CLAIMS

• Full UK and Irish Form Book with 15 years of Horse Form.
• In Running Race Comments and Pace Abbreviations for EVERY runner in EVERY race.
• Enter you own race notes and horse notes.
• Customise the Proform Interface to suit your style of Form Book Reading.
• Research 15-year race trends.
• Add alerts against horses, jockeys, and trainers so you are notified when they are running.
• 48 Hour Flat Season Declarations.
• Enter or Import your own ratings into Proform and then analyse them quickly and efficiently. 
• Unique Pace Statistics and Ratings for every race, want to know who will lead? then look no further than Proform.
• Draw Analyser, comprehensive draw analysis tool or use the research tool to analyse the draw using 1000′s of parameters.
• Pattern Matcher; quickly find patterns in a horse’s career using the Proform Pattern Matcher.
• Trainer Trends, using our unique trainer trends tool, quickly identify trainer habits.

 

Having been using this software for over a year now it is about time I reviewed it. I’m not one of those people who test something once and write a review, I like to make sure I know the product inside and out, and it does exactlty what it is should do.

So what is Proform Racing?

Most of you will have heard of the likes of Raceform, a service that supplies ratings for horses, and a few others like Timeform, etc. These companies supply software that allows you to check every detail about a horse going back 5 years or more. These are excellent tools to have, but do not on their own produce you with profits. Proform includes everything these companies supply, and much more, and makes finding a profitable edge much easier.

To get the best out of this type of software it requires a horse racing system builder built in. This allows you to do analysis across multiple variables in seconds, whereas in the old days it would have taken me hours flicking backwards and forwards through various form books.

Raceform software includes a horse racing system builder, but annoyingly it does not include their own ratings!!! The software is also difficult to use as they haven’t changed the interface since the 90’s so you are working with something from the computer dark ages. Proform Racing on the other hand has a more modern interface and although not Vista/W7 styling, it is simple to use once you are used to it.

My favourite software for over 10 years was RSB (Racing System Builder), but they shutdown in 2009 leaving a big hole in the market for professionals who needed powerful statistical software. After testing everything available back then, the most powerful and flexible proved to be Proform Racing by some distance, and with a major update in 2010 to include Irish Racing, and various other new variables/options/BF prices, you will not find anything on the market that comes close to it.

Due to the amount of data this software contains the interface can be a little daunting at first, so before using any of the information for live betting, take a few days to get used to how it works.

So what information does it contain?

Simple answer is pretty much anything you need to make an informed choice on each race, it gives you a big advantage over people just using basic form, and with the built-in horse racing system builder you have unbelievable power at your finger tips.

Unlike Raceform, etc, this software contains a number of ratings. The OR, which is the official rating supplied by the racing authorities, and Proform Racings own ratings, which are quite considerable. Speed, Trainer, Jockey, Horse, Pace, Tissue, and combinations of these, and many more ratings. You also have plenty of room for inserting your own ratings, and these can be used in the horse racing system builder as well.

The Pace ratings can be very handy if you are looking to trade out in-running. Trainer & Jockey ratings are powerful if used correctly, and with the Betfair prices in the new version, it adds a layer of more power. To ensure the Betfair results are correct you can adjust the commission to your own.

The Data View Page

The Date View allows you to analyze the days racing in great details. As well as the usual information you would expect, such as form, trainer, jockey, etc, you can easily view all the different ratings, and list them in any order you wish. It is easy to check more detailed Jockey/Trainer stats from an additional Tab, and you can also check out the Collateral for the race, which is who has beaten who previously, quite a powerful option. A graph view gives you an instant impression of the speed ratings.

Trainer Trends allows you to go through each trainer in the race with more details than you will ever need.

Prior Form does just what it says on the tin, and lets you look back at the horses previous run. As with other windows, you can list these in any order. Click GOING and they are listed in type of going, handy for an at a glance look to see how it acts on Heavy ground when our wonderful weather is at its best.

This view is very detailed, and because of that, you have instant power at your fingertips.

Horse Racing System Builder

This part of the software has data going back as far as 1997, which gives it an edge over most competitors that for some reason they only give 5 years of data.

Now a lot of punters don’t believe in systems, they think profitable ones do not exist, and yet even method betting has to be systematic based on facts, and this software helps point you in the direction of those horses which are statistically likely to produce long term profits. So whether you do system or method betting, this software is for you.

Any systems developed here are easily saved, and any qualifiers are clearly shown on the Welcome screen when you load up the software. It is easy to cut’n’paste them elsewhere, or into a spreadsheet. I wrote my own software that I just insert the information into and it keeps track of the profit/loss per system for me, giving a list of qualifers and the total stake for the day. Kind of an enhanced version of the System Manger I supply for free: System Manager

I can’t emphasise enough the power this part of the software gives you, and the variables are way too many to mention here, so take a look at the screenshots here: Proform Racing Screenshots

A word of advice with any horse racing system building software, do not make the results fit the system. By that I mean, don’t keep adding variables randomly until you end up with a result like +176pts profit from 33 selections!!!!! For a true picture of reality you need at least 100 qualifiers, although I always aim for 300 minimum, unless I am looking at a specific track or trainer over a short timespan.

The best way to avoid fixing the results is to develop the system over 2-3 years, say 2006/8/10, and when you are happy with it, run the other years in between.  If they are profitable, you have a potentially profitable system, if the stats are way out from those you tested with, scrap it and start again (all strike rates should be similar). If they are hovering around break even, then you will usually find one filter will make them profitable, but never more than one. It is also best if you understand how the variables interact with each other and for that you will need to play with the software to get to know how they interact with each other.

One thing this software has that I always requested and wished was in RSB was a variable that said yes or no to whether the horse was placed or not, very useful for place only betting.

Other Bits

The software also allows you to add your own notes. It includes a separate part for analyzing the draw, and a Horse Watcher, which notifies you if any horses you have marked are running.

Data is updated daily with results and entries, so you always have the latest information at your finger tips.

Their is way too much for me to mention here, as it would stretch too many pages to mention everything it contains and does. For a quick idea take a look at this video: Proform Racing Video

My View

These days I’d find it impossible to not use software like this, and Proform costs less than £2 a day, and it does far more than what you will ever get on the Racing Post site, or any other software.

The initial installation of the software is a large file, which you download when you first purchase the software, but once installed the daily updates are only small files and quick for the software to update itself. If you have any problems, Simon is happy to help.

Although the software is daunting at first, help files and information for individual variables as you click them are included, but more importantly, customer support is fast and concise, something lacking with many similar products. Before you even start using the System Builder, make sure you understand as much of the Data View as you can, do not go using variables when you have no idea what they are.

You won’t find much wrong with this software, and if you have any ideas for future versions just email Simon to let him know, you never know, they may be included in a future version.

As with RSB, I use Proform daily, and couldn’t survive these days without this kind of software, as it allows me to do so much more analysis.

Another good point about this software is you are allowed to run it on 2 computers, so having it on your home PC and laptop is no problem, however make sure you use Sync software to ensure you have the latest database copy between the two, this also acts as a backup as well.

If you know how to use the SQL software in Windows, then you can write your own script to update the user ratings with any formula you want, although this is only for advanced users, and due to the power of the software will not be of any interest to the majority of users.

Subscriptions range from 8 weeks onwards, reducing in price the longer you subscribe. Payments are made online with credit or debit cards, Paypal, cheque, etc.

This software is always in development and you can bet it will be improved further in the future, although at the moment I don’t really see what else could be added to enhance it.

If you want in-depth form analysis to give you an edge, or want to develop profitable systems, then you are losing out if you are not using this software.  For details of some of what is available in the latest version visit: Proform Racing Latest Version

Do I have any negatives? Just a small niggle, not really a negative as it is not an issue with the information the software gives out, and I doubt it’s an issue for the majority of users. I would like to be able to use Shift/CTRL to highlight certain horses/variables on the Data View so I can just cut’n’paste the bits I want rather than fiddle with the Exporter and delete those bits I don’t want.

If you are thinking about using this software, stop thinking and just start your subscription today, otherwise those that do use it have a massive advantage over you, and you’ll not find an easier way for statistical analysis of horse racing to discover profitable trends.

If you have any questions about this software feel free to ask on our forum: Win2Win Horse Racing Forum