Qualifying Races

The Basics of how each stable was built, how horses enter the stable and how our judicious selections are made…

  • We concentrate on Maiden races conducted in the State of Victoria, Australia.

  • The races are Maiden races, races for contestants that have not won a race previously.

  • We concentrate on Maiden races with a current total prize money for each race of either 32,000 AUD or 42,500 AUD. 

  • We concentrate on Maiden races ran over distances from 1000 to 1600 metres.

  • We do keep some data for races ran over other distances

  • We concentrate on races using the above criteria but only where we have relevant data on a minimum 400 runners from previous races run. 300 runners for 3 year old races.

  • We concentrate of Open maidens and 3yo Maidens

  • We do keep some date on both Fillies and Mares Maidens and 4yo and Up Maidens

  • We have over 6000 maiden races, contested by more than 60000 horses in the data base

  • We will continue to build the database.

  • The race results are then stored by race type, race type at the track, by SP,by distance, by track condition, by month, by field size and by day of the week.

  • We use the normal form criteria as most punters, professional and recreational alike, we then apply out secret weapon.

  • We also keep records of both jockey’s and trainer’s and they are then sorted into most of the above categories as well.

Stables

As you would have noticed on our home page, Form A to Zyrg currently has 9 “stables”.

As our records increased in volume we started to notice trends.

Stable A & Stable B - These stables are formed by our handicapping of previous maiden winners. These stables, A & B were originally going to find us the winners in BM64 & BM58 races. We then noticed that the horses that topped our “handicaps” had more winners come from those races by runners that had finsihed within a certain distance of the winner. That beaten margin changes for different maiden classes.

Stable C - is track related and taken from the median losing margin of winners at their start prior to winning. It is different for most races and in what order Today’s horses have this criteria applied is a bit like the Colonel secret recipe.

Stable D - Another stable is based on the race type it won and only at a handful of tracks. Some tracks and certain Maiden types just seem to keep producing future winners.

Stable E - is based on the strength of the race it is coming out of and by the distance it was defeated by. We noticed and continue to notice that in some maiden types and distances, those beaten by 4 lengths win more often than those beaten by a short head.

Stable F - is saved for the runner that tops the Lean Evaluation.

Stable G - I cannot stay Lean and explain this one.

Stable H - This selection is the runner with the best Zyrg Time Rating, if there is one. Additionally, the runner must have improved or held its position from the 400m mark to the finsih.

Stable I - Basically, a combination of Stable’s F, G & H. More often than not it is the same selection as the Stable runner from one of those Stables.

So, our Stables are a real bunch of licorice all sorts and when one runner tops the polls in a number of Stables, in one race, look out.

Our database is not the be all and end all of the From A to Zyrg. Our Founder and Chief Racing Analyst, Zyrg, provides the much needed human touch to the selections.

Usage - From September 2005, I decided to put in place a separate bankroll to utilise the Stables. The selction criteria for placing a bet is that Today’s runner must appear in a minimum of 2 Stables.

If more than one runner qualifies under this simple criteria you maybe placing more than 1 bet.

Then, you back the horse for a full unit,

  • if it is equal to or greater than the Historic Price stated.

  • if it is equal to or less than the Q3 price for the race type

  • if the runner is greater than the Q3 price, the horse is backed for half a unit.

I started with $400 in the account so the full unit bet was $4, the half unit bet $2.

When the balance reached $500 the full unit become $5 and the half unit $2.50, increasing each time the balance passed a $100 increment

The current balance is $721, the current full unit is $7 and the current half unit is $3.50

You can find some of the generic Q3 prices here.

Find out more about Zyrg and how and why From A to Zyrg begun.

Melbourne Cup version here.

Cartoon drawing of a rabbit with a large head, big eyes, and long ears.

Nossy the Hare

Our Founder and Chief Racing Analyst, Zyrg, was chatting to a person one day and English was not this persons native language. He was explaining how the word “form” had a number of meanings and uses. Now the person he was talking to was a very inquisitive person and off she went to do her own research. Not 5 minutes later she was back and explained to Zyrg that a hare’s nest was known as a form. The teacher had become the taught. Zyrg then told her the old Dad’s joke about the the magician who couldn’t pull a rabbit out of his hat but could pull a hair out of his …er, nose and Nossy the Mascot for Form A to Zyrg was born.

If a race does not have any Nossy’s mentioned it is a poor betting proposition. If you see a race with five Nossy’s, get excited. Nossy gives a rating sparingly