Good morning...
Following yesterday's Morning News I've received a lot of feedback from you.
Most of you seem to be interested in the additional PDF (to be sent out with the normal Early Bird Ratings email) which will show the following...
1). Horses which have changed in class since their last race.
2). Horses which have changed in trainer since their last race.
3). Jockeys who have changed in country since their last race (sometimes known as raiders.
4). Horse Going Form. Basically this will show the horse's win/place performance in each of the (potential) 15 goings and produce a sort of rating based upon today's going compared to that horse's historic performance over that going.
I'll be working on this next week and will update as soon as I've got some results.
I've also had a number of conversations with an Australian friend and am starting to find a suitable data source for Australian ratings.
These will be primarily for the Australian market but I'm sure that you won't mind additional ratings whilst GB and Irish racing is at a halt.
And, on a totally non horse racing note...
Yesterday, in my little village in rural Brittany, the Thursday morning market was held but it was only about a quarter of the normal size.
And, the Gendarmes were there to ensure that people kept their distance from each other.
After the market one poor lad was stopped by the Gendarmes and found not to have his attestation (the form we have to download from the government website, print out and sign if we wish to go out.)
Click on the images if you want to see them full size.
I sort of vaguely know this chap and the nicest thing that I can say about him is that he might have learning difficulties; I suppose that every village needs a village idiot and we seem to have more than our fair share but...
I guess that that just adds to the character of living in a small, behind the times, pretty little village in back of beyond rural France.
The chap made a mistake of coughing at the Gendarmes - perhaps he really had a cough or perhaps he thought it was funny but the Gendarmes made him put on a mask and, a few minutes later, an ambulance turned up to take him away.
In rural France, our ambulances are run by the fire brigade.
I suppose this shows how seriously the current situation is being taken in France.
Compass Ratings
Now, the good news is that the code insertion that I did yesterday worked fine.
Every one of the 1,438 horses registered to race in Hong Kong now has a rating.
For Saturday's ratings (for Sunday's races) the last rating that each horse had is the rating that will be used.
I left out the results from Wednesday's meeting at Happy Valley on purpose...
This is so that I can import them today and then re-run the ratings so as to time the process.
I will do that this morning and, thus, it will then be the new ratings (post the Wednesday results being included) that will actually be used for Sunday's ratings.
All I have left to do is to load in the information for the cards for Sunday's racing; the final confirmed declarations from the Hong Kong Jockey Club should be available at about 11 am UK time.
The I will have to write the code to actually produce the PDFs.
So, all in all, it's looking pretty likely that we'll have ratings for Sunday's Meeting at Sha Tin on Saturday morning.
I do have to say that it's an afternoon meeting but, with the 8 hour time difference, that mean that the first race starts at 5:35 am UK time.
Something to make you smile...
A man walks into a bar with a paper bag
A man walks into a bar with a paper bag. He sits down and places the bag on the counter. The bartender walks up and asks what's in the bag.
The man reaches into the bag and pulls out a little man, about one foot high and sets him on the counter. He reaches back into the bag and pulls out a small piano, setting it on the counter as well. He reaches into the bag once again and pulls out a tiny piano bench, which he places in front of the piano.
The little man sits down at the piano and starts playing a beautiful piece by Mozart! 'Where on earth did you get that?' says the bartender.
The man responds by reaching into the paper bag. This time he pulls out a magic lamp. He hands it to the bartender and says: 'Here. Rub it.'
So the bartender rubs the lamp, and suddenly there's a gust of smoke and a beautiful genie is standing before him. 'I will grant you one wish. Just one wish! Each person is only allowed one!'
The bartender gets really excited. Without hesitating he says, 'I want a million bucks!' A few moments later, a duck walks into the bar. It is soon followed by another duck, then another.
Pretty soon, the entire bar is filled with ducks and they keep coming!
The bartender turns to the man and says, 'Y'know, I think your genie's a little deaf.
I asked for a million bucks, not a million ducks.'
'Tell me about it!!' says the man, 'do you really think I asked for a 12 inch pianist?
The almost perfect woman....He booked himself on a Caribbean cruise and proceeded to have the time of his life, that is, until the ship sank. He found himself on an island with no other people, no supplies, nothing, only bananas and coconuts.
After about four months, he is lying on the beach one day when the most gorgeous woman he has ever seen rows up to the shore.
In disbelief, he asks, 'Where did you come from? How did you get here?'
She replies, 'I rowed from the other side of the island. I landed here when my cruise ship sank.'
'Amazing,' he notes. 'You were really lucky to have a row boat wash up with you.'
'Oh, this thing?' explains the woman. 'I made the boat out of raw material I found on the island. The oars were whittled from gum tree branches. I wove the bottom from palm branches, and the sides and stern came from a Eucalyptus tree.'
'But, where did you get the tools?'
'Oh, that was no problem,' replied the woman. 'On the south side of the island, a very unusual stratum of alluvial rock is exposed. I found if I fired it to a certain temperature in my kiln, it melted into ductile iron.
I used that for tools and used the tools to make the hardware.' The guy is stunned.
'Let's row over to my place,' she says.
After a few minutes of rowing, she docks the boat at a small wharf.
As the man looks to shore, he nearly falls off the boat. Before him is a stone walk leading to an exquisite bungalow painted in blue and white.
While the woman ties up the rowboat with an expertly woven hemp rope, the man can only stare ahead, dumb struck.
As they walk into the house, she says casually, 'It's not much, but I call it home. Sit down , please. Would you like a drink?'
'No! No thank you,' he blurts out, still dazed. 'I can't take another drop of coconut juice.'
'It's not coconut juice,' winks the woman. 'I have a still. How would you like a Pina Colada?'
Trying to hide his continued amazement, the man accepts, and they sit down on her couch to talk.
After they have exchanged their stories, the woman announces, 'I'm going to slip into something more comfortable. Would you like to take a shower and shave? There is a razor upstairs in the bathroom cabinet.'
No longer questioning anything, the man goes into the bathroom. There, in the cabinet, a razor made from a piece of tortoise bone. Two shells honed to a hollow ground edge are fastened on to its end inside a swivel mechanism. 'This woman is amazing,' he muses. 'What next?'
When he returns, she greets him wearing nothing but vines, strategically positioned, and smelling faintly of gardenias. She beckons for him to sit down next to her.
'Tell me,' she begins suggestively, slithering closer to him, 'We've been out here for many months. You've been lonely. There's something I'm sure you really feel like doing right now, something you've been longing for?'
She stares into his eyes.
He can't believe what he's hearing.
'You mean' ... he swallows excitedly and tears start to form in his eyes. . . . . .
'Don't tell me you've built a Golf Course!'
Today
At some point today I shall be creating free memberships to Compass Ratings for you.
Don't worry too much about this as the website isn't finished yet; the important thing is for you to be on the members list so that you get your ratings on Saturday morning.
Once I have finished the background coding I'll tidy up and complete the web site.
As always...
My kindest regards
