Some punters remain wedded to the idea that you should back or lay a horse and take whatever comes once the tapes go up.
But a growing number of Betfair users now use the flexibility of the exchange to back and lay horses with a view to saving their stake or better once the In-Play action begins.
The "keep bets" facility is the ideal device for those like me who don't feel inclined to take on those with the edge of fast pictures and the following points might be worth noting as regards Friday's Cheltenham card.
[b]1:[/b] Garde Champetre might well trade at longer than his Betfair SP in the cross country chase at 14:20. After all, he needs to negotiate 32 fences during more than eight minutes of bewildering action and his hold-up style gives layers every chance to push him out if...
If it's National week then it must be time for that annual debate about whether Cheltenham Festival form will travel north up the M5 and M6 to Aintree.
The short answer is that some of it will and some of it won't, but I make no apologies for nosing on Paul Nicholls given that the champion trainer saddles the first three favourites at restrictive prices this Thursday.
Big Buck's, Zarkandar and Denman are the trio in question and you won't get much more than 7.0 about all three of them obliging. However, I'm hoping it will be a case of two out of three ain't bad for Nicholls on day one.
And, call me a glutton for punishment, but I'm taking one more crack at Big Buck's with Grands Crus in the Liverpool Hurdle at 14:00. David Pipe's gelding has a little under two lengths to find with...