How Web Scraping Helps in Horse and Greyhound Racing Stats
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Do you like placing bets on the outcomes of sporting events for kicks or financial gains? Did you know you can predict more accurate results using web scraping instead of relying principally on a game of chance? Betting at random may be fun initially, but probability methods will not take you far if you want to make money in racetracks.
Staking money on a greyhound or horse offers enormous payoffs. A group of horse bettors hit it big in 2020, thanks to some longshots winning at Gulfstream Park. One person hit the Race 1 superfecta by correctly guessing the first four horses to win. A 50-cent ticket paid $14,483.65. Another bettor who hit the winner in the first five races won $524,966.50. A 20-cent ticket paid $2.2 million after a bettor hit the Rainbow 6 at Gulfstream in 2019.
Staking money on a greyhound or horse offers enormous payoffs. A group of horse bettors hit it big in 2020, thanks to some longshots winning at Gulfstream Park. One person hit the Race 1 superfecta by correctly guessing the first four horses to win. A 50-cent ticket paid $14,483.65. Another bettor who hit the winner in the first five races won $524,966.50. A 20-cent ticket paid $2.2 million after a bettor hit the Rainbow 6 at Gulfstream in 2019.
Greyhound VS. Horse Racing
While web scraping and machine learning (ML) techniques are prevalent in predicting horse and greyhound racing, there are distinct differences between the two, which requires amendments of the modeling concepts.
Greyhound racing is a competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. The track racing uses an artificial lure that travels ahead of the dogs on a rail until the greyhounds cross the finish lines. A greyhound race result is the outcome of six greyhounds chasing a mechanical hare. On the other hand, a horse race result is the outcome of the interactions between a jockey and its mount as they traverse a racecourse.
Both greyhound and horse races allow the public to bet on the outcome. Gamblers, both on the racetracks or online, can stake money on the final placement of the greyhounds or horses taking part in a race.
Greyhound racing is a competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. The track racing uses an artificial lure that travels ahead of the dogs on a rail until the greyhounds cross the finish lines. A greyhound race result is the outcome of six greyhounds chasing a mechanical hare. On the other hand, a horse race result is the outcome of the interactions between a jockey and its mount as they traverse a racecourse.
Both greyhound and horse races allow the public to bet on the outcome. Gamblers, both on the racetracks or online, can stake money on the final placement of the greyhounds or horses taking part in a race.
Scraping Racing Data Online
Betting on horse and greyhound racing has primarily been a game of chance. Probability is the main factor at play, and there is low certainty for which horse or greyhound would win.
There are numbers and statistics in horse and greyhound racing. Organizers collect and share information such as the race venue, runners, participant's statistics, date, time, distance, grade, prize, dog or horse name, trainer's name, etc. You can get information about previous races and performance stats for each runner, including dates, position, odds, split, and race comments.
At the same time, some patterns and correlations emerge. With such details, it is possible to scrape and format the data into readable forms, such as tables, showing valuable insights, including predicting future results. Scraping and analyzing the data is essential in winning more bets.
Various websites provide comprehensive historical data that allows you to perform different experiments using technologies like machine learning.
There are numbers and statistics in horse and greyhound racing. Organizers collect and share information such as the race venue, runners, participant's statistics, date, time, distance, grade, prize, dog or horse name, trainer's name, etc. You can get information about previous races and performance stats for each runner, including dates, position, odds, split, and race comments.
At the same time, some patterns and correlations emerge. With such details, it is possible to scrape and format the data into readable forms, such as tables, showing valuable insights, including predicting future results. Scraping and analyzing the data is essential in winning more bets.
Various websites provide comprehensive historical data that allows you to perform different experiments using technologies like machine learning.
Statistics to Consider in Web Scraping in Racing
You can write code or use web scraping tools that take the HTML of webpages, copies information you are interested in, and output it into a consumable format. Services like FindDataLab are a great way to scrape horse racing and greyhound racing information from the internet for analysis and prediction.
Some of the vital racecard statistics to consider when predicting results in greyhound and horse racing include:
Some of the vital racecard statistics to consider when predicting results in greyhound and horse racing include:
1
Career History
It is essential to consider the dog's or horse's career history, including the number of times won and the current set of races participated. For instance, if a dog may have won 30 races, but the last race was months ago, that is not a good sign. It could mean the greyhound had an injury or is not in proper shape. Horses or dogs that have not participated in a race for long are not candidates for winners.
2
Trainer Stats
Horses and greyhounds perform well with a good trainer. Web scraping provides data that reveals the number of winning dogs a trainer has produced. Indeed, horses under trainers with many wins have a real shot at winning themselves.
3
Track Conditions
Since racing often takes place in open tracks, web scraping can provide data about the weather conditions. Determining if the racetrack will be dry or wet is essential in predicting results. Besides, you can analyze data about horses or dogs that run faster on dry or wet tracks.
4
Age
Look out for the horse's or dog's age data. Undoubtedly, the closer greyhounds are to retirement age (anywhere between four and six years old), the less agile they will be. Younger runners are often in peak performance.
5
Starting Box
This stat consideration may sound strange. However, the starting box plays an essential part, as well. Different greyhounds have varying running styles. Their placement on the inner, middle, or outer starting boxes influences their chances of winning. The above list is not exhaustive. Using web scraping, users can add more factors and data into the analysis for better results. Machine learning-based systems provide a powerful tool for analyzing all these statistics for consistent wins in greyhound and horse racing.
Role of Machine Learning in Predicting Racing Results
The application of ML techniques in sports prediction is not a new phenomenon. The approach has gained popularity with the prevalence of online gambling markets.
ML analyzes data collected through web scraping to predict consistent finishing time with each race and improve bet accuracy. You can leverage ML techniques to predict greyhound stats and horse racing results. Instead of using existing sport prediction models based on manual feature selection, ML provides a model that algorithmically selects and analyzes data in a matter of minutes.
Apart from the stats listed in this post, scraping additional information can improve the prediction results and bet accuracy. Web scraping provides real data for training ML models for predicting outcomes in racing.
ML analyzes data collected through web scraping to predict consistent finishing time with each race and improve bet accuracy. You can leverage ML techniques to predict greyhound stats and horse racing results. Instead of using existing sport prediction models based on manual feature selection, ML provides a model that algorithmically selects and analyzes data in a matter of minutes.
Apart from the stats listed in this post, scraping additional information can improve the prediction results and bet accuracy. Web scraping provides real data for training ML models for predicting outcomes in racing.
Getting Started with FindDataLab
With FindDataLab, you can scrape horse and greyhound stats data from websites and transfer thousands of pages into an easy-to-use format such as Excel, CSV, JSON, among others. Instead of developing the code, FindDataLab offers an all-inclusive solution that extracts vital statistics for analyzing and predicting racing results.
You can use the solution to scrape data from any website. FindDataLab carefully crawls through the required pages containing relevant data. Besides, the service can scrape details from social media websites. FindDataLab handles all the technical tasks and offers data cleansing and quality control. Additionally, the service complies with stringent regulations like CCPA and GDPR.
You can use the solution to scrape data from any website. FindDataLab carefully crawls through the required pages containing relevant data. Besides, the service can scrape details from social media websites. FindDataLab handles all the technical tasks and offers data cleansing and quality control. Additionally, the service complies with stringent regulations like CCPA and GDPR.
