Race times

Discuss anything related to using the program (eg. triggered betting tactics)

Moderator: 2020vision

Race times

Postby wizardofmann » Tue Oct 13, 2015 8:33 am

I have been doing a bit of research over the last few days and I am alarmed to find that the length of a race recorded by my BOT varies considerably compared to the official Racing Post times! All races from 2 miles upwards have shown my BOT to be anything between 1.6 and 17.6 seconds slower (i.e. using the 17.6s as an example which was a 2 mile 4 furlong race. My BOT recorded 332 seconds and the Racing Post stated the time as being 314.6 seconds)

Has anyone one else come across these timing differences? Your input would be greatly appreciated.
Never say never
wizardofmann
 
Posts: 166
Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2013 2:43 pm
Location: Isle of Mann

Re: Race times

Postby Captain Sensible » Tue Oct 13, 2015 10:18 am

Are the official Racing Post times for that particular race or just an average at that course for that distance ? Remember Betfair don't show the yards in the race and that can easily add on half a furlong to some distances plus you'd also need to take into account any going for the standards too. I'm not a RP member and can't see the data they provide so ignore the above if the going and full distance is taken into account.
User avatar
Captain Sensible
 
Posts: 2883
Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2005 2:29 pm

Re: Race times

Postby wizardofmann » Tue Oct 13, 2015 11:38 am

Yes it is the official race time and not an average. I am also not a member of Racing Post as the results are readily available to all.
Never say never
wizardofmann
 
Posts: 166
Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2013 2:43 pm
Location: Isle of Mann

Re: Race times

Postby Captain Sensible » Tue Oct 13, 2015 6:37 pm

Have you checked the RP times against ATR results pages too just to rule out a blip or rogue race on the RP site.

The times come from the course so very unlikely they're wrong so that leaves your BA coding. Are you timestamping at suspensions and finding the difference or counting refreshes? Counting refreshes willalways be out cos of the latency and Betfair do send rogue suspensions plenty of times before the off when it looks like they've jumped but haven't. Is it an old PC and maybe the CMOS battery has gone?
User avatar
Captain Sensible
 
Posts: 2883
Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2005 2:29 pm

Re: Race times

Postby wizardofmann » Wed Oct 14, 2015 7:38 am

Yes, I have double checked everything. I am timestamping at the end of each race and although my log sheet calculates refresh rates, as you quite rightly state, they cannot be relied upon. However, I have established that the refresh rate on average is between 4.5 and 4.6 per second (Refresh rate is set to 0.2 on BA)

I have two desktops, both of which are well maintained. My latest desktop is just over a year old which runs BA, my BOT and its associated sheets. On my second desktop I run a second BA on its own to instantly check results and the Sportinglife fast results page.

Yes, the main suspect is the BA coding on my BOT. Unfortunately I know very little about VB and would not know where to start looking for a possible ‘bottleneck.’ What I have noticed is the BA performance monitor price and bets refresh rates are vastly higher at the end of a day’s racing on my second desktop which is running BA on its own (Especially the price refresh count which is approximately ten times higher than the BA running alongside of the BOT)
Never say never
wizardofmann
 
Posts: 166
Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2013 2:43 pm
Location: Isle of Mann

Re: Race times

Postby Captain Sensible » Wed Oct 14, 2015 12:14 pm

If you're counting refreshes it's no surprise you're getting incorrect results especially if your refresh is 4.6 seconds when it's set at 0.2 on Gruss. Are you sure those are the timings of your refreshes? That's a very poor connection even for inplay , I know inplay can be dodgy but they'd be unplayable for in running for me.

Even timestamping the start and end of a race you could easily get to be 17 seconds out if your connection is missing the stops and starts.

Have a look at this thread where Gary put up some VBA to monitor the times into the race, just starts counting as soon as the indicator cell shows IN PLAY, be very easy to time the race just by taking a snapshot of the time when the suspend comes up at the end of the race like so

Code: Select all
If Cells(2, 5) = "In Play" Then
If Cells(1, 27) = "" Then Cells(1, 27) = Cells(2, 3)
If Cells(1, 27) <> "" And Cells(2, 6) <> "Suspended" Then Cells(1, 28) = DateDiff("s", Cells(1, 27), Cells(2, 3))
If Cells(2, 6) = "Suspended" And Cells(1, 29) = "" Then Cells(1, 29) = Cells(1, 28)
End If
If Cells(2, 5) <> "In Play" And Cells(2, 6) <> "Suspended" Then
Cells(1, 27) = ""
Cells(1, 28) = ""
Cells(1, 29) = ""
End If


So you'd have the start time in AA1 , the ongoing inrunning seconds in AB1 and the overall race time in seconds in AC1. You could set it to just stop the timer once the race suspend came up but photo finishes would mess up those so easier to have it dumped in AC1 also to be on the safe side. I think it should work but I'll try it out when racing starts later. You'll still be slightly out depending on how quick your connection is to catch the off and race suspend but reckon it's closest you'll get.
User avatar
Captain Sensible
 
Posts: 2883
Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2005 2:29 pm

Re: Race times

Postby Captain Sensible » Wed Oct 14, 2015 12:14 pm

User avatar
Captain Sensible
 
Posts: 2883
Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2005 2:29 pm

Re: Race times

Postby alrodopial » Wed Oct 14, 2015 7:24 pm

It's 4.5 times per second so on aver every 0.222 secs
You know what the are saying .... many times average lies
The best you can do is amend something like Captain/Garry suggested
alrodopial
 
Posts: 1353
Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2006 9:59 pm

Re: Race times

Postby wizardofmann » Wed Oct 14, 2015 7:44 pm

Sorry but it seems I have confused the issue or not explained myself correctly. Disregard the mention of refresh rates as I believe the differences in times recorded by my bot and the official stated times may be more to do with the layout/macros of the code itself. And then again I may be barking up the wrong tree anyway!

Where I reside at the moment, I am using the fastest internet speed available, which is 20mb! I have looked at other options but sadly they are financially out of my reach.
Never say never
wizardofmann
 
Posts: 166
Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2013 2:43 pm
Location: Isle of Mann

Re: Race times

Postby Captain Sensible » Wed Oct 14, 2015 8:21 pm

I recorded most of todays times today using the code above to catch the off and duration of the races, I then compared them to the off time and race durations on the sportinglife site.

No race was more than 4 seconds out. T

he flat stuff was pretty much spot on but the National Hunt stuff is out mainly due to the fact official race times are recorded from when the horse crosses the start/finish lines Betfair usually turn in play once the flag is raised (rather than passing the start line) and are also a little slow at suspending at the finish.

With the flat they're usually a little slow at turning the market inplay at the off but usually OK to suspend at the finish so if anything times recorded are sometimes slightly lower than the offical race times.

Unless your code is very complicated I can't see if having a major effect on recording the start and finish times, just stick your timing code or the code above before your main routines start in your worksheet_change/calculate routine.

I guess it all depends on whaat you're actually trying to do with the times but you'll rarely get the exact result as the official race time just because the Betfair suspend guys aren't that reliable.
User avatar
Captain Sensible
 
Posts: 2883
Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2005 2:29 pm

Re: Race times

Postby wizardofmann » Wed Oct 14, 2015 9:52 pm

Thank you very much for all your help. I can't do much with the information you have kindly supplied but I know a man that can :D
Never say never
wizardofmann
 
Posts: 166
Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2013 2:43 pm
Location: Isle of Mann


Return to Discussion

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests

Sports betting software from Gruss Software


The strength of Gruss Software is that it’s been designed by one of you, a frustrated sports punter, and then developed by listening to dozens of like-minded enthusiasts.

Gruss is owned and run by brothers Gary and Mark Russell. Gary discovered Betfair in 2004 and soon realised that using bespoke software to place bets was much more efficient than merely placing them through the website.

Gary built his own software and then enhanced its features after trialling it through other Betfair users and reacting to their improvement ideas, something that still happens today.

He started making a small monthly charge so he could work on it full-time and then recruited Mark to help develop the products and Gruss Software was born.

We think it’s the best of its kind and so do a lot of our customers. But you can never stand still in this game and we’ll continue to improve the software if any more great ideas emerge.