Difference between daily_runners and historic_runners

Question

For a specific race_id and runner_id combination, and looking at the loaded_at timestamp for the daily_runners table and historic_runners table, I would expect the historic_runners table to be the most up-to-date.

Using the following example: race_id = 1181124 and runner_id = 2570841

I noticed that the values in following fields, are not what I expected:

table name	form_figures	official_rating	adjusted_rating
daily_runners	42/111-6	115	115
historic_runners	/HHHH111-6	null	null

It looks like some detail was lost between daily_runners and historic_runners. Why would the official rating be populated before the race, but not afterwards?

Answer 1

Hi - 

Firstly the official rating is always the figure that the horse is running off in the race.  Therefore the figure in the daily fields should always be accurate, and the historic (ie. results) data should carry the same figures, as it relates to the information known about the runner at the time of each race.

On rare occasions there are omissions in some of the data points received for historic results which is why you are not seeing this figure in this instance.   However, we correct any such omissions as soon as they occur (by populating the correct data) in the beta tables,  so you will find the correct handicap rating and the correct form figures there.    Thus if you run this query using the tables historic_races_beta and historic_runners_beta you will see the correct official rating and correct form figures as above for daily.

As such, it is always recommended to use the beta tables in all queries.   The only reason we have not switched the naming of beta (and dropped a dual system) is for legacy users who have not yet migrated, and the fact these mirror our feeds so we can spot  any issues readily.