The User Horse Flags (UHF) function allows you to ‘flag’ one or more runners in selected races for some personal reason and then later, using the System Developer, analyse only horses with specific flags. One example; if you decided to flag all horses on which you actually place a win bet, you could then use the System Developer to analyse only those runners.

There are two aspects to consider - the setup of the flags and the display of the flags in the Field View. The usage should become evident when you start to experiment.

Try the following experiment:

On the Menu Bar, click Setup, then User Horse Flags. The Setup/Edit/Backup User Horse Flags box will open.

To be able to see the User Horse Flags in the Field View, you need to add the User Horse Flags column to the Field View display. Right-click in the Field View (but not on a horse’s name) and choose Select Columns. In the Select Columns box, from Available Fields drag the User Horse Flags across to the desired position in Current Fields and click the OK button.

 

		A detailed explanation of selecting columns for display can be found in the online manual here:

 

You will then be able to see the new column, UHF, with the 8 columns of numbered flags.		[Ctrl]click will select a single flag for a single horse. You can select more than one flag for each horse
[Ctrl][Shift] click will set a column of flags, for example, all the 1 flags if you click a 1, or all the 2 flags if you click a 2 and so on.		[Ctrl][Alt] click will select a row of flags. It is worth noting with this option that if you click the No 1 flag, the whole row will select. If you click the No 5 flag, then that flag and all flags to its right will select. In our example of 8 flags, Nos. 5, 6, 7, 8 will select.

Checking or unchecking Display Numbers in the Setup determines whether or not the flags are numbered.

The above example with eight flags has been just that - an example. You can display from just 1 flag up to 32 flags at pixel widths from 4 to 30, with the number labels or without.

Even with the flags saved to the race file, in the event of a race file corruption, or a redownload of the meeting, the User Horse Flags would be lost, so to further safeguard your flags, you should save them to the database.

See more below about setting the flags below, in A User’s Comments.

In the Setup:

Analysing Flagged Horses

Once set, the User Horse Flags can be analysed by the System Developer. A rule can be used to include or exclude horses that have specific flags. The parameter to use is User Flags which is located under the Horse tab.

This feature has helped users to fine-tune their personal approach by allowing them to critically analyse the horses that they bet on, among other uses. One user also employs it to flag selections that are derived from third-party systems that were not derived from the System Developer. This then allows him to further analyse those systems’ selections within the System Developer.

Backing Up Your User Horse Flags

As with most other created data, it is wise to back up your User Horse Flags so they can be restored if they are ever lost through a file being overwritten, or corrupted or some other computer calamity.

Depending on the various GTX functions that you use, a number of databases can be created, and the User Horse Flags database is one of these.

Backing up your User Horse Flags is a two-stage process. First, you save your flags TO the database, then you back up the database.

After setting flags, you save them to the database via Setup>User Horse Flags. A point to remember before you start is that only the date range in the 'Start date:' and 'End date:' fields will be affected.

If you saved your flags on a daily basis, you could either:

(a) Leave the 'Start date' on the date you started creating flags and extend your 'End date' to cover the day in which you have created the most recent flags. In this situation, the whole database will be overwritten at each save, so be careful that you haven't inadvertently switched off any previous flags that you still want.

(b) Set both dates to the day you are currently working on, and each day's flags will be added to the database. Just remember that any saving to the database overwrites the currently saved database - relative to the date range, meaning that if you have only today's date set, and save to database, yesterday's flags won't be overwritten.

Once you have set the date range, click Save Flags to DB. The flags are now saved in the UHF database. (Restoring your flags follows the same principle - only flags within the specified date range will be restored).

Then at whatever regular intervals you feel comfortable with, you need to backup the database. Simply click the Backup button on the Speed Bar or on the Menu Bar go to Program>Database Backup.

	In the Backup – Restore Databases box that opens, select User Databases (and any other database you want to back up) and click the Backup button. The database is now backed up in a compressed (zip) file in the <.\GTX\Backup> folder. If you like to copy your backups to CD, USB stick or external hard drive, you can simply copy the <user.zip> file to your chosen location.

	You can choose, by way of the confirmation on option in the Backup-Restore Databases box, whether you want to see the Overwrite existing database? or Overwrite existing backup? warnings after you click the Backup or Restore buttons.

If a calamity occurs and your flags are lost, do the reverse. First restore the database: go to Program>Database Backup, select User Databases then click Restore.

Then go to Setup>User Horse Flags, select your date range and click Restore Flags from DB .

A User's Comments

During the formulation of this section of the manual, several questions were asked of the user who had originally requested the User Horse Flags function. His answers and other comments follow.

(a) When would you set a column of flags?

If you wanted to select every horse in a race. Also, if you wanted to select most horses, you could use this function to flag all horses then de-select the few you don’t want.

(b) When would you set a row of flags?

If you wanted to select all flags for one horse however, it would be unusual if a single horse met criteria for each and every flag (but it could occur).

(c) Why would you Set All or Set Selected over a date range?

Set all and Clear all between a given date range are reciprocal functions. Obviously you would clear all if you wanted to clear flags from all races within the nominated date range. The same goes for Set All

(d) How do you know what Flag No. 3 means? Or 2, or 5 etc?

Unlike with the System Developer where you can type in a description of the rules, the UHF does not have this function therefore I just type up my own reason for each flag and save them in a document in my word processor.

When analysing flags in the System Developer I then enter a short description of the system and name it Flag 1 or Flag 2 or whatever.

A couple of examples...

Flag 1 is used when I back a horse where the TAB price is less than the Trakform Rating Price.

Flag 2 is used when the bet is favourite under the Formline Rating etc.

After you have been doing that for a while you just remember what column is what. Every column is different and with the way I have set up my flags, usually only one horse fits in any column.

The short answer to questions (a), (b) and (c) is… probably never. I have occasionally used the ‘Clear Selected’ function when I am finished with a particular Flag.

The whole idea of the flags for me, is to tag what I want before the race starts so I have a true representation to look back on and not a distortion.

The flags are by far the most important part of GTX for me.

The primary reason for the flags was to be able to flag bets and selections that were made outside the parameters and functions of the Systems Developer and GTX and then have the ability to analyse them within the System Developer using the full "Analyze by" features. The system works wonderfully well and I have found it has helped me control and effectively improve my selections and more importantly improve my betting skills.