I was reminded of this when reading Roger Clarks comment in the Victorian Weekly that he had been unable to get breeding info for NSW for several weeks. An IT breakdown, apparently, but one that no-one has bothered to tell us about.

But does that explain why race videos have disappeared entirely over the last couple of weeks?
Or why starting prices look peculiar often ending in 5 cents?
Or why sectional times sometimes fail to appear for some tracks, including Wenty, but also at Bulli where contenders for the Million dollar prize have been re-directed temporarily?

We know why you cant download any race files you never could because they dont like anyone knowing more than they do. You cant even print out the results for a meeting that has to be done one race/page at a time. So, too, with formguides, which are long and flowery, and will look even harder to read when printed than they do on screen.

Some states WA, Tasmania and Queensland display their own versions of results and formguides on their local sites but these are often hard to find and contain only part of the info you need.

None of these things are a problem in Victoria, which was originally asked to join in OzChase, but thankfully declined.

For the rest of the country, you will just have to put up with a second rate system which thumbs its nose at what customers really need whether owners, trainers or punters.

The only thing that fast track has over ozchase is breeding stats ie: looking up whelping stats, pups that a bitch has had etc

I love it when people tell me black is white. Just as an example, videos available on OzChase for last Saturday are ...

Bulli NIL (and no sectionals)
Cannington NIL
Ipswich NIL
Gardens NIL

and so on and so forth.

BULLI- Videos available sectionals no
CANNINGTON- Video and sectionals available bar a few first sections
IPSWICH- Video and sectionals available
GARDENS - Video and sectionals available

Not sure what the problem is at your end Bruce but given you have an answer for everything else greyhound related, Im surprised you dont have an answer for why you cant see them

Ah well, I shall have to apologise. IN theory I am permanently logged in but it turns out the system had de-logged me. When I renew the log-in the videos turned up.

Still, that leaves us with a question. Why are casual visitors barred from videos when all other info is available? What is the big deal?

Note - there was no interruption at fasttrack because it does not require continuing log-in. Much more friendly.

My other points remain.

I also think it is much better on fastrack that you can see how many noms are in for each track, grade and distance for every meeting. Also very easy to see what grade a dog is, on every vic track.

OzChase (or Fasttrack) serves three purposes ....

Administrative matters
Trainers Info
Customer Info

I cannot comment on the first two because I don't know/don't use them.

As a facility for customers, OzChase is poor, Fasttrack is generally very good.

In effect, the state administrations in Qld/WA/Tas have backups or duplications in some areas - eg form, videos, results. They are not much good either or are incomplete or just hard to find.

The totality of that is that administrations have no "feel" for how the info is used by the public, and therefore OzChase is a disincentive for people wanting to patronise the sport. To this day it also tells lies about Tasmanian sectionals, where the single sectional is applied to the winner, not to the dog which ran it.

(NB Tasmania also has lots of other sectional data which it uses to create predictions in its own form assessments and maps. But it does not publish these in the official race records and therefore keeps customers in the dark).

I have been using and processing multiple results and formguides services for 50 years - both free and paid - and there has been only one prior to Fasttrack which was complete and satisfactory - the Gold Guide/National Tabform. The local WA guide was pretty good but it covered only WA racing so was of limited value. The remainder of the country offered what they thought was a good idea, not what you really needed. Still do. They are all wearing blinkers.

Here's a hint. Trainers, in the main, read formguides but they do not USE them in any real sense. Serious punters do - or those few who are left do.

P/T's need scrapping. 10 day mandatory stand down for a scratching needs serious reviewing. Get the Grading system fixed ASAP.

Probably, but you are talking about the detail of the gambling/punting game.

I was addressing the info that allows that to happen.

And I still suggest that 90% of trainers gamble - and good luck to them - they are not punters if they do not study the formguides.

To punt successfully, you need superior knowledge to that of the public or the bookie (if available). A trainer will have one way of gaining that knowledge while the serious punter will have another. My observation (partly confirmed by your own comments) is that trainers are much more concerned about how much a bookie will accept than they are about the price. The serious punter will do the reverse.

John,
Your previous post was no doubt important but was off topic.

As for videos - Vic is far superior in overall quality to most in OzChase. One annoying point is that it is very difficult to get a re-run of the race in OzChase. Once is the maximum. This is a technical IT issue which should be fixed.

The overlapping matter is the camera quality and angle, plus getting around obstructions (poles etc). Bulli is terrible, for example, but Sale is also poor due to a lack of height. Wenty is poor in the back straight. These are all technical issues which are clearly fixable.

I have approached SKY in the past about the film quality but they simply tell you it is up to the club. State authorities seem to take little interest.

As for head-on shots - I have never found them of huge value as you no longer have a proper perspective of the field and it is hard to determine which dog is what. Stewards use them for fighting but otherwise I am not so sure. Anyway, some clubs do show them.

Overall, I suggest you would not go to a movie house that showed crappy images and sound so why should we put up with poor quality at the races when 99% of interested parties have only the film to watch? It's the basic product we are trying to sell.