SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Pythia Sports, experts in data modelling for horseracing, have launched an innovative ‘bloodstock advisory service’ for stakeholders looking to buy and sell bloodstock.
Founded in 2014, Pythia gathers acute horseracing data across multiple levels of the sport globally to help build sophisticated modelling solutions for clients.
For sports betting customers, Pythia’s predictive models are recognised amongst the best for risk management and pricing provisions related to pre-race and in-running odds.
Utilising a data-first approach, Pythia has moved into the bloodstock market, helping buyers and sellers to optimise and organise data related to stud sales.
The advisory sees Pythia expand its data-modelling services, which have been used by champion trainers such as Emmett Mullins, Hugo Palmer, and John and Sean Quinn to purchase bloodstock and stud rights.
Bringing new data disciplines to bloodstock research, Pythia compiles ratings for clients via a number of different individual models, which then use machine learning to connect data from past sales with the future race performance of each individual horse.
Buyers and sellers are supported with a central model supplemented by a series of specialised sub-models, which derive from information gathered at sale: biomechanics, time, and stride.
The central model incorporates the scores from these distinct sub-models and identifies in which instances each model excels, learning and improving as it develops.
Success has seen the recent move to advise on sales, resulting in 14 horses being purchased using Pythia data. Of these, four have run, producing two winners. Ran Amok won for Hugo Palmer at Chepstow on Monday, 17 June, after Royalty Bay won for John and Sean Quinn at Thirsk on 30 May. The horse also holds an entry for The Albany at Royal Ascot on Friday.
As is the case with betting, Pythia can calculate an expected value based on the estimated probability of a horse’s performance and potential earnings.
Freddy Galliers, Director at Pythia Sports, said: “We are delighted to venture into the world of bloodstock, and we feel this will be a really exciting next stage of our journey as we continue to put our footprint on the horseracing industry.
“Our expertise lies in horseracing, making this a logical step for us. We don’t claim that our data is going to be the ‘silver bullet’ for bloodstock. However, we do believe that combining data-driven insights with traditional methods can provide a competitive edge. This approach can help differentiate us and our partners in the industry.
“The proof will be in the results, but we’ve already seen that horses we rated highly at the sales have gone on to win their maiden and novice races. We look forward to exploring this section further to see if there are new opportunities that can be delivered to the market.”
