yourself up, you do a fantastic job with the RDSS program.

Bob

[Ted Craven]

Actually, free Equibase/TrackMaster PPs for all horses can be found here: http://www.ntra.com/races_index.aspx as pointed out by Richie in another thread.

Just look for this label in the Entries section for each race (it was a little hard to see...)


The TrackMaster/Equibase Speed Rating is NOT given in this version, but per the above discussion, the SR showing in the RDSS readouts is correct, so you can still use that.

Ted

[Ted Craven]

Originally Posted by raceman5

Ted don't beat yourself up, you do a fantastic job with the RDSS program.
Bob

Thanks Bob! I have to confess though, sometimes I feel a bit of trepidation on big race days...not sure why

Going to try to find a few good bets over the next few days!

Ted