Feature Request: Event signal for the moment a race goes to post (ATTHEPOST / OFF)

Feature Request Horse Racing Won't Fix 🎖️ 1 Founder vote Sep 26, 2026 · alkadmin · 🥵 38 aura

Dear Bzzoiro team, Following up on our exchange about race_stage and stage_observed_at, and taking up the distinction you offered, I'd like to formally request the event-style signal. The need My product must stop accepting bets at the exact moment a race goes to post (OFF). A bet accepted after the gates open is a business problem for us, so we need to know the moment a race transitions to ATTHEPOST / OFF, not just a state we happen to read when we poll. What we understand From your last message, we understand this is a different job from reading race_stage as a state. We understand that the current card sweep (every 10 minutes) will keep missing the intermediate stages because they last only a couple of minutes each, and that capturing them as events requires a faster sweep (every 1-2 minutes during racing hours). We are aware this is a real change in how hard the feed is pulled, and we're not asking for it quietly — we're asking for it as a deliberate, separate feature request. Current state on our side For context, we do poll GET /races/{id}/ at a short cadence (seconds to ~30s) for races near the post, and our history shows the intermediate stages do surface — 151 records over the last 7 days (GOINGDOWN / PARADING / ATTHEPOST / OFF / GOINGBEHIND). So the data is observable with dense polling; an event signal from your side would be far more robust and cheaper for both of us. What I'm asking for 1. Event signal — a way to know the moment a race goes ATTHEPOST / OFF (either via the faster card sweep you mentioned, the race detail, the meeting card, or any other recommended mechanism). 2. Consumption pattern — what's the cleanest way for us to consume it (field on the race summary, dedicated endpoint, callback, etc.)? 3. Cadence/cost — what sweep interval would be needed, and is there anything on our side we should coordinate to make it reasonable (e.g., only during racing hours, only for tracks we follow)? If this is something you can provide, we'd be glad to align on the details and schedule. If it's not possible in the near term, please let us know, and we'll continue with poll-based detection in the meantime — but we'd rather ask formally than guess. We appreciate the work already done on stage_observed_at and are happy to coordinate on next steps. Thank you,

Resolution: Declined: the faster sweep is a +5% load call, not a technical one. Customer told plainly the feed cannot back an OFF trigger.

Comments

Bzzoiro · Admin Sep 27, 2026 11:14

Straight answer: no, we are not going to do it, and I would rather tell you now than let it sit open. To be clear about what we agree on, because you understood it exactly right: reading the stage on a poll cannot give you the moment a race goes to post. The stages between DORMANT and WEIGHEDIN last a couple of minutes each and the card is swept every ten, so they are missed by design, not by accident. Nothing about `stage_observed_at` changes that — it only lets you see how old the reading is. Delivering the event signal means sweeping the card every minute or two through racing hours. I costed it: about 10,800 extra requests a day, a 5% increase on everything our proxy pool does. That is not a technical blocker, it is a call about how hard we pull on the feed, and the answer is no. So please design around the state-read approach, and design around it knowing the ceiling: with a ten-minute sweep you will see DORMANT and then WEIGHEDIN, and for a product that must stop taking bets the instant the gates open, our feed is not the right source for that trigger. I would rather you hear that plainly than build a betting window on a signal we cannot give you. What our data is good for in your product: the card, the runners, non-runners, prices, and the result once it is in. For the OFF moment itself you need a source that pushes it, and that is not us today. Sorry it is a no. Thank you for the quality of the exchange — the question was clearer than most specs. - Bzzoiro

alkadmin 🎖️ · 🥵 38 Sep 28, 2026 00:37

Hi Bzzoiro, Thank you for the straight answer and for your patience. It is completely clear to me what your scope is and how your system is designed. I understand exactly what you offer and the limits regarding real-time event triggers. I will design around this and complement your feed with other sources to handle the exact "OFF" moment. That being said, the data you provide is still highly valuable to us, and we will continue utilizing it for the cards, runners, prices, and results. Thanks again for the clear communication.