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The Photo Finish area is also the base for another GTX feature, one that we loosely call the Personal Speed Map. It's really a 'quasi Speed Map' as it resembles, but does not have all the features of the speed maps that are one of the tools used by professional punters, which are expensive to subscribe to as they are labour intensive for those creating them from accurate sectional times recorded for each horse.
The user-created 'Speed Map' in GTX is a ranking, and it has its own ranking button similar to the other rankings on your Rank Bar, for example the various ratings, the Win% and Place%, Morning Line prices, Consistency etc. However, this Speed Map does not come to you automatically – you have to create it yourself.
This is done by using another GTX feature, the Horse Profile Flags (HPF), to assign a single flag (from Flag 1 to Flag 8) to each horse. This flag then appears against the horse in the current race and in all future races in which the horse competes.
You choose which flag to select by manually determining and storing the normal running style of each horse; Flag 1 for leaders, Flag 8 for back markers, with other running styles in between. Determining a horse's running style can be a time consuming exercise because to do it properly a race might need to be replayed several times. This process can be categorised as an art as opposed to a science because all you have to work with in the historical form is the 'in running positions' and personal observations from viewing live race broadcasts or race replays.
After you enter the flags for each horse in a race they are stored against each horse and carried forward so that they are automatically flagged the next time each horse races.
When all flags have been selected, click the Speed Map rank button which by this stage you will have added to your Rank Bar, and your personal ‘quasi speed map’ appears in the Photo Finish area.
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 What you need to do to create your personal Speed Map... |
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(a) Add the Speed Map button and Barrier Pos button to the Rank Bar
On the menu bar, select Setup>Tool Bars and in the Setup Tool Bars window, make sure the Rank Bar tab is selected.
In the bottom panel, scroll down to find the Barrier Pos and Speed Map icons, and drag each one over to the Rank Bar and drop it in the position you want.
If you drop an icon to the wrong position, hold down your delete key while you click on the icon. It will disappear – you can then drag it again from the Setup Tool Bars window. |
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(b) Add the Horse Profile Flags column to your Field View
Right-click in a vacant space in the Field View and choose 'Select Columns' from the context menu that appears.
The Select Columns – Field View window opens. Locate Horse Pro Flags in the Available Fields list on the left and drag and drop it into the Current Fields list, in the position that you want it.
Click OK. |
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The HPF (Horse Profile Flags) column appears in your Field View, with eight flags on each row. |
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(c) Select a flag for each runner
This is the labour-intensive part of the process. You need to evaluate the running style of each horse and assign a flag that matches that style – remembering that the range of eight flags runs from front-runners (Flag 1) to backmarkers (Flag 8) with other styles in between.
To set a flag, hold down your Ctrl key while you click the flag.
AS previously mentioned, the only resources available to you to on which to base your evaluations are the in-running positions (where available) in the historical form, and your own observations from viewing live race broadcasts or race replays. |
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 (d) Generate your personal Speed Map
Once all your style flags are set, click the Speed Map button on the Rank Bar.
The race field will be ranked with your front runners at the top, down to those you regard as backmarkers.
And, your personal 'Speed Map' will appear in the Photo Finish area.
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| Add your personal Speed Map to your form printout |
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To add your speed maps to your form printouts, on the GTX menu bar, click on Setup, then Print. In the Setup Printout Parameters window, select the Customize Photo Finish tab.
Use the save set as >> drop-box at the bottom of the window to choose the print configuration file you want to add the speed map to. In this example, we have used the default print configuration file.
Select the two options:
Print number & name [partial]
Speed map ONLY
Then click the save set as >> button to save your settings to your chosen print configuration |
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When you next print your form, your speed map will be appended to your printout like so...
If you find that your backmarkers are truncated on the right side of the printout, you may want to increase the maximum page width on the Custom Photo Finish tab (see above) from the default 100 characters to say, 120.
Please bear in mind that in the form section of your printout, the sequence in which the runners are listed is defined by the Default Print Order, and not by the order in which you currently have the field ranked on the GTX Field View.
For example, you may have the field displayed in GTX Ranking order, or Trakform, or even in the Speed Map ranking order, but the printout will be printed according to the currently designated Default Print Order.
You can change the Print Order if you wish. Check how on the Print Order page. The sample above is printed in GTX Ranking Order, but the Speed Map section is defined by your own Horse Profile Flags.
You can also choose to print your speed map with saddlecloth numbers only, and not numbers and partial names, in which case your printout would look like this...
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A few more points... |
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If you change a flag in any of the horse's runs, it will change in all the horse's runs, both previous runs and future runs.
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- When you set your flags in a race, select another race to view - this action writes the flags to the database.
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- If you have the System Developer, you can analyse the flags using the Horse>Style Flags>Flag 1 - Flag 8 parameter, but first you need to go to Setup>HorsePro Style Flags and make sure the option in the image at right is selected.
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Why was the BP button added to the Rank Bar?
It has nothing to do with your Speed Map, and by itself it's like any other ranking button - the BP (Barrier Position) button sorts the field into barrier position order, with barrier 1 at the top, descending to the outside gate at the bottom of the field so you can visualise the field lined up at the barriers.
However, combined with the Horse Profile Flags calibrated for the Speed Map, you can get an indication of which barriers the 'speed' is coming from. |
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