Racing Post new site.

Maruco said:
I use a combination of Irish Racing and Attherraces Aragorn. Neither is as good as the Racing Post database, but the interface on each is infinitely better. And neither make me feel like throwing the laptop or iPad into the nearest bin.
Click to expand...

I responded to a BHA thing nearly 10 years ago about the threats to racing (in the wake of racing for change) and identified the RP database as the single biggest asset/ threat facing the sport, and suggested that the BHA needed to either partner with the Post or buy it off Trinity Mirror

I've obviously lost interest in the sport now, and to be honest, I really don't miss it, but the RP charging a creeping subscription for a product that was taking absolutely ages to load was probably the single biggest factor in me turning my back on racing. I'm not sure the administrators at the BHA ever fully appreciated the soft value that the database brought. Punters armed with accessible information at their fingers are much more likely to engage than any initiative, gimmicky campaign, or well financed consultants strategy report. One of the reasons American racing has taken such a hit was that the data providers were charging too much.

The French used to have the best approach and that was to make as much as they could freely available (got a feeling that France Galop started charging eventually though?). I used to use France Galop at work though as being in French it beat the corporate firewall - suckers!
 
I gave up my membership a few years ago when they cancelled the race replays I was paying just out of pure laziness really to have everything in the same place. I've only just come back after a break and have to agree with the general consensus that the new site is an utter bag of bollocks !

Dont understand why anyone would go for the ultimate package anyway charging what? an extra ton a year is it ? For what ? Oh thats right there top team of tipsters, jesus wept !
 
Last edited:
sunybay said:
Racingpost

the new phormat has some improvements but in general is worse than previous one

about the level
it is simply the best web about horse racing by miles
some people would want it free but in life you have to pay for things
i can not see anyone checking the form seriously about irish and british racing and doing it with another web
Click to expand...

I didn't have a problem paying the subscription as there were a lot of aspects of the site I liked and used extensively but there were persistent issues which didn't just worsen with the new site, they became drastically worse.

I actually don't see anything better about the new site but that might be because since I cancelled my subscription there are areas I can't access.

I am not and at my stage in life never could be the type to study online. I like getting the paper version in my hand and annotating it. If I couldn't do that I'd just give up completely.
 
Without the replays their only value was the RP rating data which was useful but can live without given their website accessibility. Everything moved to APIs nowadays but I have a feeling it'll take RP 10 years for that.

Even with the race replays it didn't made sense to charge so much. At the races have free replays and apparently also sectional analysis in minutes after the race ended: https://twitter.com/AtTheRaces/status/907962022779686918
 
Last edited:
Warbler said:
The French used to have the best approach and that was to make as much as they could freely available (got a feeling that France Galop started charging eventually though?). I used to use France Galop at work though as being in French it beat the corporate firewall - suckers!
Click to expand...

France-Galop site still FOC, Warbler.
 
Desert Orchid said:
I don't read the paper often enough to agree entirely but the Weekender is only half the paper it could be and I blame the editor for that. I've had exchanges of email with him and I genuinely believe he doesn't understand horse racing.
Click to expand...

As if to underline my point, this week's edition persists with an issue that has nagged me for a few years now and, again, there seems little insight on the part of the editor.

On the front page of The Weekender, the Autumn Double gets a mention. Tom Segal's column deals with it. Paul Kealy does an ante-post feature on the Cesarewitch.

Do we get a sight of the field with the weights? No.

I would be tempted to have a go at the double but it's too much bother trying to find the field in a format that allows me to study effectively. To do so I need the race reference numbers. I'd get that if they published the field in the usual format but they don't.

No doubt if I questioned this by email I'd get the usual shite about pressure on space etc. OK, so advertisers pay, presumably through the nose, for space in the paper and they fund its publication. But in the first half of the paper every page has photographs, some of which are unnecessarily big. The front page itself is one big picture. Half of Charlie Hills's two-page spread is made up of pictures and a RP App ad. Only half of Paul Kealy's two-page spread is made up text.

Any pressure on space is down to editorial decisions.

If they want to promote racing - and I'd argue that the Autumn Double should be talked up more than it is - they're heading in the wrong direction.
 
Last edited:
Is it just me or have racing post done a deal to get race replays back ? This was the reason I cancelled my membership a couple of years ago. I know to most it won't be a big issue as you can watch race replays for free on Bet365 archive, RUK, ATR etc and probably some other places but for me I used to think it was worth a couple of hundred a year just to have everything in the same place. Whatever you think of RP's package this has to be the only positive thing they've done for a while.
 
I noticed that yesterday Danny.

The form offers the video links to full race or closing stages. It is useful to have a combination of ATR and RUK replays all in one place but as you have to pay (£26 per month), and the ATR replays are free and I have RUK (£10 p.m) for live TV & replays + iPad newspaper (£30 p.m) for the paper & analysis, I'll pass but otherwise I suppose I'd be tempted.
 
wilsonl said:
I noticed that yesterday Danny.

The form offers the video links to full race or closing stages. It is useful to have a combination of ATR and RUK replays all in one place but as you have to pay (£26 per month), and the ATR replays are free and I have RUK (£10 p.m) for live TV & replays + iPad newspaper (£30 p.m) for the paper & analysis, I'll pass but otherwise I suppose I'd be tempted.
Click to expand...
???
They're all free on the SL website.
 
I didn't know thanks reet I've had a 18 months out so I'm all over the place atm, will check that out. Never really used their site much
 
reet hard said:
???
They're all free on the SL website.
Click to expand...

This may only apply to me, Tanlic and a few others but if you don't live in the UK, Ireland or Gibraltar you can't technically register for the Sporting Life site. No such issues on the Racing Post site and this is a very welcome development.
 
ATR is obviously very good as even non members can view their replays and as DO says the Jockey Club cover some courses but not all that RUK cover........The Racing Post is anything but free..replays are only available to their rip off members club

Betfair are probably as good if not better than most. If you have an account even if not in funds they show all the replays for the days up and coming races

Other sometimes useful items. UKTVNOW and MODBRO stream both ATR and RUK free but with some 3 mins or so delay...you can download from their websites not from store
 
Last edited:
@DO, there was a hack couple of months ago and you could watch every race transmitted on RUK, free on the jockey club site. Its gone now unfortunately but I'm glad RP reintroduced the replays, that was the main reason I quit their service. It made life much easier.
 
Tanlic said:
Other sometimes useful items. UKTVNOW and MODBRO stream both ATR and RUK free but with some 3 mins or so delay...you can download from their websites not from store
Click to expand...

Thanks Tanlic. I would add that Twinspires.com also stream all UK and Ireland races live (via GBI racing) with minimal delays (although you may want to mute the volume when the presenters speak)
 
reet hard said:
???
They're all free on the SL website.
Click to expand...

That's true Reet but my reply didn't quite come across right.

I pay for the iPad newspaper app and RUK regardless so there's nothing the Ultimate RP package (which you need to watch videos on the website) could give me extra. For the ATR races not on RUK I use the excellent ATR app.

If I didn't have the iPad newspaper I'd probably subscribe to RP Ultimate for other features and as a result I'd use the RP website then for replays as I wouldn't have to switch between RUK and the ATR app.

If I didn't want to pay for any of it then yes, I'd use the SL.
 
@pdleech I checked twinspires.com and was only available with an US IP, probably an useful resource without going through a VPN as that slows it down. For an international live version there's cricfree but very hard to watch on Saturdays when there's high activity.
 
Finished it.

There is literally nothing in it apart from Down's column. Here are the highlights:

1. Bar staff at racecourses are generally over-worked and under-paid (no sh*it?)
2. Ladbrokes might add new races to Newbury Festival next year (that's interesting)
3. Harry Fry looks younger than his years (insightful)
4. Harry Fry is to be commended for not offering excuses for American's poor Hennessy run, though no parallel is drawn against the latest flannel from Charles Hawtrey (sorry, Mark Bradstock) about Coneygree.
5. Wagamama is a restaurant.


£2.40 it cost me to find all this out.

FFS.
 
Back
Top