Good morning...
Whilst GB and Irish racing are having a break, I have been working on a new project so that I can give you some racing during this dry period.
Racing is still going on behind closed doors in Hong Kong and Australia.
I am working on a ratings system for Hong Kong racing - Compass Ratings.
Compass Ratings uses the same magic formula that I created for AdvanceRatings.com
If all goes well, I should have the last code module finished, installed and tested by about 2pm this afternoon.
Once that is done I will be able to produce ratings for the two meetings a week that are held at Sha Tin and Happy Valley.
What does this mean for you?
Well, as soon as I've got the website tidied up I will create free memberships for each and every Early Bird Ratings member.
If you have no interest in Hong Kong Racing then just let me know and I'll take you off the list of members.
Then, the morning of the day before the races you will receive the Compass Ratings daily ratings.
You will continue to receive these ratings even after GB and Irish racing comes back.
The Morning News...
I shall produce a Morning News every day apart from, possibly, Sunday; I really do need one day off a week.
Obviously, apart from the Hong Kong racing I won't be able to report on results but I'm sure that I'll be able to find many things to talk about.
I suppose that when life gives you Lemons, you can either do nothing and retreat...
Or, you can make some lemonade.
Personally I'm a positive person (for me the glass is always half full rather than half empty) and so I shall use this downtime to create new content and services for you.
The anticipated content/services are...
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.
5). Additionally, I shall spend some time on Friday manually rating 2 or 3 races for the Saturday meeting at Rosehill (Australia.)
I shall use the same formula that I use for Advance Ratings (and, now, Compass Ratings) but, at the moment, I can only do this for those Australian races that are shown on the Racing Post website. I need to be able to check the number of runners, the prize money and each horses position for its last 7 races. I can easily do that by using the Racing post but it takes me about 20 minutes to rate a race and so I don't want to commit myself to doing this long term until I have subscribed to an Australian data service (and the ones I've looked at all look rather expensive to me) so that I can automate the process for all Australian races.)
If the results from the Rosehill look good then I'll make a decision to make as to how to continue.
Obviously I'll share those ratings with you (free of charge) but, potentially I could create an automated ratings service (based upon Advance Ratings) for Australian Horse Racing which, obviously (and long term), will be more of interest to people who actually live in Australia. So, another source of income for me and more racing for you to consider whilst GB and Irish racing is on a break; you know what they say... When life gives you lemons...
I hope that you are keeping well and safe; I shall continue to be in touch on a pretty much daily basis.
Something to make you smile...
The Devil
A priest was preparing a man for his long journey into the night.
Whispering firmly, the priest said, "Denounce the devil! Let him know how little you think of his evil."
The dying man said nothing.
The priest repeated his order. Still the dying man said nothing.
The priest asked, "Why do you refuse to denounce the devil and his evil?"
The dying man said, "Until I know where I'm heading, I don't think I ought to aggravate anybody."
When the Hypnotist visited the Old People's Home
It was entertainment night at the Old People's Home.
After the community sing-along, led by Alice at the piano, it was time for the star of the show - Claude the Hypnotist!
Claude explained that he was going to put the whole audience into a trance. "Yes, each and every one of you and all at the same time," said Claude.
The excited chatter dropped to silence as Claude carefully withdrew, from his waistcoat pocket, a beautiful antique gold pocket watch and chain.
"I want you to keep your eyes on this watch" said Claude, holding the watch high for all to see.
"It's a very special and valuable watch that has been in my family for six generations," said Claude.
He began to swing the watch gently back and forth while quietly chanting, "Watch the watch --- watch the watch ---- watch the watch"
The audience became mesmerized as the watch swayed back and forth.
The lights were twinkling as they were reflected from its gleaming surfaces.
A hundred and fifty pairs of eyes followed the movements of the gently swaying watch.
They were all hypnotized.
And then, suddenly, the chain broke!!!
The beautiful watch fell to the stage and burst apart on impact.
"S**T!" shouted Claude.
It took them three days to completely clean up the Old People's Home and Claude was never invited back again.
As always...
My kindest regards
