Going bands: form lined up on today's ground

Ground is described differently either side of the Irish Sea, and matching the label exactly splits form that belongs together. Going bands put it back.

Good to Soft in Britain and Yielding in Ireland are, to a horse, the same ground. Any figure that matches the going description exactly treats them as two different surfaces, and a horse's record on the ground it likes gets split in half. This came to us from a member, and it was a fair hit.

So we group going into bands: firm, good and soft, with all-weather kept strictly apart from turf, because an artificial surface is not a wet or dry version of grass.

The H GB SR column

H GB SR is the horse's strike rate on today's band of ground, rather than on a going description that has to match word for word. On a card given as Yielding it counts the horse's Good, Good to Yielding and Good to Soft runs together, which is exactly how a form student would read it.

It's offered in Select Columns rather than switched on by default, so add it when you want it. See Customising your ratings view.

The going toggle on the R Filter

The same idea applied to the form itself. The R Filter in the race header now carries a going toggle. Switch it on and:

• R figures from runs on other ground show a dash, so the figures left are the ones run on ground like today's.
• The Form string is rebuilt from the matching runs only.

That gives you a card where every figure in front of you was earned on ground the horse is about to face. Turn it off and the full record comes straight back.