The initial scenario that comes to mind when envisioning a proper backtest for this follower system would be to 

1. Pick a point in history where the test should start. A follower system should have some data to work with. Perhaps the number of draws in the pick 5, around 5k. There are 16k draws on the evening pick 3, so that seems about right.

2. Run the program with only that history, record the pick.

3. Fetch the next result from the full history file.

4. Compare the pick with that result, if a match record the date and number.

5. Re-run the script, repeat until the history file is fully loaded and there are no more draws to add. 

Assuming the cyclic rate hovers around 1 second, there will be 11,000 ish iterations, so run time can be predicted to be around 3 hours.

I should only need to do this for the pick 3 games, then I can say I gave my all in the due diligence department, plus it will be experience in writing unit tests... a real opportunity to use software engineering best practices!

After that, the back test can be used to check settings at 3 hours a shot. Onward!