The chapters of the first volume of R is for Racing will be released incrementally on Patreon very soon.
Sign up as a free member at https://patreon.com/r4racing to receive the introductory chapter!
R is for Racing is a long-term project analysing British horseracing data using R
From data cleaning and visualisation to a Bayesian modelling approach to track conditions, it’s a fascinating blend of statistical depth and real-world insight — perfect for anyone into exploratory data analysis or sports analytics.
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Coming soon!
About the authors
Jay Emerson
Jay is a Professor of Statistics at Yale University, specializing in statistical computing, data visualization, and machine learning applications across industries. He has contributed extensively to the R ecosystem, working on open-source packages and collaborating with businesses to solve complex data challenges.
He is the author of several R packages, including bigmemory and sister packages (towards a scalable solution for statistical computing with massive data), and gpairs (for generalized pairs plots). He has worked for more than two decades on Yale’s Environmental Performance Index. He enjoys cooking and is an avid golfer.
Colin Magee
Colin has worked in data science and machine learning businesses for over 30 years, applying predictive modelling and advanced analytics across multiple sectors.
He is the author of Automatic Exchange Betting, the first book of its kind to provide a comprehensive guide for developing automated betting strategies using the Betfair API.
At the same time, he founded Betwise, which provides the Smartform Horseracing database to enable the development of data-driven strategies for horseracing analytics and betting markets.
Together, Jay and Colin bring deep expertise in applied statistics and real-world decision-making with data.
About the book
R is for Racing is a long-term project analysing British horse racing data using R. From data cleaning and visualisation to a Bayesian modeling approach to track conditions, it’s a fascinating blend of statistical depth and real-world insight – perfect for anyone into exploratory data analysis or sports analytics.
The first volume of R is for Racing is an introduction to the domain comprising five discrete chapters packed with useful analysis, insights and code that you can reproduce, adapt and run for yourself, all on data that we provide as a discrete extract from the wider Smartform database.
Is it a book about horse racing?
Is it about statistics and data science?
Is it about R?
Yes, yes, and yes!
Does it assume knowledge of R or horse racing or statistics?
No, no, and not likely.
Do you have to care about R and horse racing and data science for it to be interesting and useful?
Of course not.
A serious (or even passing) interest in one or more of these domains should suffice, as long as you are open-minded about learning.
The Smartform database
The book is packaged with ready to use data extracts for all the R analysis that is curated from the wider database subscription product Smartform.
For existing Smartform subscribers, we provide a short re-usable script to show you how to create the extract for yourself, and adapt it for any other data you may wish to analyse.
Here’s some more information about Smartform if you’re interested.
- MySQL database
- 20+ years of horseracing history in UK and Ireland, updated daily with results and upcoming races
- Easy to automate, import and connect from most any language
- R is a natural choice for an analysis environment
- Minimize interation with MySQL and get straight to data exploration, analysis, modeling etc
- Packages available for Betfair API etc.
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