The ratings have proven to be consistent; however it became clear that at some stage I would require an updated dataset. I had a number of choices in obtaining the data I require; manually entering the figures daily into a spreadsheet (a time consuming task) or extraction from a relevant database.
I chose the latter in the purchase of Raceform Interactive.
After a number failed attempts at installing the software (firewall issues) and getting my head around the various screens that look antiquated from my trained eye, I have five years of flat data to work with when compiling my ratings. Definitely a statistical significant dataset, I gave it a trial run today.
So, all of the donkey work is taken out of the process in a pseudo SQL query which spits out the the dataset I require ready for import into Excel. The aim now is to trial the ratings and software thru August in preparation for the start of the All Weather season in September.
Raceform Interactive is considered to be the tool of the discerning racing professional. After playing with it for a while I can see why although you do need to know the rough answer to your question before using it if you are not to violate the following computer idiom
Garbage In equals Garbage Out