Extracting data from the Racing Post Website

[white_lightning]

Hi Guys

I am looking to extract basic info from the Racing Post Website. Stuff like horse form, opening prices etc

Just wondering if anyone could give me some pointers with either doing it my self (I have some programming knowledge but its basic) or getting someone else to program it for me.

Is this going to be ultra difficult to code myself?

Thanks

 

[white_lightning]

Hi Norie

I had to take out the word SCROLL in the last line of the Sub RaceMeetingCArd

but it works fine for me and looks good.

Still unsure of some of whats going on but instead of bombarding you with loads of questions, im working thru my training couse and looking at other similar code and hopefully that will answer a lot of my questions.

Once again, thanks.

 

[Norie]

Yeah I don't know what happened there.

It should have read Scroll:=True, but that seems to have got lost somewhere.

I don't mind answering questions, especially since the code is barely commented.

Perhaps in a new thread though.

 

[bobomini]

Hi Norie, I have now recopied the two codes and inserted into one module. I also added the missing bit of the Scroll: true. I t ran well and copied the races to excel. A fantastic starting point. I recogn getting the detaits and indeed the past records for each individual horse will be harder. So thank you very much for the effort you are putting in to help.
Rgds.

 

[Norie]

Rather than being hard it might be more time consuming and the code would probably not be too stable.

I'd try something myself but nobody seems willing to disclose what kind of data they might want.

Is it a secret?

I could make some guesses/assumptions but they would probably be wildly inaccurate, I know nothing about 'the horses' (or 'the dogs').

My brother tried to explain what a Yankee was once but I fell asleep.

PS Do they bet on the colour of hats at Ascot?

 

[bobomini]

Hi Norie,
I will address this from the dogs angle but then same applies to the horses. Basically, one is trying to guess in an informed manner, which of the dogs stand a chance of winning the race. By analysing their past records, the punter hopes to predict the outcome. If this is consistently achieved enough, it become an opportunity to wager on the races and subsequently make some money. As such virtually all the data available for each dog is needed.
Take this example:
http://www.racingpost.com/greyhounds/card.sd#resultDay=2011-06-16&raceId=1101190
The information at the top identifies the race itself while the following tables provide data for analysis of the past performance of the dogs. Often, the manner of analysis varies for individuals. For example, the comments for each race can be analysed by one individual for determining how an entrant will fair in the grade it is today while another user may totally disregard the comments.
The information available on the main racecard page is rarely enough. So often it is better to replace the tables on the main page with the detailed ones available under each entrants name (you click the name and a pop-up displays their past performances). For example, for the first entrant in the race link above, the details are here:
http://www.racingpost.com/greyhounds/dog_home.sd?dog_id=400683

The advantage of pulling in the more detailed ones include the opportunity to filter off certain grades of races or lines which are irrelevant ; like when the dog was a none runner on the day or was a solo runner.

Once these data are available in excel, different formula can be used to manipulate them. However, the importation is the starting point as it is rather tideous to manualyy copy and paste and then analyse some 40 odd races each day.

If you are interested, I will email you my excel with my formula for you to play with.
On the ascot hat thing, it is just a fad. No bets go on the hats. However, a few ladies and even guys have gone on to be noticed!

Cheers.

Rather than being hard it might be more time consuming and the code would probably not be too stable.

I'd try something myself but nobody seems willing to disclose what kind of data they might want.

Is it a secret?

PS Do they bet on the colour of hats at Ascot?

 

[bobomini]

Hi Norie,
On the issue of time and stability of a code for extracting the needed detailed data from the racingpost, may be this link can provide some inspiration....or may be not....I know very little.
http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/showthread.php?t=60392

Rgds.

 

[white_lightning]

@Norie

Nothing is a secret as far as im concerned, what I dodn't want to do is bombard you with requests to write code for myself. Im keen to learn so hopefully when i figure the basics out I will beable to expand and write the necessary code myself.

I have a few systems that I currently use and they are LAY betting systems, which basically means that I bet on 1st FAV or 2nd FAV's to LOSE, I basically am acting like a bookmaker. Sounds simple ah. I go thru the racing post everyday manually obtaining the horse data and then apply certain rules/filters to the data and basically what im looking for is horses that have the potential to beat the FAV. So when I bet horses to Lose I am looking for False Fav's.

Basic Info I need is stuff like:
Horse Name, Form, Weight, No of days since last run, Sex, Age, Tissue Price.

Then more advanced info: No of lenghts won last race, Racing Post Ratings, Speed ratings, Spotlight Comments, Trainer Form, Class of Race etc.

Most of the systems/ideas are available in the public domain and some work a little and some dont over the long term, the key is to come up with your own system/idea/angle by using the data from past results and try and make it profitable over the long term.

I could PM you a system to give you an idea of whats involved if you like.

I have been reading over your code and im starting to understand it but I will have questions prob later on today.

Thanks