There are a million and one ways of using horse racing ratings and One Stop Ratings are no exception.

We encourage you to work out your own methods of using the ratings but in the meantime here are 7 strategies for you to try.

You can take these strategies as they come straight out of the tin or ADOPT, ADAPT, and IMPROVE to make them your very own.

1.    Beware of the NEDs

At this point you are probably asking yourself or shouting at the screen “What the **** are NEDs?”

It is very simple NEDs are those races which frequently crop up when there is NOT ENOUGH DATA for every horse in the race. Quite often these are novice or maiden events where some of the protagonists are visiting the racecourse for the very first time.

NEDs are easy to spot as several horses have a row of duck eggs where the ratings should be for example this race at AYR on 29^th November 2021.

As a general rule of thumb eliminate any race where less than 80% of the runners have a full set of data.

Getting rid of the NEDs will not find you any winners but it will eliminate a fair few losers.

2.    Back the Top OSR Blind

The One Stop Rating (OSR) is our master rating and if you choose to back the top-rated blind you will find winners but in a similar way to backing favourites blind you may struggle to make any long-term gains if using level stakes, switching to variable stakes could well improve things, look out for our article on variable stakes.

Let’s have a look at how the numbers stack up for the Top Rated OSR

All Races – using the last 750 races matching the criteria as of 29/11/21*

223 winners 29.7% SR. 407 Places 54.26%

All Non Handicaps – using the last 750 races matching the criteria as of 29/11/21*

256 winners 34.13% SR. 475 Places 63.33%

All Handicaps – using the last 750 races matching the criteria as of 29/11/21*

172 winners 22.94% SR. 343 Places 45.73%

*It is important that you understand that a 750-race sample over a different time period will not give exactly the same results.

These are not the only ways of using One Stop Ratings, and they may not even be the best ways. If you find a new and better way please tell us about it.

Have fun delving into One Stop Racing if you have any questions or feedback please contact us.

Don’t forget if you come up with a winning strategy, please share. We look forward to hearing from you.

*It is important that you understand that a 750 race sample over a different time period will not give exactly the same results.

3.    Concentrate on the Top 3 Rated OSR

Concentrating on the Top 3 Rated on OSR is one way of narrowing down the field and it is far easier to pick the winner from 3 horses rather than say a field of 13.

By concentrating on the Top 3 rated on the master rating you will find the winner in approximately 70% of the races this varies from day to day and some days the figure will be higher and other days lower.

Going through the results for Saturday 27^th November 2021 https://www.onestopracing.co.uk/one-stop-ratings-saturday-27th-november/

14 winners had Top OSR

6 winners were second on OSR

6 winners were third on OSR

9 winners were fourth or worse on OSR

So on this day a pretty healthy 26 winners from 35 races were in the Top 3 on OSR and this doesn’t take into account NED races (see above).

Once you have your shortlist of 3 you may want to get it down to one horse to have a bet on, how you do this is up to you.

Some methods you could use are:

• Pick the one with the shortest forecast odds
• Pick the one with the highest forecast odds
• Chose the one with the highest LR (Last Race) rating.
• Chose the one with the highest HS (Horse Score)
• Chose the one with the highest SR (Speed Rating)
• Delve into the form for each horse on a website such as the Racing Post who let you drill down the form for each runner.

You could even Dutch all 3 horses.

Or maybe you could consider forecasts and tricasts.

4.    Concentrate on horses within 50 of the Top Rated OSR

This strategy is similar to the one above without the restriction of being in the Top 3 on OSR in that it is an alternative method of arriving at a short list.

Going through the results for Saturday 27^th November 2021

27 winners of the 35 races were within 50 points of the Top OSR.

You could use some of the methods listed above to get this shortlist down to one solid contender.

5.    The Consensus Method (version 1.jb)

The Consensus Method is fast way of getting going with One Stop Ratings. It is also featured in our quick start guide: 3 Quick Ways to get started with One Stop Ratings.

Navigate to the ratings for the day you wish to study and go to the “Full Ratings” section, look for the races where all the columns have the same horse top rated i.e. top ranked on LR, HS , SR and OSR.

You will see the ratings presented as shown below with the top rated in every column in bold. When all the bold numbers are lined up we have a consensus and that horse is a selection on the Consensus Method.

Version 1.jb – One Stop Ratings Member James contacted us recently and added a couple of modifications that make perfect sense, firstly he eliminates those races where 20% or more of the horses have incomplete data. We call these the NEDs (not enough data).

Then he eliminates all races where there are joint top ranked on any of the 4 ratings.

Final criterial for The Consensus Method (version 1.jb)

1. Top Ranked on all 4 columns LR, HS , SR and OSR
2. Eliminate the NED’s
3. Eliminate any races where there are joint top ranked in any column.

This race at Wolverhampton shows how to spot a qualifier on the Consensus Method.

The qualifier is SILVER SCREEN who is top ranked in all columns.

6.    Concentrate on horses Top Rated on both LR and HS

Consider all horses that are Top Rated on both LR and HS but not necessarily Top on OSR.

These MUST NOT be top rated on SR.

This race at Doncaster on Saturday 27^th November 2021 is a good example. HERBIERS who qualified using this strategy won at 100/30.

One Stop Ratings Strategy 6 results

7.    The 40+ Method

Our final strategy for this article on using One Stop Ratings is another old favourite the 40+ Method.

Qualifiers for the 40+ Method are those horses top-rated on OSR that are at least 40 points clear of the next rated in the race. You can find these by navigating to the “Top Rated + Points Clear” Tab and noting those horses that are rated at least 40 points ahead.

We have altered this tab since this strategy was first published and now at a glance the 40+ horses can be found.

 The table below shows the 40+ qualifiers for Saturday 27^th October.

Top Rated OSR 40+ Suggested WIN Bets **

** Never bet blind, always check the relevant race, and form your own opinion. Ignore all races where there is no form data for 20% or more of the runners,

A final note

All ratings pages are generally updated with results on the day after racing they are also opened up at this stage so that all users of One Stop Racing can view them regardless of whether they are logged in or not.

This will help you to back test strategies and hopefully develop your own.

On the subject of your own strategies please share any that you develop, and they will likely end up on an article like this one.

If you want to share a strategy or have any questions feel free to contact us.

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