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I’ve only been subscribing since the last erm, what shall we call it…..’upgrade’ ?………….
Well my problem is a minor but irritating one
I’ve got used to the Diomed comments on the racecard over the years and for my initial look through all the racecards I don’t want an essay from Spotlight on every horse – a few words from Diomed will do nicely
However no matter how many times I check ‘Diomed’ at the top it always reverts to Spotlight on opening a new card
It’s just minor and annoying that I can’t check Diomed and damn well keep it there !
Just when you think things may be improving, they go and let you down again.
Noticed that there was a link to a video clip of the Mooresbridge Stakes and, when it started to open, I thought "this is better" because I am going to be able to look at the St Nicholas Abbey race to see what all the fuss is about regarding Joseph O’Brien.
Then, having sat through the Coca-Cola advert, it comes up with the message "Stream not found".
Honestly, it makes you wonder what they are playing at.
I did watch a video with a few finishes from Windsor and Bath and another from Uttoxeter on Saturday but, for the one for the Irish race that everyone is talking about to be unavailable is just another black mark for managing to leave people shaking their heads.
I know you can get the replays elsewhere if you register but it would have been nice not to have been let down again by the Racing Post website.Just when you think things may be improving, they go and let you down again.
Noticed that there was a link to a video clip of the Mooresbridge Stakes and, when it started to open, I thought "this is better" because I am going to be able to look at the St Nicholas Abbey race to see what all the fuss is about regarding Joseph O’Brien.
Then, having sat through the Coca-Cola advert, it comes up with the message "Stream not found".
Honestly, it makes you wonder what they are playing at.
I did watch a video with a few finishes from Windsor and Bath and another from Uttoxeter on Saturday but, for the one for the Irish race that everyone is talking about to be unavailable is just another black mark for managing to leave people shaking their heads.
I know you can get the replays elsewhere if you register but it would have been nice not to have been let down again by the Racing Post website.Been a massive problem, those videos. That infuriating coffee advert followed by…nothing.
They need to sort it out.
I have compiling speed ratings for a while now, I have only just noticed that the Racing Post have been subtracting the Jockeys allowance from the the actual advertised weight i.e. "Lifetime" is down in their results as carried 7-7 at Goodwood on Saturday when it advertised weight was 8-0.
The Sporting life shows the weight carried as 8-0.
The BluesBrother
Assuming you are referring to the results pages, that is not a recent change as for some years they have presented the actual weight carried in one column with any conditionals’ allowances in smaller type after their names. And of course it is similar in the Form Book. With a little bit of coding, when I download results the two are automatically combined, which is what I need for my purposes.
I must say that, contrary to some comments on this thread, I find the Post’s website extremely useful, and I only access the free components. The Life’s site is excellent too, but on balance I prefer to download cards and results from the Post as in my experience they contain fewer errors re starting prices.
The icing on the cake, for me, would be if the Post numbered their race results with the same numbers that go into the Form Book, as each February I have to spend a few hours re-numbering the previous year’s results in my database. But nothing is perfect!
GeorgeJ, you’ve piqued my interest here. When you say
"With a little bit of coding, when I download results the two are automatically combined, which is what I need for my purposes."
, how do you do this?
The only way I’ve managed to do it is grabbing the text version of the full result and doing QUITE A BIT OF CODING to break it down to its constituent bits and pieces. I wondered if I’m missing a trick somewhere.
Dartguru
I only collect data relating to handicaps, and for each race I save seven pieces of data for each runner: name, weight (including any claim), OR, place, distance won or beaten by, sp and age.
To do this I use the Post results, and for each race copy all the data in the table. Taking today’s 2.45 Southwell as an example, I highlight and then "copy" everything from the 1 in the Resplendant Alpha line to the final * in Trachonitis’s. I then paste the material in an Excel sheet and press a macro button, which puts the data I want into eight columns (two for weight – that carried in col. B and any claim in col. C). The data so processed is then copied by formula into a second sheet in the book which both sums the two weight columns and spaces the data out so that there are some blank columns among those with data. The contents of that page are then copied – manually, I’m afraid – into my database (where the blank columns are then filled with data derived from the basic data). The whole thing – from opening a Post result to having the data in the database – takes about 3 minutes.
I don’t know exactly how the claim data gets into col. C of the Excel sheet as the coding for that was done – for about £18 – by the Excel expert in Indonesia who does the trickier coding for me, but I did the coding for the summing. I guess he used one of the Excel functions which allows one to separate data, snd then he has used a formula to carry just the number and not the claimer’s name to col. C. (I use a similar process to separate out the trainer’s surnames for another database, as I don’t want, with a couple of obvious exceptions where an initial is necessary to discriminate between trainers with the same surnames, first names, titles or initials clogging up the database.)
Thanks for the reply GeorgeJ.
I think you grab the data in a similar manner to me. I click on the full result, copy the entire dataset into a text editor and save it as a text file. Repeat for each result. Then I have an Excel macro to process each text file and save the data I require, which I think is about what you also keep.
In a perfect world I would just grab the link the the full result and not have to do the cut-paste and save.
But I haven’t figured out how to do that.
Dartguru
Yes, two ways of getting to the same destination. I am constantly surprised with what can be achieved with Excel – just wish I was better able to utilise its full potential.
The chap in Indonesia may be able to do what you would like to be able to do. You are welcome to pm me if you’d like his email address, he’s really very good and (to my mind at least) remarkably inexpensive. (I found him through the Freelancer website and one contracts him through them, so there is a tiny commission to pay as well but their arrangements keep both parties to transactions honest!)
Thanks GeorgeJ but as it works I’ll stick with it as it is, until I can work it out for myself – bit of a challenge when I get a bit more free time.
I’ve figured how to get each full result from the main result, but not in a format I can utilise yet.Kelso off, Ripon likewise but hardly a mention on the RP site.
A few words on the Live feed but that is all. Nothing in the latest news section. Very poor.
Kelso off, Ripon likewise but hardly a mention on the RP site.
A few words on the Live feed but that is all. Nothing in the latest news section. Very poor.I now go straight to the Racing UK news section. It’s much better and is very easy and straightforward to use.
There were two separate stories on Kelso and Ripon, rather than just a sentence or two on the Racing Post website.
The Racing UK site is generally more attractive and user-friendly and I find that having an icon link to the news section on my desktop is far more convenient. I look at the live stream section on the Racing Post website as well but now not as automatic first choice.Yes the Sporting Life site my preference nowadays.
The main positive I give the RP Site, is when previewing a race, the option to "cross out" the runners I am not interested is available, leaving only the runners I would consider as a selection. I like this tool but don’t think any other site gives the option.
Aside from that there’s not a lot else in the RP site that draws to me to it, and certainly not paying a monthly access fee.
Looks like the Racing Post has belatedly woken up to the fact that a lot of people don’t like the new format of the website.
Interesting that a lot of the changes being suggested arise from issues that have been raised on this forum.
They are now saying:There have been some initial teething problems which are being worked on and changes will be made in the next week. These include:
1) The panel on the homepage will show the top stories, in addition to the very latest news
2) The Top Stories filter in Racing Post Live will be renamed News Round-up
3) News Round-up will provide a comprehensive wrap of all the main stories of the day
In addition we have put together some helpful guide notes on how you can get the most from Racing Post Live.
Guide to Racing Post Live:
1) You can still find all the top news stories in one place – click through to Racing Post Live and on the top left-hand side under All News scroll down to Top Stories where you will find all the latest breaking news.
2) You can customise the news feed by using the icon All News on the top-left of the screen and filter it for your own means, whether you want to sort by reports, ground and weather watch or even the latest international news.
3) If you would still like to revert to the old format, go directly through to News Archive for all the latest news from the last seven days.
Again, many thanks for your feedback. We will continue to improve Racing Post Live and are confident that, given time to adjust, you will find this new service invaluable.I just emailed the Racing Post asking them why my essential membership went up from £8.67 per month to £13.00.
On their website their advertisement states that the Essential membership is £2.50 per week, that makes it only £10.83 per month.
Extras they have added onto my package is that I can watch 50 video replays per month, which I can watch for free elsewhere.
I have received no notification about the increase.
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