Morning News

Good morning... Well, not such a hot day, yesterday (apart from the weather, that is) But we finished up July with a 30.01% strike rate for our top rated horse so things are looking good for this month. I've still only got intermittent internet access and it looks like the problem won't be resolved until sometime tomorrow. The ratings will go out automatically but there may be periods when I can't access email as a result. Further more, the weather forecast is showing temperatures in the 30's for the next few days so it's going to be very tempting to sneak out with a good book and a cold beer and sit by the lake. For detail of yesterday's results, here are the results in the Traffic Light Results PDF format... Yesterday's Traffic Light Results Anyway, let's get on and take a quick look at yesterday's results in more detail....

Morning News

Good morning... I just wanted to update you on the problems that I had a few days ago. Normally, the ratings are automatically compiled and sent out from my server (in Germany) so any local problems won't affect them being sent out. However, on Sunday morning I got up early (2am) to do some bug fixes and start implementing some improvements that some members have asked for. Every time I edit the code I switch off the automatic "send emails" part of it so that I get a chance to double check the ratings and then send them out manually. What happened on Sunday was that I had done my updates, went and had a shower and my breakfast and, during that, we had the mother of all thunderstorms and then I lost the internet (as did everyone else for a 20km radius - we also lost our mobile phone network which is a bit strange?) Thus, I couldn't get onto the server to switch the "send emails" bit back on - my car is off the road at the moment and so I couldn't even drive to the coast to use free wifi up there. Very frustrating for me and... My members as well, I'm sure.

Morning News

Good morning... Well... It was forecast city yesterday. 5 forecasts from the 35 races (there was another but it was only a 2 horse race.) And no, I don't know why either. I keep trying to work out which races are those to bet the forecast on - to no avail. So, I'm going to fire up Wagner (my number crunching machine) and see if it can work it out for me. Yesterday I started trialing a new strategy; it's the simplest strategy I have ever tried - no filters, just "blindly back the top rated horse in these race types." There is a twist (there would have to be, wouldn't there) which is possibly why it has remained hidden for so long but, historically, over the last 4 years, this strategy has given a Strike Rate of 34.17% and a POI (Profit on Investment) of 58.86% to ISP. The strategy can be further refined to give an average of 18.63 bets a week with a Strike Rate of 35.33% and a POI (Profit on Investment) of 67.71% to ISP. I'll let you know more about this strategy after the weekend; I'm a bit wary about announcing too much too soon as it seems too good to be true - and you know what they say about things that look too good to be true.... Having said that, yesterday there were 3 selections and 2 of them won, returning a total of 5.66 points to the 3 points staked (to ISP) so I'm getting that sort of nice warm feeling that I normally only get from a glass of good Cabernet Sauvignon. Anyway, moving on, here are yesterday's results in the Traffic Light Results PDF format... Yesterday's Traffic Light Results Anyway, I'll get to that, firstly let's get on and take a quick look at yesterday's results in more detail....

Morning News

Good morning... Well... I seem to have been on a bit of a bug fixing splurge recently. The horse age is now being displayed properly and... The distances are now correct (to the nearest furlong.) Today I shall be fixing the race age problem for Irish races (it gets shown as "unknown") before carrying on down my list of things to do/fix. For more detail, here are the results in the Traffic Light Results PDF format... Yesterday's Traffic Light Results Anyway, I'll get to that, firstly let's get on and take a quick look at yesterday's results in more detail....

Morning News

Good morning... Another good day for us, yesterday... Who can complain about a ratings service that produces a strike rate (for the top rated horse) of 42.85% Producing a profit (to ISP) of 11.96% For more detail, here are the results in the Traffic Light Results PDF format... Yesterday's Traffic Light Results The strike rate for the non-handicap races was 57.14% I'm going to review some of the individual races further down this post. Anyway, I'll get to that, firstly let's get on and take a quick look at yesterday's results in more detail....

Morning News

Good morning... Well, another blindly profitable day, yesterday. Had you blindly backed the top rated horse in every race you would have made a profit (to ISP) of 13.56% on your stakes. It was also a pretty decent start to Cheltenham with 6 of the 7 races being won by a top three rated horse.

Cheltenham - Day 1

13:30 - Our top rated horse came third but our third rated horse did win the race. 14:10 - Footpad (our top rated horse) won this race - unfortunately, it paid only £1.83 to ISP. 14:50 - We got the forecast in this race. Our top rated horse, Coo Star Sivola, won @ 6.0 ISP (6.8 BSP) and the forecast paid out a tidy £66.37. 15:30 - Our top rated horse came nowhere but our second rated horse, Buveur D'Air did win the race. 16:10 - This was the only race at Cheltenham which wasn't won by a top three rated horse. 16:50 - Our third rated horse won this race. Our top rated horse unseated its rider. 17:30 - Our top rated horse, Mister Whitaker, won this race at 7.5 ISP (10.23 BSP.) For more detail, here are the results in the Traffic Light Results PDF format... Yesterday's Traffic Light Results

Other Highlights...

Southwell (AW) 15:45 - We got the first three in the right order. The Trifecta paid £5.70. Southwell (AW) 16:25 - Our top two rated horses came first and second, unfortunately, in the wrong order. The Reverse Forecast paid £12.90 Sedgefield 17:10 - Our top two rated horses came first and second, this time in the right order. Jaxlight (our top rated horse) won at 13.0 ISP (19.50 BSP) and the Forecast paid £17.07 4 of the 6 non-handicap races were won by a top rated horse. That equates to a Strike Rate of 66.67%. Had you blindly backed the top rated horse in every non-handicap race you would have made a profit (to ISP) of 196% on your stakes. Anyway, let's get on and take a quick look at yesterday's results in more detail....

Morning News

Good morning... Another outstanding day for us... With a strike rate (for our top rated horse) of 42.11% and a profit on stakes of 15.05% to ISP. Is this a foretaste of Cheltenham? I certainly hope so. Speaking of Cheltenham... I'm not going to make any mad predictions but, with all the rain... Well, as far as I know, Focus Ratings is the only ratings agency that takes a horse's past performance on a specific going into account. Just saying. Anyway, whichever way you're playing the next few days, the best of luck to you. For more detail, here are the results in the Traffic Light Results PDF format... Yesterday's Traffic Light Results It's interesting that, of the 4 non-handicap races yesterday (taking non-runners and the fact that Stratford was abandoned into account) all four non-handicap races were won by a Focus Ratings top rated horse. Anyway, let's get on and take a quick look at yesterday's results in more detail....

Morning News

Good morning... We certainly had a good day for the normal ratings, yesterday... Bearing in mind that Saturdays are the most difficult day of the week for the ratings. The strike rate for the top rated horse was 34.5% and, had you blindly backed the top rated horse in every race (not something that I would recommend), you would have made a profit of 4.22% of your stakes to ISP. For more detail, here are the results in the Traffic Light Results PDF format... Yesterday's Traffic Light Results However, it's the new ratings, R5, that I wanted to talk about. From the 44 races there were 2 non runners. From the remaining 42 races, 16 were won by the R5 top rated horse. That's a strike rate of 38.09%. Had you blindly backed the top rated horse in every race you would have had 52.49 points returned to 42 points staked. That equates to a profit on stakes (to ISP) of 24.97%. Not bad for a Saturday, eh? Kelso and Naas have been abandoned which just leaves us with Market Rasen and Warwick today. They both look pretty easy so let's hope for another good day today. Anyway, let's get on and take a quick look at yesterday's results in more detail....

Morning News

Good morning... Well... All going well, today you will receive a copy of Advance Ratings at about 6am. Obviously, Advance Ratings is a core part of Focus Ratings R5... Focus Ratings R5 = Focus Ratings R4 plus Advance Ratings ADR. I shall need to change the format of this morning email so that I can report on R5 as well as R4 results (until we forget about R4 and just stick to R5 only, as it's better.) So, I'm winging it a bit today. Yesterday there were only 7 races. For Focus Ratings R4, the top rated horse in the first and third races were non-runners. Of the remaining 5 races, Focus Ratings won one of them - it paid 5.50 to ISP. This gives a strike rate (for the top rated horse) of 20% and a profit of 10% on stakes. For Focus Ratings R5, the top rated horse in the third race was a non-runner. Of the remaining 6 races, Focus Ratings won two of them - they paid 5.50 and 2.375 to ISP. This gives a strike rate (for the top rated horse) of 33.33% and a profit of 31.25% on stakes. For more detail (of the R4 results), here are the results in the Traffic Light Results PDF format... Yesterday's Traffic Light Results Anyway, let's get on and take a quick look at yesterday's results (R4) in more detail....

Morning News

Good morning... Another great day, yesterday... Even though we only had three meetings. A 53.85% strike rate (for our top rated horse) is pretty excellent and, had you blindly backed the top rated horse in every race (not that I would encourage you to do so) you would have made a profit (to ISP) of 50.70% For more detail, here are the results in the Traffic Light Results PDF format... Yesterday's Traffic Light Results I do have to say that the results PDF seems to have missed out Catterick - this occasionally happens when we have abandoned races. I hope that it's not too cold where you are; it's bluddy freezing here in sunny Western Brittany! Yesterday I turned the heating up from the normal economy mode to the more expensive program mode for the first time this year. Big mistake! I now have no heating at all. Still, although I'm not an electrician, I do have a soldering iron, a multimeter and a screwdriver (I've got lots of screwdrivers) - what could possibly go wrong? Only the all weather racing (two meetings) seems to have survived today. Anyway, enough of that, let's get on and take a quick look at yesterday's results in more detail....