Scratches automatic but not Off turf?

[Gollygeewiz]

Would someone please tell me why the system does not automatically change from turf to other when the scratches indicate the change... it is a mystery. Am trying to automate EVERYTHING and this particular change may be difficult with macros, php and the like and it seems that the system should do this change seemlessly.

The Last 100 is just a wonderful addition as is the win/place additions to F1. Thanks much Ken.

[BillBam]

This has been discussed previously, here is the last one I could find in the search.

http://www.homebased2.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9428&highlight=turf

[Gollygeewiz]

Thanks, Bill. Why didn't I do a search... DUH??

[Gollygeewiz]

The Entries will let us know if the shift is to dirt and the dist when going to Off Turf - the unknown is whether it is an off-track, it seems. The system could be set to do any dist change and the general surf chg, it seems, since we know which trks are dirt and artificial. It would only be our responsibility to determine trk cond.

E.g.:

Calder Race Course - September 25, 2009
Race 5 - 2:26 PM Exacta / Trifecta / Superfecta (10 cent minimum) THE BIG 4 - 50 cent minimum (Races 5-6-7-8)
MAIDEN SPECIAL WEIGHT
Purse $27,000. (Includes $5,000 – FOA - Florida Owners Awards). For Maidens, Fillies Two Years Old. Weight, 118 Lbs. (Non-Starters for a claiming price of $20,000 or less in the last 2 starts preferred). (If deemed inadvisable to run this race over the Turf course, it will be run on the main track at Five Furlongs). Five Furlongs. (Turf)

[njcurveball]

The Entries will let us know if the shift is to dirt and the dist when going to Off Turf - the unknown is whether it is an off-track, it seems. The system could be set to do any dist change and the general surf chg, it seems, since we know which trks are dirt and artificial. It would only be our responsibility to determine trk cond.

E.g.:

Calder Race Course - September 25, 2009
Race 5 - 2:26 PM Exacta / Trifecta / Superfecta (10 cent minimum) THE BIG 4 - 50 cent minimum (Races 5-6-7-8)
MAIDEN SPECIAL WEIGHT
Purse $27,000. (Includes $5,000 – FOA - Florida Owners Awards). For Maidens, Fillies Two Years Old. Weight, 118 Lbs. (Non-Starters for a claiming price of $20,000 or less in the last 2 starts preferred). (If deemed inadvisable to run this race over the Turf course, it will be run on the main track at Five Furlongs). Five Furlongs. (Turf)

It would be great to see Equibase add a field called "off turf" and put a value of furlongs in it. I think that would be much easier than trying to parse strings like the one above, since they are inconsistent from track to track.

They recently started to put run up distances in, so it is possible to add something, even in 2009.

I am sure if there were a field like that it would be much easier to program for an "off turf" distance.

[BillW]

They now have the distance change when switching to off turf in their late changes and scratch data. Which is an improvement.

[BillW]

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/52764/last-minute-track-updates-now-on-equibase

Surface/distance changes and scratches will now be reliable and timely!

[DanG]

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/52764/last-minute-track-updates-now-on-equibase

Surface/distance changes and scratches will now be reliable and timely!
Progress and a sincere thank you to the HANA team that volunteers their own time to represent all of us.

[BillW]

Progress and a sincere thank you to the HANA team that volunteers their own time to represent all of us.

Thanks Dan. Now Ron and Ken can run with this ... auto off turf will be nice.

[Ron Tiller]

HDW has been posting scratches, off turf and distance changes for all tracks in a single file, in both text file format and comma delimited format, for a year and a half now. We have a certain time lag behind Equibase, as I've explained previously.

Ken could have programmed auto off turf and distance changes a year and a half ago, when we started making these files - it has never been "awaiting" Equibase to do something new. As Ken explained, he chose not to process these changes automatically, and I believe his reasoning is sound, so there is nothing new to run with.

Since Equibase has been working on getting scratches and changes input and distributed sooner, we have noticed that scratches are going up a lot sooner than 6 months ago. This is at least partly due to the efforts of Jeff Platt and HANA to both initially make their case to Equibase and to follow through on behalf of horse players. Kudos to both Jeff and HANA for their roles in getting this done.

Ron Tiller
HDW

[BillW]

Sorry Ron, you're right (of course! :o ) there is nothing you need to do as your feed should just pick up the scratch/change data. The big difference as of 2 days ago is that Equibase employees (chart callers) will be charged with entering the data now which should solve the problem that existed before when the tracks were responsible for data input and reporting of Off Turf/Distance changes could not be trusted to be accurate or timely.

HDW has been posting scratches, off turf and distance changes for all tracks in a single file, in both text file format and comma delimited format, for a year and a half now. We have a certain time lag behind Equibase, as I've explained previously.

Ken could have programmed auto off turf and distance changes a year and a half ago, when we started making these files - it has never been "awaiting" Equibase to do something new. As Ken explained, he chose not to process these changes automatically, and I believe his reasoning is sound, so there is nothing new to run with.

Since Equibase has been working on getting scratches and changes input and distributed sooner, we have noticed that scratches are going up a lot sooner than 6 months ago. This is at least partly due to the efforts of Jeff Platt and HANA to both initially make their case to Equibase and to follow through on behalf of horse players. Kudos to both Jeff and HANA for their roles in getting this done.

Ron Tiller
HDW