Patternform - Newbie Guide |
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Patternform is a tool - nothing more, nothing less, and like all tools it's only as good as the craftsman (or woman) that uses it. If you're new to horseracing then before using Patternform I would suggest doing some background reading about betting on horseracing. For those who are a little more experienced and have an some idea about what they're looking for, Patternform should give you a shortcut to making selections and hopefully winners. You still need to do some work, but much of the information about a runners previous runs has been structured to allow you to quickly focus on specific aspects of a runners previous form. To do this, the Patternform card is divided into two sections - the Runner List, and the Filters. At the top of the Runner List is the information about the race itself, which is important because different type of races may require different approaches. Below the race details are the runners, displayed as one runner per line. Part of the ethos of patternform is to try, where possible, to display all the information about all the runners in a race on a single page so that it is easy to compare runners against each other. Where further details about a runners previous runs are displayed, a separate panel is overlayed which with a single click can be hidden again. At Patternform we never forget that it's the other runner in a race which your selection needs to beat. For a full description of the field in the runner line look in How to use PatternForm - runner lists document Each runner line has two sets of information:
Several of the variable fields are sortable. If you move the "mouse pointer" over a column heading, and it turns into a "down Arrow" then you will be able to sort on that field. By clicking on the field name, the runner list will be re-ordered such that the runner with the best score in the field will be on the top of the runner list. This becomes your new top rated. The content of the fixed fields always stay the same, but the content of the variable field will change depending on the settings of the filters as described below.
The Filter Section is below the Runner list and controls what is displayed in the runner list's variable fields. Using the filters, YOU decide which prior races are included in any race analysis If today's race is a 5f sprint, and you only want prior runs over 5f (includes up to 5f 110yds) to be included in the runner lists formline, then: a) Select 5f from the "Race Distance" filter
As if by magic, only races over the selected distance will be displayed in the runners formlines. Believe me, it can be quite illuminating. For a full description of the filters look in the How to use PatternForm - filters document. The essence of Patternform is that it allows you, very quickly, to change your view of a race. Unlike most formcards which give a single, fixed view of a race, Patternform allows for a multi-dimensional approach. You can use one filter with a single selection, one filter with several values selected, or many filters. Remember a filter is only applied if at least one value is selected from it, otherwise it's as if the filter doesn't exist. If you want more details about the races in a runner's formline, there is a "form panel" which is displayed when you click on the formline.. While the "form panel" is displayed the filtering option is disabled. To hide the "form panel", just click on the formline (any will do) and the "form panel" will be hidden and filtering will be re-enabled For a full description of the form panel look in the How to use PatternForm - form panel document. Remeber though, only those races which match the selected values in the filters will be included in the formlines and only races in the formline are include in the "form Panel".
To help understand how patternform can be used to find winners I've included some examples below.
Example 1Open the patternform card using the link: http://www.patternform.co.uk/examples/index.htm
The Card opens with filter "Look Back" set to 6 months, and sorted on "Speed" Colums
(red denotes which column has been sorted).
From the race header we can see that this is a Handicap Hurdle worth £22K to the winner. To get a feel for how the runners
have performed I usually like to look back over the last 2 years at similar races.
The Card will change, but is still sorted by speed and Desert Cry is now top rated by speed. The filter selections I've made are focused on race value (prize), race Dist (2m - 2m1f) and race Type (Hurdle). Since I've selected race value (prize), my next move is to sort on column WinVal, which gives the value of the races won using the current filters.
It should turn red and the card should now be sorted by WinVal. Raya Star is now top rated and Clerk“s Choice is 2nd top with Local Hero 3rd. The WinVal for Raya Star is 84, which means Raya Star has won a race with a win value of 84K, but I'm not sure when it won this race, could have been anytime in the last 24 months, and obviously the more recent the better. To find out details about the races in it's formline of "1- 30", I need to click on the formline, which will display the form panel. On the form Panel (Gold) I can see the details of 3 races. The 84K race was in December 2011 at Ascot, so less than 6 months ago, carrying only 10-1. It also finished 3rd in an 86K race at Newbury in Feb carrying 10-3, but had finished unplaced at Cheltenham in a 39k race. To find out how he ran in the Cheltenham race I need to look at the "pace" page. In the top righthand corner of the card is a "pace" link - click on this link. The Pace card should be displayed. Next to Raya Star is a blue square, and a line of red squares. Each red square represents a race with the most recent on the laft hand side of the line. Moving the mouse
pointer over the red square will display a "Comment in running". For the Cheltenham race on 16th march we can see the following
comment:
A promising sounding run in a better class event, where Raya Star didn't come up the Cheltenham, hill. He won't have that problem today over a much flatter course. If Raya Star had been favourite then I wouldn't have bet it, but it was around 7-1 which seen good value for an inform runner who is obviously improved this year ..... and it WON. Actually the three places were filled by Raya Star, Local Hero and Clerk“s Choice who were the top three rated using the chosen filters and sort field. The above is a simplified version of my analysis for the race. I went to the sporting life site and watched some video's as well as the At The Races and racing Post site to look at some of the past races and comments. I also played around with Patternform, looking at how the Prize filter price ranges effected the selections as well as changing the going filter.
Example 2Open the patternform card using the link: http://www.patternform.co.uk/examples/index.htm
The Card opens with filter "Look Back" set to 6 months, and sorted on "Speed" Colums
(red denotes which column has been sorted).
From the race header we can see that this is a Handicap Chase worth £102K to the winner. To get a feel for how the runners
have performed I usually like to look back over the last 2 years at similar races.
The Card will change, but is still sorted by speed and Merigo is now top rated by speed. If you look in the WinVal column, there are no values, which means none of the horses have won races similar to this on over the last two years, so a different approach will be needed to analyse this race. I quite often like to look at single factors like distance and courses, and looking at these for this race produce an interesting result. Lets first focus on race Distance
The Card will change, but is still sorted by speed and Merigo is again top rated. Re-sort the card:
It should turn red and the card should now be sorted by WinVal. Again Merigo is again top rated, this time by WinVal. To find out details about the races in it's formline of "1-1-2", I need to click on the formline, which will display the form panel. On the form Panel (Gold) I can see the details of 3 races. The 114K race which it won was actually this race in 2010. The 102K race in which it was second was again this race in 2011. Marigo goes very well over extreme distances, but what about at this course. Click on the formline to hide the "Form Panel"
The Card will change, but is still sorted by speed and Merigo is again top rated by speed, with a very interesting formline of "311121". At Ayr Marigo hasn't finished out of the first three in all 6 chase starts including this race in the last two year. The most amazing thing is that he wasn't fav but 2nd fav at 15-2 - which considering his Ayr form and the fact that he had shown his well being by winning his last race made a a great Each Way bet for the race. The result was a narrow victory. |