Morning News (or not!)

Good Morning

Good morning...

A slight excess of mulled wine yesterday (that stuff should come with a health warning),

Means that there will be no morning news today.

There is no more racing until the Boxing Day bonanza on Saturday.

Thus...

There will be no more Morning News posts until Sunday (no doubt to tell you how wonderfully we did on the Boxing Day's racing.)

There will be no more Normal ratings until Saturday but...

The Early Bird Preview ratings will still come out (although they will be empty.)

I could switch them off but,

If I do that...

I'll only forget to switch them back on again!

I shall be spending the next couple of days implementing some of the updates that I have been working on,

Until, of course, lunchtime on Christmas Eve, when I shall be plating up my Fruits des Mer and testing the wines to accompany it.

Here, in France, we tend to have a big meal on Christmas Eve (almost always Fruits des Mer) and then a long roast dinner on Christmas Day.

And, when I say long, I mean about 6 hours long!

I've got three different types of Muscadet (two bottles of each) to accompany my Fruits des Mer but I'm not sure which one will work best; thus, I shall have to test them all, just to make sure.

It's a hard job but someone has to do it!

Jill and I would like to thank all of you for your support and contributions during the last year and...

We both hope that you all have a great Christmas!

As there is no more racing on until Saturday...

Perhaps now is the time to concentrate on those things that also matter.

Like family and friends...

And eating and drinking (although, in my world, eating and drinking always matter!)

I'm looking forward to the new year where I think that I'll be able to implement R5 (the new version of our current ratings.)

R5 will consist of some tweaks to R4 (our current ratings algorithm) but, also, implement a new concept...

Relevancy of Ratings.

What this is is a new way of working out the value of R4 based upon the quality of the race.

Thus, if a horse comes second in a three horse, class 6, race does that mean the same as if the same horse comes second in a 17 runner class one race?

No, I don't think so either.

R4 doesn't take that into account - R5 will.

Just by implementing some R4 tweaks, we will improve the strike rate (maybe by a couple of percent) but...

More importantly, we will be getting more higher priced winners.

By taking the Relevance of Ratings co-efficient (which brings us to R5) we should be able to add another 3% to that.

And then I'll have to do some R5 tweaks to add, maybe, another 1% to the strike rate.

It seems like a lot of work but...

I'm up for it!

It's been a really weird/horrible year for me (and you guys have suffered as a result.)

In February, a good mate of mine died...

He was my first mate/friend when I first moved to France and he taught me about the important things like, which bar in the village lets you buy beer on tick (illegal for the last 20 years but it still happens), which village fetes are worth going to (so that you can stuff yourself full of food and not have to buy any food for a week) and so forth.

At the time I was working very hard on the Speed Ratings (even to the extent of dreaming about them.)

Perhaps I took on too much there.

Then, in April, my cat died; now, that might not seem like a big thing to you but, to me, it was/is.

And, then, in August, my Mum died - I'm her oldest son - that was kind of difficult. What with me being an expat.

So, perhaps 2015 wasn't such a good year for me and,

Perhaps I took my eye off the ball a bit.

Still 2016 is going to be a great year and I'm going to make it my aim to help all of you make a profit from using Focus Ratings

So, I won't give you silly predictions about how much money you can make but...

I do promise you that I shall start the new year with major improvements (and a new sense of vigour.)

Perhaps we won't all be millionaires this time next year (Rodney) but...

If you've ever dreamed of a snazzy three wheel corporate vehicle...

Perhaps I can help.

Anyway, once again...

From Jill and Me,

Have a wonderful Christmas and I'll be back in touch on Sunday.

Ooops...

Almost forgot!

Something to make you laugh - a cringy one!

Late Night

After a night on the town, a young woman brought a new friend home for a late-night drink.

"You can't make any noise," she warned him.

"My parents are upstairs and if they find out they'll kill us."

Things started getting heated on the sofa, but after a while alcohol got the better of the man.

"I have to go," he said.

"Well you can't go upstairs. The bathroom is right next to my parents' bedroom," she replied. "Use the kitchen sink."

So he dutifully retired to the kitchen.

A few minutes later, he popped his head around the door and asked, "Do you have any toilet paper, or should I just use a paper towel?"

As always...

My kindest regards