Greyhound Historical Data

We've gone to the dogs.
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iDooze
Posts: 50
Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2016 1:27 pm

Does anyone know where I could get my hands on past UK Greyhound Historical Data?

I tried to do it through Betfair and their historical data page however as I cannot code / am not advanced in Excel wasn't able to get it to work (I also tried with their recommended excel workbook through github - however I only experienced various issues as they don't keep it up-to-date).

If there are any websites or even if any of you lads have CSV files with past greyhounds raw data (I just want the raw data so I can sift through in Excel) I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks a million.
CallumPerry
Posts: 575
Joined: Wed Apr 19, 2017 5:12 pm
Location: Wolverhampton

Just bumping this thread up.

If anybody has got anything to hand please inbox me too. I fancied looking at greyhounds for something different so I went on to their site and downloaded the free 1 second data from - I think it was - March 2015 to Oct 2018 they had available. About 1GB zipped appeared in a folder(.tar). Unzipped it (strangely took a few hours, didn't think much of it other than my laptop being a bit slow). I then found 32,359 sub folders inside with each containing .bz2 files. Now I'm not particularly strong in this area (extension names and purposes) but what a pain in the backside! I then downloaded winzip but this has been temperamental and so far I have nothing.

Anybody got a dropbox with unzipped free 1 second data please or any recommendations what to do from here so I have something to look at before I die of old age? Mainly just want to look at 1 second prices and volume just to explore some general trends and stuff before investing more time in this area. Any help, as always, is greatly appreciated.
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johnsheppard
Posts: 283
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2019 6:00 am
Location: Cairns Australia

I believe those historical files are json files in the stream API format. It is a series of prices deltas.

The excel workbook to covert it is here;
https://github.com/betfair/historic-data-workbook

I haven't tried it tho.
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Dallas
Posts: 22674
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2015 10:57 pm
Location: Working From Home

This site doesn't have prices but does give a load of of track, winning, time stats etc
http://greyhoundstats.co.uk/index.php
CallumPerry
Posts: 575
Joined: Wed Apr 19, 2017 5:12 pm
Location: Wolverhampton

This workbook looks as though it is perfectly the workaround I was hoping existed! Problem is, I’m getting an error message; the following to be exact:

Run-time error ‘1004’:
Method ‘OnTime’ of object ‘_Application’ failed

Clicking on debug I find the StatusMsg sub is the problem, third line down. Any ideas why this may be happening?

I type my username into the cell then click on the little lock icon. A pop up box appears with my username already filled in from the aforementioned cell and had a blank region for my password. The error appears when I click login after typing in my password. I have tried logging in while being connected to Bet Angel and while being logged out of Bet Angel. Any suggestions please?

That resource does look as though it may be useful in the future Dallas, thank you very much for sharing!
Anbell
Posts: 2007
Joined: Fri Apr 05, 2019 2:31 am

This works brilliantly for the horses
viewtopic.php?t=14395

It says it works for greyhounds as well, but I havent tried that part of it. I assume it works
CallumPerry
Posts: 575
Joined: Wed Apr 19, 2017 5:12 pm
Location: Wolverhampton

Hi Anbell,

This was the workbook I used to get the files. Thank you but I already have the files on an external hard drive, it's opening them up to analyse I am still having trouble with. Any ideas once you have the files please?
Anbell
Posts: 2007
Joined: Fri Apr 05, 2019 2:31 am

Hi Callum - are you sure you're using the Betfair Price Files Download Manager from the link I gave, and not this one: https://github.com/betfair/historic-data-workbook ?

The link I gave you uses the files from here: https://promo.betfair.com/betfairsp/prices - which are csv / excel files, and not the troublesome .tar files that I havent worked out how to use unfortunately. (I think we need to learn Python or something similar to access those JSON files. See this thread for more: viewtopic.php?f=54&t=18112 )
CallumPerry
Posts: 575
Joined: Wed Apr 19, 2017 5:12 pm
Location: Wolverhampton

Hi Anbel

Yes, I have just double checked. In your latest message on this thread, the first link, I clicked on it and went to page three where I downloaded ‘BetFair Price Files v6.rar’ I unzipped this and got the .xlsm file inside which I opened up. I watched Nigelk’s YouTube video to see how it worked and downloaded the greyhound markets which are now saved in a folder on my external hard drive as ‘FreeGreyhoundData’

For future traders trying this, you need to have 7-zip downloaded in advance, it’s all on the word document supplied through this link:  https://github.com/betfair/historic-data-workbook

Make sure you have the correct one, I’m 64-bit not 32. I think that’s why the workbook wasn’t working for me last week. I have just managed to get further than last time but will have more of a look tomorrow and update this thread with my findings on the off chance it possibly helps anybody else in the future. The next part looks like it requires a non-sleepy brain.

Callum
CallumPerry
Posts: 575
Joined: Wed Apr 19, 2017 5:12 pm
Location: Wolverhampton

So I’ve been on holiday and come back fresh but I’m still having trouble downloading the historical files from the above part of the thread. The ‘Downloading’ part with the vertical loading bar just doesn’t complete. It’ll do like 90% of the files in under 10 minutes then 2.5 hours later it hasn’t progressed any further; anybody else got stuck at this stage?

In the meantime, I’ve used the following link:

https://promo.betfair.com/betfairsp/prices

Are these the same files? They have the BSP but I was hoping to see the 1 second data. Can anybody help point me in the direction of past prices and perhaps volume for UK greyhounds please? I just want to examine the prices 2 minutes out, 1 minute, 30 seconds and at the off if anybody can send that across to me please. Happy to pay, inbox me!
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MemphisFlash
Posts: 2128
Joined: Fri May 16, 2014 10:12 pm
Location: Leicester

you could do it in automation on a similar line as i do with odds.
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CallumPerry
Posts: 575
Joined: Wed Apr 19, 2017 5:12 pm
Location: Wolverhampton

Cheers Memphis! I've decided to start capturing the aspects I need with a simple logger spreadsheet I used ages ago. Already got a few hundred markets recorded starting from Monday, was just hoping to get a few months worth of these numbers - I just need to accept that this side project will have to grow as I capture my own data, I'm just impatient :lol: .
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megarain
Posts: 2041
Joined: Thu May 16, 2013 1:26 pm
Contact:

I have it on decent authority the Betfair Historical website will be working again shortly (2 weeks).

They have missed deadlines before etc.

I have no idea if it will be the same format - and working with tar files does require some patience.
CallumPerry
Posts: 575
Joined: Wed Apr 19, 2017 5:12 pm
Location: Wolverhampton

Thanks for the update Megarain!
Vaz0202
Posts: 158
Joined: Sat Jun 27, 2020 7:53 pm

MemphisFlash wrote:
Tue Sep 10, 2019 6:39 pm
you could do it in automation on a similar line as i do with odds.

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Sorry to bump this old thread.
How do I go about setting that layout up? RE historic odds changes
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