THE STRATEGY
How to do it. Plan efficiently:
1. Create a BETTING BANK.
Before placing a bet set aside a sum of money, which you can afford and is separate from the remainder of you assets and create a BANK ACCOUNT solely for betting purposes. I use a current account. As an example, the account could be £1,000 and you bet win only singles staking £50 each time. If you double your betting bank, then double your stake. If and hopefully not, you half your bank account then half your stake. Following this method will allow you to sustain any long losing run, however if you follow my advice or are solely betting my tips then this should never happen.
2. OPEN as many Telephone and Internet betting accounts as possible.
You have opened your new betting account, now we have to take advantage of the best prices available, allowing us to beat the SP and increase profits. Most firms offer early morning prices, but some Internet companies now offer prices the evening before racing. You can compare prices using one of the many Odds Comparison services, I have several links to them on my website. I have twenty two bookmaker accounts & take the best price available at 10AM each morning as almost all of them guaranteed best odds so if the horse drifts & returns a bigger sp you get paid at that.
3. Never be scared of a drifter
If the odds on the horse your are plan the bet start increasing or 'drifting' in the morning don't be scared. I know serious pro-punters who manipulate the morning odds by backing small amounts on horses they don’t fancy but because of who they are the odds will shorten & this in turn lengthens the price of their true fancy.
4. SPECIALIZE in what you are good at
With over 8000 races run in the UK each year it is almost impossible to keep track of all form. After analysing my results form the previous years and identifying my biggest source of profits, I decided to SPECIALIZE in better class races for older horses, over 7 furlongs to a mile & a half. The reasons for this are, you have plenty of information about them, you know what going they produce their best form on, what distances they prefer and which type of course suit them. The majority of my bets are placed during the flat season mainly between late May and September when the form has settled down and is more reliable. I check the race types the day before and know how many races I'm going to study that evening. Another advantage of specialising is you get to know most horses that will be competing against each other and under what conditions they produce their best form & this will give you a vital edge.
5. Allocate RACE ANALYSIS time
After identifying how many races could provide potential bets, I allocate half an hour per race each evening for analysis. I find the Racing Post's site an excellent addition to my own form book I keep. I always make my selections the evening before racing as this allows me to get on early the next morning taking advantage of the bookmakers best prices on offer. Some people who go racing regularly won't place a bet until they've seen the horse in the paddock and then on the way to the post. This is all very well and a safe approach but what is the point when in the morning you could have got on at 5/1, then it opens on course at 3/1, may look great in the paddock and on the way to post, but when you go to place your bet it's 9/4, less than half the price you could have got in the morning and is now not a value bet. You might bet less losers but won't make a profit in the long run doing this.
6. RECORD all your bets
Keep a record of all your bets, without betting records you will not know whether you are successful or not, even record the fun bets. It's amazing how these mount up and are unprofitable. I keep my betting records on a spreadsheet, this performs all the necessary calculations for me. I record as much detail as possible, you can use the same format as me, there is always a link to my current betting bank on the site. By analysing your own betting records you will soon identify where you are going wrong and what you are good at and be able to adopt a professional strategy.
6. TOOLS of the Trade
* The Racing Post, daily UK horseracing newspaper.
* The Racing Post online website
* The Racing Post Weekender, a weekly newspaper which is published every Wednesday. It previews the weeks racing, with entries, ratings and statistics. It also includes a collectable results pullout which I find invaluable.
* Television, watch as many races as you can. You never stop learning. We have an excellent choice of Channels now, if you want to take it seriously I suggest you subscribe to both the UK channels dedicated to horseracing, AtTheRaces and Racing UK.
7. Review each days racing
I am continually updating my list of horses to follow & watch replays of every race. I use to just be interested in the final two furlongs but I now know the importance of watching the whole race. Watch every section of a race as see where a horse works hardest, it might have ran too fast too soon or has been asked to make up too much ground. Where there has been a big draw bias note horses that have not won but ran well from an impossible draw, I note these a 'outliners' in my list.
Look for horses that have been held up & lead close home winning by a small margin, they will only be put up a few pounds in the ratings & check it's breeding to see if it might even improve for a step up in trip next time. My favourite bet is an improving three old who fits this criteria.