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Hi there,
Just enjoying an afternoon of racing and just wondered if it was possible to extract data from a web page and put the information into an excel worksheet? Items I’m looking to extract are horse name, form, and various ratings/ odds?
Any help or advice great appreciated
Hi mate
I might be able to send you some data on Friday night for Saturday. I am going for a big effort this weekend. My aim is to make a Grand, big talk I know but I have developed some big ideas. It’s high time I put them to the sword.
I am only going to select six races to study though. They maybe of interest to you.
byefrom
carlislesounds interesting carlisle. Let me know more.
Since sending me those spreadsheet I have been picking a lot of winners and producing some good shortlists. Just waiting for the selections to fall right
Hi 1FurOut
pleased to hear that you have found the spreadsheets useful. I can help you with your data extraction problem in the future, but for now see what you make of my latest printouts.
I don’t know if you remember but I kept wittering on about Top Trumps, OTJ & KeyTrends stuff. Well it hasn’t change much, I have simply decided to give myself enough, preparation, time inorder to do them properly.
Just off to the newsagents now to get my copy of the Weekender.
I will flag up the six races that look worth studying…. soon.
byefrom
carlisleTopTrumps= my version of VDW….. ish
OTJ= OwnerTrainerJockey
KeyTrends= 10year race trendswaiting for them to fall right is an ideal policy. The trick is to reduce your shortlist then opt for the value, you will then have a better chance of picking up more money more frequently.
yeah I remember the top trumps and key trends, not familiar with the OTJ though but I think that speaks for itself.
Im certainly intrigued
Saturdays Races
*********************definitely these three
================1545nwb
1620nwb
1640ayrplus three EASY handicaps?
byefrom
carlisleHi Carlisle
Do you have an automatic sheet that refreshes or do you extact a page at a time.
I would be interested in any help you maybe able to forward. Unfortunately I am not very good with the coding and since the recent revamp of the RP site it has completely thrown me off the scent.
Best Wishes
Lamby150
SOme interesting runner sfor the selected races on there.
Will look at the runners today/tomorrow and hopefully create some intial shortlists
Hi Lamby150
thanks for the offer of help. I use a combination of….
Raceform Interactive Queries
Visual Basic
YABasic
DBF viewer
Excel
and sticking plastersI can just about handle it, I think. Eventually I want to create one all pupose BEAST of a database. Until then I am just going to plod on.
I cannot do a lot at the moment. The 48hours should be through 2morow @ 1pm ish. If anynone wants to study the 10 years, that might be useful.
byefrom
carlisleNow why didn’t I do IT at school.
So from the above I take it that it is possible to extact date from a web page?
I think I should try and learn this one
If you are serious about working with data then Raceform Interactive is the best bet. Costs £69 per month. You can export all results data and if you are good at parsing files then the declarations for the next days races can also be imported.
Onefurlongout
Downloading from the Post website to an Excel sheet is straightforward, at least it is with Excel 2000 and 2003. I haven’t yet tried Excel 2007.
First, you will need to disable your personal firewall.
Second, open an Excel sheet and click on "Data", then "Get External Data" and then "New Web Query". That will open a box.
Third, in the box click on "Advanced" at the bottom. That will open another one and check "Disable Date Recognition" and then click on "OK". That will return you to the previous box.
Fourth, click on "browse" and from your "favourites" list select the Post site. When you get to the site select what you want to download (I only download individual race results). When the relevant Post page appears go back to the Excel sheet.
Fifth, on returning to the Excel sheet you will see the box where you clicked on "browse". You now need to click on "ok". That will open a further box which asks whether you want to data downloaded into the existing Excel sheet. Assuming you do, click "ok" and in a few seconds the data appears.
Sixth. Don’t forget to enable your personal firewall.
It may look complicated when you read the above "cold", but once you’ve gone through the process a few times and remember the sequence it only takes half a minute or so to download the material (assuming you’ve a decent broadband connection), which can then be cut and pasted into whatever form you want it stored.
Hi 1FurOut
I didn’t take computers at school, lads/teachers can be a bit intimidating. I didn’t get a lookin. For me horse racing is also very much a survival of the fittest.
Wallace I am shocked that you pay £69, I only pay £49, but I have been a continuous subscriber for about 7 years.
Very good and helpful advice Hensman, I will certainly give it a go. It’s probably going to be better than my cobbled together heap of sheight.
STOP PRESS
College got in the way last night, but I have nearly finished updating my speed ratings, so things are going okay. Roll on those DECS……..byefrom
carlisleHensman thanks for the advice, Im sure that one I try the steps it will be a breeze.
Welcome to the Forum
Carlisle, Im eargerly anticipating the DECS have you selected the 3 ‘easy’ handicaps yet?
Hi 1FurOut
yes I have had a look at the DECS. They have changed the time of one of newbury races. I now think these are the best six to concentrate on….
Non-Hcps
=======
1545nwb
1640ayr
1655nwbHcps
====
1450ayr
1605ayr
1715ayrIf you can calculate your class figures, and then on Friday night I will send you the template data strings to put them into.
Example template 1545nwb (for your spreadsheet) looks like this….
Mutawaajid,9,10,4,,,,125,,,116,,,fcp,,,class
Hoh Mike,9,1,6,,,,125,,,120,,,fcp,,,class
Desert Lord,6,10,2,,,,133,,,122,,,fcp,,,class
Hogmaneigh,4,10,7,,,,125,,,123,,,fcp,,,class
Judd Street,6,2,10,,,,124,,,118,,,fcp,,,class
Rowe Park,1,3,3,,,,120,,,98,,,fcp,,,class
The Jobber,4,6,2,,,,120,,,111,,,fcp,,,class
Bertoliver,1,8,5,,,,103,,,103,,,fcp,,,class
Sonny Red,6,3,4,,,,124,,,121,,,fcp,,,class
Enticing,5,4,2,,,,132,,,132,,,fcp,,,class
Siren´s Gift,5,4,1,,,,119,,,116,,,fcp,,,classThis is part of your learning curve mate…any questions just get back to me
byefrom
carlisleps anyone interested but lost… just PM me.
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