Scratch Bot
General
Overview
Scratch Bot enables JCapper users to download
scratches and races taken off the turf in real time right from the internet.
All you need is a live internet connection. Scratch Bot works by searching the
internet for scratches and race changes and parsing the web pages that it
finds. Whenever Scratch Bot finds a horse listed as a scratch, Scratch Bot will
process the horse as a fresh scratch and notify the user with a message box.
Whenever Scratch Bot finds a race that has been taken of the turf, Scratch Bot
will make the surface change and notify the user with a message box. Scratch
Bot is a wonderful tool. But a word of warning is in order. Scratch Bot is only
as good as the info found on the web pages that it parses. If a horse is
scratched but not listed as a scratch on any of the web pages, then obviously
Scratch Bot won’t be able to scratch the horse. If a race is taken off the turf
but the track for whatever reason doesn’t update the information in the right
way to its web pages, again, Scratch Bot won’t be able to recognize the race as
having been taken off the turf and won’t be able to do its job correctly. Based
on user feedback, the overall user experience with Scratch Bot so far has been
a good one. Most Grade A and B tracks do make every effort to get their web
pages updated in real time. Incorrect info posted to the track web pages is
actually quite rare. But mistakes by the tracks do happen occasionally.
Before moving on to the Scratch Bot tutorial I’d
like to present, in outline form, just a few of the things you should be on the
lookout for. Knowing the pitfalls ahead of time will make your JCapper and
Scratch Bot experience a better one.
I play from home and use Scratch Bot several times
every race day. Below are some of the things I have learned to be constantly on
the lookout for – the pitfalls that can trip you up if you are not careful:
1. Race taken
off the turf but not listed as off the turf on the web pages Scratch Bot visits. This is probably the most
common pitfall. Sometimes a track will have their feature race and one or two
other races carded for the turf and it will rain. Quite often the track will
leave their feature race on the turf and take their other races off the turf.
The pitfall here is that the web pages will still show info for the turf course
as Turf: Firm. Unless you are watching the track’s video feed and/or listening
to the track announcer beforehand you won’t have any idea that races are coming
off the turf. A couple of possible solutions present themselves here. Watch the
track video feed or listen to the track’s audio feed. If this is not possible,
then become suspicious of any turf race with two or more scratches. Whenever I
suspect a race might be coming off the turf I’ll actually pick up the phone and
call the racing office at the track in question. If you are betting serious
money at all the cost of a simple phone call under such circumstances is money
very well spent. Whenever someone at the track’s racing office tells me that a
race has been taken off the turf I will immediately go to the Manual Changes
Module and make the change right then and there. Then I will immediately run a
Calculate Races routine.
2. Horse
incorrectly listed as a scratch but is actually running. I first developed Scratch
Bot in March, 2004. I’ve been using it on a daily basis ever since. As I write
this it’s now March 2007. So in the three years I’ve been a Scratch Bot user
I’ve seen this scenario exactly twice. Believe it or not both instances came
within a week of each other. The first instance came on Breeder’s Cup day at
2a. Wrong
horse has been scratched by the user while using the Manual Changes Module. This one is actually quite
common. Users are human beings. All human beings are prone to making mistakes.
This is an easy one to fix. Just go back to the Manual Changes Module and
un-scratch the horse.
3. Horse is
listed as a scratch but user hasn’t bothered to run Scratch Bot in a while. This is probably the most
common trap users can fall into. Tracks announce new scratches all the time.
Many times the scratch is announced as the horses go to the gate. I typically
load and play 8-10 tracks a day. So I know how hard it can be to keep up
sometimes.
Be prepared for scenarios 2, 2a, and 3 to happen at
any time. User Diligence is the key to avoiding these pitfalls. Here’s what I
do: Every time I decide to bet a race, well before post time, one of the things
I always do is compare the odds for every horse in the race to the post
positions listed on my HTML Report. Scratched horses do not appear on the HTML
Report. Whenever I spot a horse on the HTML Report that is shown as a scratch
on the odds board I know that scenario 3 has happened. I’ll immediately click
the Scratch Bot Live Tote Link for that track and then run a Calculate Races.
If and when I happen to notice an occurrence of scenario 2 or 2a (odds shown on
the tote board but no horse shown on the HTML Report) I immediately start the
Manual Changes Module, un-scratch the horse, and then run a Calculate Races.
Those are some of the common pitfalls faced every
day by horseplayers everywhere. Be ready for them. Be prepared. A little
diligence can help you to avoid them.
Session
Expired Messages – Scratch Bot contains an embedded Internet Explorer web browser. Each
time you click on a live tote link or a track scratches link, the Internet
Explorer web browser part of Scratch Bot visits web pages that present current
live odds and scratches information. This behavior is no different than if you
had an open instance of Internet Explorer running and used it to manually surf
the same pages. One link click in Scratch Bot equals one link click in Internet
Explorer. Literally. When I first created Scratch Bot
in early 2004, Bris didn’t care about apps like it browsing their live odds
pages. Since that time they have changed their tune and have implemented
security measures designed to prevent unauthorized users from browsing their
live odds pages. Their security measures involve having the page itself place
and verify the presence of a session cookie onto your machine. The only way to
get the session cookie placed on your machine (and subsequent rights to browse
their pages) is to have a Bris account in good standing and log onto their site
with your Bris user-name and password. Session cookies have a shelf life of a
few hours. So after a few hours the cookie expires and you will have to log in
all over again. When you get a Session Expired message in Scratch Bot it just
means that there is no current session cookie present on your machine.
How to start a new session and get a new session
cookie:
1. Open a separate instance of
Internet Explorer.
2. Browse to the Bris Site and
visit their Super-tote page.
3. Log into Super-tote using
your Bris user-name and password. When you do this the Bris page will put a new
session cookie on your machine.
4. Keep the current instance of
Internet Explorer open during live play and keep it pointed at the Bris
Super-tote page. That way you will keep your session open.
So long as you have a current session cookie on your
machine Bris will recognize you as authorized to browse live odds and scratches
on their site.
Note: Your Internet Explorer security settings must
be such that you allow Bris to place the session cookie onto your machine upon
login. Without a current session cookie, Scratch Bot will not be able to browse
web pages at the Bris site.
JCapper
Scratch Bot March, 2005
Horse
Scratched Message Box - JCapper Scratch Bot - March, 2005
Races
Off the Turf Message Box - JCapper Scratch Bot -
March, 2005
Starting Scratch Bot
To Start Scratch Bot, simply click the Scratch Bot button on the JCapper Main
Module.
Clear Scratches Button
To Clear Scratches, simply click the Clear Scratches button and answer Yes at
the
prompt. It is recommended that you make it a
practice to clear out the previous day's scratches at least once before getting
scratches for each new race day. You can use any of the following modules to
clear scratches: Card Loader, File Downloader, Scratch Parser, Manual Changes
Module, or Scratch Bot.
List Box
Scratch Bot's primary user interface element is list
box containing a list of blue links. There are two links for each loaded race
card file. A link to parse live tote odds for that track.
And a link to parse a scratches page for that track.
Tote Codes
Here's some good news: Because of the way the web
pages being parsed have changed, in mid March, 2005 I was able to do away with
the previous Scratch Bot version's Tote Code requirement. Users no longer need
to have an entry in the TrackAbbreviations table for
each loaded race card file. The current version of Scratch Bot is able to use
the three character File Code from the loaded race
card file. As of this writing, the TrackAbbreviations
table no longer being used.
To parse the live tote for any track-
and get up to the minute scratches based on the live odds for the current race,
simply click the live tote link for any track. If any fresh scratches are found
based on non-numeric odds- the horse is procsesed as
a scratch. You will be presented with a message box alerting you about each
scratch found and the need to re-calculate races after you are done getting
scratches.
To parse the scratches page for any
track- and get the latest scratches and races taken off the turf info from
the web for all remaining races on the card, simply click the Scratches link
for any track. If any fresh scratches or races off the turf are found on the
scratches page- You will be presented with a message box alerting you about
each change found and the need to re-calculate races after you are done getting
scratches.
Close Button
To Close Scratch Bot, simply click the Close button.