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FORM FILTERS
It’s no coincidence
that many successful punters have an understanding of form analysis. A
punter who makes the effort to analyse form generally has an advantage
over punters who do not bother.
Form
Filters are a unique feature in GTX that enables you to isolate the
specific details of a horse’s form that you wish to examine. Put simply,
a form filter masks those historical runs that don’t comply with the
rules in that filter, thereby attracting your focus to the runs that do
pass the rules of the filter. Applying form filters can provide insights
that some punters are almost certain to overlook about the chances of a
particular horse.
Consider
the advantage you hold if, for example, you can determine that the
odds-on favourite could struggle in today’s race because history shows
it is highly disadvantaged by a number of factors, whilst another runner is highly advantaged.
In the
default state the GTX program has five form filters, but on request you
can have up to
sixteen, depending on your
Smartform™ data package.
The
default
form filter buttons
have graphical
faces on them
and are all able to be reconfigured.
For example, it may be
more beneficial to change “same distance” rule to say “distance ± 100”
There are
dozens of rules that may be configured.
The Rules
Available for Configuring
Form Filters
Some
Suggested Filters
The true value of Form
Filters is determined by the rules that you set for each of
the filters and how you apply them.
Handles
This Class
(Rules
= Margin
Min –99 Max 2.7 | Cval + Min 1.5 Max 99)
This
allows you to display only historical runs where this horse has won or
finished no further back than 2.7L (regardless of placing) in a race
with a Cval (class value) that is stronger, or no more than 1.5kg
weaker, than today’s estimated Cval.
Handles
This Weight
(Rules
= Margin
Min –99 Max 2.7 | Weight + Min 0 Max 99)
This
allows you to display only historical runs where this horse has carried
the same weight, or more than it will carry today where it has won or
finished no further back than 2.7L, regardless of placing.
Previous
Wins
(Rules
= Finpos
Min 1 Max 1)
This
allows you to display only historical runs where this horse won that
race.
Saturday
Metro Form
(Rules
= Saturday
inc | area | Metro)
This
allows you to display only historical runs for all Saturday metropolitan
runs, which have proven to be much stronger indicators of ability than
midweek or provincial form. This is an excellent indicator of ability to
handle the class (as in field strength). Prizemoney, especially relative
prizemoney difference, is yet another good measurement of race depth you
could include.
Best
Performances
(Rules
= Margin
Min –99 Max 2.7)
This
allows you to display only historical runs where this horse finished a
winner or not beaten more than 2.7L, which is as good as a placing.
Wide
Barriers
(Rules
= Barrier
Min 9 Max 24)
This
allows you to display only historical runs where this horse has raced
from a barrier wider than (say) 9.
Jumps
(Rules
= Jumps
inc)
This
allows you to display only historical runs where this horse has raced in
a hurdle race or a steeple race.
Note:
1.
Some of
the suggested filters contain references to a Cval (Class
Value) rule. The Class Value
field
is only available to be
used with the
Smartform™ - Extended Data Options
package
or
where the Formline Weight Ratings are included, because the Cval forms
part of The Formline Weight Rating process.
2. The
best way to ensure that you have entered a rule correctly is to find one
example of the form you wish to filter and apply that filter directly to
that horse’s Form View (screen). If it doesn’t work, open the rules,
consider why it doesn’t work and change it.
Some
Useful Hints When Using Form Filters
1. Each
Form Filter may contain one rule or as many rules as you want. If, for
example, you wish to combine some of the above Filters into one Filter,
say,
Handles
This Class & This Weight At About This Distance;
a
combination of the three individual Filters enables one “question” – and
delivers three “answers”
2. You
can use one Form Filter or several Form Filters concurrently.
For
example, to get the same effect with more flexibility as the example
above you would select all three individual Filters and the same form
runs will be filtered.
3.
Enable Tool Tips to appear by including a “Filter Name” in each Filter.
4.
Understand the syntax used in rules you want to use and check to see
that each new Filter is working by checking against a record where you
know the expected result. A value entered in Minimum must always be
lower than a value entered in Maximum. This will ensure that you can
then use all Filters with confidence. Some rules can be tricky from a
logic aspect. For example, it would be easy to use incorrect logic for a
rule like CVal + Min 1.5 Max 99 because it would be logically
incorrect to enter Min –1.5 Max 99.
5. Before
creating your personal form filters, spend quality time thinking about
what you want to filter. For example, if you want to concentrate on
previous performance against market expectations use rules like “firmed”
(in betting), “eased” (in betting), “favourite” and “SP” for
expectations and rules like “margin” and “finpos” for performance.
6. If you
run out of filters and need more let us know. We can provide a maximum
of 16 with no trouble.
7. When
using filters to “do the form” it can be useful to apply one filter
against all runners in the one race by
clicking “next horse.” This
enables you to form a picture in your mind’s eye of how each piece of
the jigsaw called “this race” fits together.
8. When
using filters to “do the form” it can be useful to cycle through each of
your standard filters against all runners in the one race. This further
enhances the “picture” referred to in Hint 7 above.
A Practical Example in Applying Filters
On
Saturday 10-SEP-2005 the top ranked GTX selection Aussie Loti won the
second race at Moonee Valley
paying $18
SP, obviously surprising many people.
Should it have been a surprise? Firstly, let’s examine the use of the
above filters with this horse. We've actually combined a couple to reduce
the number of images required to demonstrate the point.
In the
first image below, form filter 1, named “Wet Tracks” and form filter 5,
named “This Course” (meaning same track and same distance) have been
applied. As can be seen there are five historical form runs where this
horse has raced on wet tracks that are at the same track and distance
as today’s race. These are the races not “greyed out”.
As can be
seen Aussie Loti won two races and was photo-finished 2nd on
another occasion recently (13AUG05)
In the
second image below, form filter 6 (Handles Class) and form filter 7
(Handles Weight) have been simultaneously applied. As can be seen Aussie
Loti won two races and placed on three occasions, including one recently
on 13-AUG-05, in a race where the Class Value was equal to or higher
(stronger) than “today’s race” at Moonee Valley, and on each occasion
carried equal to or more weight than her “weight to be carried today.”
-
CVal
today: –1.8 (the scale generally ranges from low of –30 to high of
about +12)
-
Cval
previously handled includes: –2.5, -2.0, -2.5, -2.0 and –2.5
-
Weight to
be carried today: 53.5kg with claim
-
Weight
previously handled (out of image) but ranges from 53.5kg to 56kg
In the
third image below, form filter 8 (Previous Wins) and form filter 9
(Saturday Metro Form) have been simultaneously applied. As can be seen
she won a Saturday Metropolitan race (very noticeably) also at Moonee
Valley
By
employing a few simple form filters it is immediately evident that
Aussie Loti is suited, or at
least not
disadvantaged by the following factors:
This analysis is only on one runner. To form a balanced opinion you do the same
analysis for all horses that you consider to be contenders in today’s
race.
A quick check of other runners in this race using all of
the above tools instantly reveals the following, not all necessarily
negative, and some of which requires further consideration:
1 Umber –
weight 59.5 never carried before and not raced this course
2
Unabated – not previously raced this class and not previously carried
his weight
4 Classic
Clare – query at wide barrier
5 Cascade
Emerald – previously failed with this weight and on the ‘edge’ of this
CVal
6 Sarah
Michelle – previously failed this course, previously failed this weight
and this class
7 Mookta
Sheree – Best Saturday metro form 1400m-1600m heavy track
8 Ashlyn
- on the "edge" of this Cval, especially with this weight.
9 Lady
Lyn – Filter 8 reveals all wins at 1400m+ and on the edge of this Cval,
especially with this weight.
10
Southern Bound – insufficient meaningful form for purposes but not rated
well anyway
11
Valkyrie Diva – Never raced near this Cval, not raced this track, and no
wins metro track
12 Shasta
– Filters 8 and 9 reveals no Metro Saturday form but this Cval and this
course OKAY
13
Jayjaye – Filter 10 reveals more suited to longer race and lower Cval
15 Ducks
- Never raced near this Cval, not raced this track, query at this
distance
Aussie Loti was the top rated GTX horse and well supported by our form
analysis, which indicates that she was worth betting on. The dividend of
$18 was certainly a big reward for a few minutes of intelligent
analysis.
Good luck
in locating your next Aussie Loti!
You can read
more about Form Filters
in our online manual at:
http://www.trb.com.au/gtx/manual/html/misc/edit_formfilter.html
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