Old Race Cards/ Data

[Latekick]

More so a question for Ted unless someone else can answer and help out

Is there a way to download historical cards in RDSS?

If not, is there a way to file share from member to member? For example if someone has the past month or so of a certain track, is it possible to share those files and download directly into my RDSS?

[Ted Craven]

Latekick, there is a way to purchase historical PP data files from TrackMaster and I can help facilitate that if you email me with specifics. I helped folks a couple of times in the past though I forget the pricing but I will check with them. It is probably somewhat cheaper than buying the same data in bulk for current data.

TrackMaster/Equibase has let it be known that sharing data files is not permitted, though sharing 1 or 2 files now and then will probably attract a 'blind eye' (that's me speaking).

That said, my contract with them has always permitted creating an annual database of 1 week of data files from every track each year for promotional and research purposes. I only ever made 1 of these (a lot of work) for 2010 and it is in the Example Databases section along with a number of other complimentary databases.

Ted

[Latekick]

Ted, good to talk with you again.

Thats fine, I will email you in a bit and see if I can get some past data pricing

[Tim Y]

I have tons of Trackmaster SPECULATOR cards going back a long way, but I doubt they are the same that work in RDSS.

[DanBoals]

Originally Posted by Tim Y

I have tons of Trackmaster SPECULATOR cards going back a long way, but I doubt they are the same that work in RDSS.

Hi Tim,

They are not. The RDSS files are locked and you can't get into them except with a password.

The thing I loved best about Speculator was the files that I bought, I was able to use. I wrote many C++ programs to parse those files and look for patterns or the validity of angles. It was pretty easy to do.

When I tried to do the same with the trackmaster files that I purchased and downloaded and used in RDSS, trackmaster acted like I was a criminal for wanting to use the files I purchased from them. When I explained that I wanted to test an idea I had for making a class rating independent of what RDSS has, they said I could buy the files a second time without the password block.

For everyone that knows computers: Yes, I know RDSS uses the basic Windows encryption for the files, and yes, I know I can easily get cracking tools off of the web to access the files. The problem is that if I did this, and wanted to get new info going forward, I would have to do more business with trackmaster, and I do not think they are very ethical based on this last interaction with them.

I now get files from Brisnet for doing my own research.

[Ted Craven]

Dan, from Day 1, RDSS has been able to create a file identical to the one from TrackMaster used in Validator and Speculator (probably also in Synthesis, though I haven't tested). You can unzip it no problem, load it in Excel, do whatever you can do with the same file downloaded from TrackMaster. That was on purpose. No extra charge. We needed that in the early days to compare RDSS to Validator and so people would gain confidence that RDSS produced what Val and Spec did.

It's on the Data Centre Task List, and the Task Title (Create Val/Spec files) and default export folder should be a clue as to what it does. People who continue to use Val and Spec while using RDSS get their data this way.



I'm not surprised that TrackMaster (actually, Equibase) customer support does not know the details of RDSS and that you could get what you wanted for free within RDSS. They sell data and the RDSS data and older basic file data are 2 separate products. Nothing is withheld from you. You get those older files cheaper through RDSS on a monthly plan than buying them from TrackMaster. It was ME in my original business plan who required password protection on the RDSS files so I'd have a way to monetize RDSS. And nearly 17 years later, here we are talking because I'm still in business with RDSS/Sartin stuff.

You could have asked me. I think I'm rather friendly ...

In my humble opinion TrackMaster have been highly ethical and diligent partners over the years, ALWAYS responsive, when treated with respect. Equibase (who owns TrackMaster) has a broader customer support group who rotate and often do not remember much about external software which might use their data (even if I told them last month, or last year).

This is aside from the export to Excel which RDSS provides for all horses' PPs and Analysis lines - which you know about because we talked about that and I sent you several Excel data samples and showed you how to find that data in the RDSS Cache file system.

Just for the record. I hope you enjoy all the data via RDSS and also hope you come up with some great ratings in your research!

Cheers,

Ted

[Ted Craven]

Originally Posted by Tim Y

I have tons of Trackmaster SPECULATOR cards going back a long way, but I doubt they are the same that work in RDSS.

They ARE essentially the same, with some custom additions and password protected, as described in my previous post. People who continue to use Validator and Speculator use RDSS to create a file for no extra cost (and the RDSS files are cheaper anyway by the monthly plan).

Also, FWIW - the cost of getting Full Result Charts through RDSS is a lot cheaper than buying them directly from TrackMaster, even if that's the ONLY thing you used RDSS for!

Ted

[DanBoals]

There are so many things about RDSS that I only learn about when I post here on this forum. This forum is one of the best things on the internet. I wish I had posted here about this, but at the time, I thought it was a problem with Trackmaster. When I asked Trackmaster how to access the file, they acted like I was a pirate and the customer service guy was very rude. I should probably have come to you at that point, but in the email, the Trackmaster guy implied that it was your doing and that I was some kind of cretin for wanting to access the Trackmaster data that I had purchased.

This gave me a very bad impression of Trackmaster and really left me with zero desire to ever do business with them again, except thru RDSS. I have had very good luck and have been treated very respectfully by both Equibase and Brisnet. Maybe this guy at Trackmaster was just having a bad day, maybe he was douche and they fired him, who knows, but I was very unhappy with what he implied and I am no fan of Trackmaster after that interaction.

It is no surprise that RDSS has some feature that is very useful that I did not know about before tonight. The more I use RDSS and the more I find out about its many capabilities, the happier I am to support the software with my business. I loved using the Speculator files to test my dad's angles when he was still alive. I think I had well over a thousand races at our favorite tracks that I would run angles against, and as I am sure anyone who has tested published angles on a large set of races knows, none of them turned out to be profitable by themselves. I remember one angle, a bid and fallback and bid again, turned out to be decent when some other factors were present, and many were like this, but it was always fun to run the numbers and then look at the cases that showed a profit and see if there mitigating factors or things to combine to try and learn something.

Howard was never really able to quantify a class rating. Everyone knows that high class horses run just fast enough to win, so it is hard to tell if they were really pushing or just coasting, or what. I think the cleverest class angle Howard ever told me was to use the horse's second best race. I know at one time there were guys using the second best race combined with the best of the last two races to try to get a combination form and ability line that Howard said showed some promise in some situations. I do wonder whether there is some combination of previous races won and itm combined with maybe earnings over the previous 12 months or some other time period that might at least give some kind of a class factor. My biggest concern is that a smart trainer will place the horse appropriately and so the "class" will show higher because of higher earnings for the trainers that are smart enough to find the right spot for a horse.

Anyway, thank you Ted for letting me know about this export feature, I will definitely look at it. Is there somewhere it is documented? Like what track to track adjustment, or DTV adjustment, or surface adjustments are in the data or is it all raw data? Are the times in 1/100ths, or in 1/5ths? All of this would be useful to know.

[Latekick]

A branch off of this question:

Is it possible to transfer cards/data from one computer to another using the same account?

Basically, is it possible for me to download and work a card on my PC with RDSS at home, and then transfer the card and data over to RDSS on my laptop?

[tleusin]

What is the password forthe example data base please?