Average start time of UK racing throughout the year

[PDC]

Would anyone who has the data be able to create and post a chart and possibly a table that shows the average start time of UK racing throughout the year, perhaps on a weekly basis?

Unfortunately I don't have the data that would allow me to create something like this.

The reason for it is that I am trying to plan my time and days better but don't really know when racing typically starts each day until the Racing Post list the cards which is 7 days in advance.

I got the idea from this recent tweet by Peter:

As the racing is poor at the moment, I was data crunching a lot this week. I produced this visualisation of the number of races I trade over the year. Listed by month and start time. I have no idea why I did it but thought I'd share.

https://twitter.com/betangel/status/1218246614097235968

This kind of gives what I am interested in but thought a specific chart looking at start times would give a more detailed and accurate picture.

If anyone is able to do it I think it would also be useful for others in the future to reference.

I don't know if it would be possible to upload the spreadsheet to the forum but if it was possible that would be fantastic.

Many thanks!

[spreadbetting]

Here's a dump from the Betfair data files of the first racetime and date since 2008 when they started dumping data.UK and IRE races, I imagine you'll be able to make a chart from it.

new_table2.xlsx

[Bear's The Name]

It's largely goverened by sunset times. During most of the year - March to the clocks going back at the end of October, you can expect it to be around 2pm, except on Saturdays when it tends to start a little earlier for TV. However, a potential spanner in the works on this one is the introduction of lunchtime meetings which we had some Wednesdays last Autumn starting around 12:30.

In the winter, they have to get the racing in before sunset. Look up the sunrise/ sunset times you can find them all over the web. As a rough rule of thumb, I would deduct around 3 and a half hours from the sunset time on a weekday, and as much as four hours on a Saturday. So around the time of the earliest sunset (which occurs around the 12th/13th December) you can expect the earliest starts.

At a rough estimate I'd go with these for weekdays assuming no odd early meetings.

Jan: 12:30
Feb: 1:30
March - Oct inclusive 2:00
Nov 12:40
Dec 12:15

Hope this helps!

[PDC]

Here's a dump from the Betfair data files of the first racetime and date since 2008 when they started dumping data.UK and IRE races, I imagine you'll be able to make a chart from it.

new_table2.xlsx

Thanks Spreadbetting for that I will take a look at it later today and during the week when time allows. If I come up with something I will be sure to add it to the thread.

[PDC]

It's largely goverened by sunset times. During most of the year - March to the clocks going back at the end of October, you can expect it to be around 2pm, except on Saturdays when it tends to start a little earlier for TV. However, a potential spanner in the works on this one is the introduction of lunchtime meetings which we had some Wednesdays last Autumn starting around 12:30.

In the winter, they have to get the racing in before sunset. Look up the sunrise/ sunset times you can find them all over the web. As a rough rule of thumb, I would deduct around 3 and a half hours from the sunset time on a weekday, and as much as four hours on a Saturday. So around the time of the earliest sunset (which occurs around the 12th/13th December) you can expect the earliest starts.

At a rough estimate I'd go with these for weekdays assuming no odd early meetings.

Jan: 12:30
Feb: 1:30
March - Oct inclusive 2:00
Nov 12:40
Dec 12:15

Hope this helps!

Thanks Bear's The Name for that info, that is roughly the timings I had in my head and from looking at Peter's chart in his tweet. I am hoping I can come up with something with a bit more detail, say on a weekly basis to aid planning my time better.

I am really lookign forward to the 1.30pm+ starts and being able to get more done in the mornings. The nights are already drawing out and the start to the days racing getting later thankfully.

[Bear's The Name]

Absolutely, PDC. I think we're all in the same boat. I have so much to fit in during the morning, I feel I'm always racing against the clock at this time of year to get the kids off to school, do shopping, chores, exercise and all the other zilliions of things that need doing around here on a daily basis. It's amazing how much difference that extra hour or two makes.

There have been campaigns over the years about keeping British Summer TIme all year round or moving the clocks forward permanently by one hour - I am all for it (NB: apologies to any farmers in the far north of Scotland who may be reading this).