Bet Selector Professional 3.0 was first released in July 2021 with new weight ratings in addition to its well established class and time ratings. The new weight ratings can be viewed in Price Predictor and can also be tested in the Expert Mode part of the new Professional 3.0 program.
Viewing the new weight ratings
The new weight ratings can be viewed on the main Price Predictor screen but for more detail are best viewed in the Extra Form HTML form guides as follows. Just go to Price Predictor off the pull down RUN menu in the program, select a meeting and click the VIEW EXTRA FORM button.
When looking at the field section for a race you will see three sets of ratings, first the Class Ratings, next the Time Ratings and finally the new Weight Ratings. Note that within each set of ratings there are Main, Better and Plus variants giving a total of 9 sets of ratings (3 for Class, 3 for Time and 3 for Weight).
Looking further down the page you will see the past form lines for each horse with ratings in the far left columns. You will see three columns of past performance ratings labelled as follows:
CRTG - past class ratings
TRTG - past time ratings
WTRG - past weight ratings (new)
Further to the right you will see the following headings:
AVB - the class value of the past race used to calculate past class ratings
DEF - the default class value of the past race used to calculate past weight ratings (new)
The AVB figures are the familiar AVBASE class figures used for class ratings (they can be thought of as a field strength based on the average of the time performance ratings of all horses in the race). The default DEF figures are based on a new table of classes that are hard coded into the program - they are the secret to the success of these new ratings and are based on the official race class and adjusted for things like day of the week, venue, prizemoney, age restriction and more.
System testing the new weight ratings
The new weight ratings can be tested in the Expert Mode part of System Selector. The variables available for this are as follows:
WGT1R – New WGT Main Ratings Rank
WGT2R – New WGT Better Ratings Rank
WGT3R – New WGT Plus Ratings Rank
WGT1V – New WGT Main Ratings Value
WGT2V – New WGT Better Ratings Value
WGT3V – New WGT Plus Ratings Value
WGT1P – New WGT Main Ratings Price
WGT2P – New WGT Better Ratings Price
WGT3P – New WGT Plus Ratings Price
Trainer Ratings
The new variables you can use for trainer ratings are as follows:
Within(TRAT,1,2)
If you want to pick horses where the trainer is rated within 1 kilogram of the top trainer in the race, the rule for this is:
TRANGE<=1
Note you can use TRANGE=0 to pick the horse with the top trainer in the race and this will include more than one horse if they are rated equal first.
Finally, the TOPTRAT variable is less commonly used but can be used as a race selection tool. For example, to only consider races where the top trainer is no more than 3 use this rule:
TOPTRAT<=3
System Refinery
New in January 2022 is a "System Refinery" feature that can dramatically speed up system tests. Some system tests can go from 2.5 minutes down to 30 seconds or even less. And this will work in both expert mode and normal mode!
This new feature allows you to “refine” a system by adding additional rules and so long as these rules are “within the bounds” of the previous test, the refined system will potentially run much faster.
To be clear, “within the bounds” means that if you first test for distances 1000m to 2000m you can subsequently test for 1200m to 1600m because these are “within the bounds” of the initial values (but you can’t test for 1000m to 2400m as these values are outside the bonds of the original values). This requirement to have rules “within the bounds” of the previous test only applies for this new System Refinery feature which can speed up your system tests. It does not apply to normal system testing.
This new feature is only implemented in special folders/list names that have the word “refinery” in them (note REFINERY, Refinery and refinery will all work). Once you have set up such a folder, you put your systems into this folder with the main one at the top and then subsequent “refined” ones get added one after the other to the list.
All systems in the list must be run over the same date range which is set by the date range you use for the first test in the list. Subsequent tests use the same dates as the first test and this can’t be changed as their date buttons and start/end date lists are disabled. Of course, you can change to a different date range but you would have to run all tests in the list again (or if you are happy with the final system on the list then you can also set it up in a different folder and run it on a different date range).
Each system you add to the list refines the rules of the previous test (adding new rules is also ok). Note that when you save a new system in a “refinery” list for the first time, its name will be prefixed with 01, 02, 03 etc to ensure they are listed in the order they are added (as this is the order they must be run int). The limit is 99 and if you think you need more than 99 system refinements then in all honesty you have too many. Note that system names could all be the same since they are preceded by unique numbers but I suggest you include a brief comment in each system name describing what rule change has been applied.
If after a number of systems, you wish to change or remove a system then that’s fine. However, if it is not the last one on the list, then you will have to retest all systems from that point to the end of the list.
In summary this system refinery approach speeds up system development because each time you change or add a rule you do it in a new system one down the list form the previous system. So, every system in the list represents a refinement to the one before it. The reason testing can be sped up so much is that each subsequent test only tests the horses and races from the previous test whereas traditional system testing always tests over all available meetings.
Each system idea needs its own folder but you can have multiple system ideas in multiple folders. Just remember to include the word “refinery” in the folder/list name (remember REFINERY, Refinery and refinery will also work) and then add and run systems in the order of entry.
If there is one single tip on how to best use this approach, it is to not restrict your rules too quickly. For example, if you are looking at short-priced horses in the betting market don’t start with a rule requiring them to be less than $3 because when you refine this rule in the next test you can reduce the figure to say $2.80 but you can’t increase it to $3.5. So, start with $4 or $5 and then reduce this figure in the subsequent systems which will test much faster.
Quadrella Betting (in Race Day Live)
New from August 2022 is the ability to create quadrella bets in Race Day Live via a new QD checkbox (between the FF radio button and Multi checkbox). When you click this checkbox (after selecting a race), you will be presented with a dialogue for picking standouts for the four legs of the quaddie or early quaddie.
Note: If on the main window you are viewing one of the last 4 races then those four races come up as the quaddie legs. If you are viewing an earlier race then the early quaddie legs will be displayed (and only if there are 6 or more races on the program). Note for race meetings with exactly 6 or7 races, you will have to be viewing races prior to the last 4 races to get to the window for the early quaddie.
The dialogue for selecting standouts for each leg is similar to that used for picking standouts for exotics in individual races. Both include checkboxes in each of the four columns so you can easily see which runners are selected.
IMPORTANT: You don’t have to click the checkboxes as clicking to the right of a checkbox will automatically select all runners down to the one clicked on – this provides a quick and easy way to select all runners above an individual probability or up to a certain cumulative probability. Note you can then use the actual checkboxes if you want to individually select or unselect any runner (eg you might want to remove the one at the top of the list if it is too short priced). Note also that the win standouts are initially set to whatever their settings are for each individual race and if you change them these changes are saved back to the individual races.
Once you have selected the desired runners for each leg you simply click the “Calculate Combinations” button in the top right of the window. This calculates and displays all the quadrella combinations based on the standout’s selected for each leg.
The program determines the bet sizes by dividing the quadrella takeout by the predicted quadrella price which in turn is based on the prices you have selected on the top (right hand) drop-down on the main Race Day Live window. The quadrella takeout is set to 100 times the WN/QN/EX takeout so the default is $10,000 (as the default WN/QN/EX takeout is $100). Note that prices, takeouts and bet multipliers can be set differently from race to race and it is the ones for the race displayed on the main Race Day Live window that are used (min-max ranges have not been implemented at this time but let me know if you think they are needed and what values you might use).
Below the list box on the right where bets are displayed are “View Bets” and “Copy Bets” buttons for viewing bets in Tabcorp bet-string format and for copying bets to the Windows clipboard so they can be more quickly bet via Tabcorp batch betting – for more on this see:
https://help.tab.com.au/s/article/Batch-betting-through-tab
Please note Bet Selector does not know the Venue Codes for non metrops so you must source these as per the above link and enter the correct code into the data entry box to the right of the Setup button on the main Race Day Live screen (it will show ?? for non-metrops). Note also you do not have to use Tabcorp’s batch betting feature as you can still read the bets off the list and bet them by other means.
Bet outlays and combination counts are displayed (below the above-mentioned buttons) as are the actual returns and profit/losses. Also, quadrella results and dividends are displayed down the bottom left of the dialogue if available.
Note the above relates to the more professional approach of betting individual combinations but for a simpler approach there is a "Calculate Boxed Bet" button for creating boxed bets plus an edit box where you can vary the bet percentage down from 100%. When using the boxed option this invokes traditional flexi betting by reducing the outlays and reformatting the bet strings. When using individual combinations, flexi betting does not apply but the reduction is used to reduce the size of each individual combination bet - in doing so combinations will start to disappear as bet sizes get lower than 1 and round down to zero (unless you have ticked "Round zero bets up" on the main window).
