WFA Performance Ratings (user guide)
Our WFA Performance Ratings are an integral part of the GTX Horse Racing Software.
Punters can now use these state-of-the-art ratings to help with form analysis and to create personal assessed prices for any TAB race in Australia. They save hours in analysis time and allow you to assess horses more accurately and with confidence & consistency.
WFA Performance Ratings (WPR) are a multi-dimensional measure of horse performance.
Factors such as overall times, sectional splits (early and late), margin spread through the field, weights carried, the past ratings of key runners and betting market expectations are just some of the factors that go into calculating each horse's rating. Like all ratings, the higher the number the better the performance.
They are calculated through a combination of sophisticated performance algorithms and our own personal review/input.
Initially, all ratings are normalised to the weight-for-age figure for each horse. This allows us to directly compare the talent of individual horses regardless of age, sex, distance or time of the year. When horses compete against each other, we adjust the past ratings that you see in GTX to allow for the different weights to be carried. This allows you to directly compare the past ratings from one horse to another.
To maintain objectivity in the rating process, the more subjective judgements such as those for bad luck in running or track bias disadvantage, are not factored into the individual rating of each horse.
What are the ratings based on?
Race Strength: The starting point in creating WFA Performance Ratings is assessing the strength of each race. Most other ratings have an overly simplistic or limited view of this critical element. Each race is a unique and dynamic event, which must be treated accordingly. The WFA Performance Ratings use a group of key factors to determine the strength of each race. The main factors are represented in the diagram below.
Individual Horse Adjustments: Once the strength of the race is established, the WFA Performance Rating for each horse can be calculated by applying an adjustment for its beaten margin and weight carried.
Beaten Margin Adjustment: The traditional approach to adjusting for beaten margin in ratings is both outdated and ineffective. WFA Performance Ratings use a variable scale that is dependent on a number of specific race conditions. Suffice it to say that a beaten margin of 1 length is not treated the same in every race.
Weight Carried Adjustment: Traditional theories on weight greatly embellish their impact on overall performance. At the same time, research shows that under different conditions weight does have a meaningful impact and must be treated accordingly. We compare the weight carried by each horse to our own WFA scale and adjust its rating using an algorithm that far more accurately reflects the weight effect. This is notably different to many other ratings, which measure weight against an actual or theoretical minimum.
GTX Settings for WPR
Before we move on to how you can use the WFA Performance Ratings in GTX, there are three settings in GTX that are necessary to check and match to the suggested set-up.
Go to Set up / Ratings (Extended) on the top menu and adjust your settings according to the image below (follow steps 1 to 4.)
Form View Screen - Historical Ratings
Clicking on the name of a horse in your Field View screen takes you into its detailed form, where you will see a WFA Performance Rating (WPR) for every Australian start (up to the last 16 runs.)
While the ratings created after each race are normalised to WFA for each horse, the ratings you see in GTX are already adjusted for the weight that horse has to carry in today's race (after any apprentice claim.) This allows you to directly compare the past runs between horses without thinking about what difference today's weight will make.
WPR Rating Graph
At the bottom of the field view for each horse screen, you will see its WPR Graph.
The WPR Graph gives you a visual representation of the horse's ratings, which is useful for identifying trends or patterns, without studying the individual numbers in detail. The colour of each column corresponds to the track condition on the day (which you can see in the form graphic of Zaaki), while the gaps between columns show where the horse had a spell. The Blue column represents the base rating chosen for the horse, which is also shown in the highlighted box labelled "B".
The highlighted box labelled "O" is for Other adjustments that you might apply to increase or decrease a horse's final rating. They could be bonuses or penalties for different race factors. You increase this value by left-clicking on it and decrease it by right-clicking. A horse’s Base Rating + Other Adjustments = its final Nett Rating.
The highlighted box labelled "P" is the horse's current rated price, shown in odds i.e. 5.2 = 5.2 / 1 or $6.20
The number in the blue shaded box (assuming you chose this colour in Setup|Colours) that sits between WPR and the Horse's Name shows the horse's current ranking for this race. In this example, on WFA Performance Ratings, Zaaki is the number 3 ranked horse in the race.
The Field View Screen
When you return from an individual horse's form in GTX, you land on the field view screen that contains summary information about the WFA Performance Ratings for that race. You can set up your field view screen to show the columns you want in the order you want them (including many more fields than the screenshot below.)
WPR = The base WPR rating for the horse (the above are GTX's automatic base)
WPR Other = Any bonuses or penalties you apply to each horse.
WPR Nett = The total of the WPR and WPR Other column
WPR Rank = The nett rating rank of the horse
WPR Price = The rated price of the horse
Follow the link below for detailed information regarding betting approaches and strategies using WPR and also refer to a separate article from the menu which presents a Q&A series from WPR users.