Books

Put this up this morning looking forward to coming back tonight to read the responses. No interest at all! (As much as I admire what MM is doing, you know that's not what I meant King). Mis-read the market on this one!

Steerforth - re the lack of response, your problem is that almost everyone believes that anything that is written as "punter" related is generally unreliable at best, and c rap at worst. Don't worry though, just be reassured that they are right.

I'm surprised ratpack hasn't been on, or maybe he's saving them all for his weekly columns!

Richard Baerlein's racing reports in The Guardian came first, but the most important book for me was Nick Mordin's Betting For A Living. Ironically, he subsequently backtracked on almost everything in it, but in that book, and in his Weekender columns, Mordin showed that racing was something you could reason about. Given an observation X or a theory Y, what ought to be the consequences on the racecourse, and are they?

That paragraph leads to two regrets: that Mordin has stopped writing, and that the Guardian never published an anthology of Baerlein's articles.

Betting For A Living Mordin and his cards.
Both The Anorak's books are very good
Coton's 100 Hints I sometimes go back to
I wish I could find my Odds On magazines

blackbarn, don't be such an @rse lick, no offence was intended whatsoever. As you may or may not know, he has his 'Reading List' in his weekly column, that's all I was referring to. No drama.

steerforth starts an excellent thread, with a lovely opening post, and not surprisingly is disheartened by the lack of responses.

I share and feel his disappointment, so I ask myself, which forumites could have made an interesting and valid contribution to the thread, and because I read ratpack's column each week, I know this is a subject that may appeal to him. That is all.

blackbarn, your post was bang out of order, you stated "personal abuse" and "ridiculously ignorant posts", neither of which were applicable to my post.

The @rse lick comment referred to your sycophantic post and you seemingly thinking you can post on his behalf. If he has an issue with my post, then if, as you say, "he likes and reads the forum", then he tell me himself, he doesn't need you as some sort of mouthpiece for him.

I have never read a decent gambling book. In fact I don't think there is one. Most are written by braggards and are basically all the same. I bet this, then that and I am the greatest gambler in history.

blackbarn, I accept your apology.

Mind, btw, I'm surprised seaside hasn't been on to recommend Nevo's book!

...VDW.....

...but...but...it  was  all  sooooo  logical....had  to be  true..

Get back to David Copperfield imo.

Anything not by Patrick veitch.

The Late Julian Wilson Book Called Some You Win Was Worth The Read

In my honeymoon period as a punter I bought lots of books on racing, from Winning Formulae crap to memoirs. I wanted to know all I could about it. I quickly realised that new books about racing are almost all rubbish, and even when they have some interesting points they are badly written, edited, unattractive and littered with typos. Old racing books are generally better presented.

One thing I noticed was that all the ‘how to’ manuals did not really give any guidance on form study. They tended to take it all as read. Thus the Punter’s Friend told you where to find form, what it looked like, what its symbols meant – but not how to use it. So I pressed on with my own experiments. Nevison’s first book was great, I think because it was basically a giant masturbatory fantasy for gamblers who know in their hearts they will never have the mental arithmetic skills and balls to make it pay like Nevison does. Having said that, I have had good long winning spells – and I used to hoot at some of the crap Nevison tipped.
Another book I enjoyed was The Tail End System by Ross Newton. It was a system of finding big-priced jump winners. That book was a good guide to practical form study even though, in its essence, the system was flawed and rather dated. Fun Was My Living by Quinton Gilbey is an interesting read if you want to know about the pre-war racing scene. Alan Potts’s Against the Crowd was a dreary, nerdish work in my opinion. Nick Mordin’s Betting For a Living similar. I notice he was quite artful about the title, and as Nevison pointed out, it was a pretty thin living. Mark Coton’s golden rules was good because it taught me a bit of discipline ie never bet in claimers, sellers etc and always study the form of EVERY horse in the race. Patrick Veitch’s book was smug and boring, a vainglorious recapitulation of his gambling or as someone else on here said, bragging. By the time Secrets of Pricewise came out I’d had enough of the game, and Pricewise is a poor tipster.


Sadly back then, I felt that ‘cracking the game’ was just around the corner. I did not realise that thinking such a thought is about as good as it gets where racing is concerned, and is the place where many punters live before they move to the next stage: ingrained bitterness at the endless pain and fleeting pleasures of following the Turf. I had five winners at Goodwood and turned a profit – after a DISASTROUS Royal Ascot – but the old magic just isn’t there anymore. You cannot unlearn the fact that this tricksy little game is far, far, too labour intensive for the rewards it so stubbornly gives up. When people I know tell me they are getting interested in racing I tell them to forget it unless they enjoy losing money and being irritated, unless they want to experience the most viciously efficient delivery system of the Law of Sod ever devised by man.

Colonel - "the most viciously efficient delivery system of the Law of Sod ever devised by man".

You've hit the nail on the head. They all detail the good times and not the bad, (Mordin's book and Holt's are particularly bad for this - they give the impression that the game is easy.) The horrendous losing runs that go on and on and on and on..................... how you get through and overcome these losing streaks is what it's all about and yet it's a subject that is never covered. In Fineform Holt states that he expects to better 30% winners at an average price of 3/1 and yet elsewhere he admits he wrote the book and sold tips because he never bettered a 10% ROI. That book has got a lot to answer for.

Great post workrider. I meant to say to you, there is a great looking book about Lord Glanely on Ebay for £100. Got his racing colours embossed on the cover. Probably the only one still available anywhere. If interested, get it before Blackbarn nabs it, lol.

As usual themightymac adds to a thread , thanks for that insight re Lord Glanely , I'd say Blackbarn has enough books !.