Cliff's Whispers - Horse Racing Tips And News Blog

Betting on horse racing correctly equals profits

2009-06-30T06:33:00.001+01:00

For those of you out there that are betting on horse racing on a regular basis, you will know that making a profit should be your ultimate aim.

However, you'd be amazed just how many I people I meet or speak with who do not have any way of telling whether they are making a profit or not!

They simply place a few bets each week and 'guestimate' whether they've made a profit - usually based upon whether they had more winners than losers - but this is a classic and all too popular mistake.

Did you know that it IS possible to have less winners than losers and yet still make a healthy profit?

Those of you that either are a member of my racing tips service or are regular readers of my blog will know that I am not really self-serving, I do not like to brag about my success - its just not me, but today I'd like to share something with you all.

And this isn't bragging really, I was just curious last night as to how we've done these past four months, and this is the discovery that I made:

> In the past Four Months - even if you'd only been backing our selections at £10 a point - you'd be in profit to the tune of £1,815.50.

Many of my members are backing more than this and so will have reaped the rewards, however it goes to show that no matter how large or small your stake, you can make a decent profit - if you bet correctly.

And of course, I have already agreed to freeze membership prices for this year due to the state of the economy and so it could not be a better time to join up with us and share in our success.

Plus as always there is a no-risk trial, so click on the link if you'd like to try my free horse racing tips for 21 days.

Horse Racing Tips Update For June

2009-06-22T08:29:00.001+01:00

Well, June has been a challenging month for my horse racing tips, of that there is no doubt.

Just when we've gotten some momentum we've hit a brick wall, but the past two days have gotten us back to profitable ways so I hope that you've all ridden the storm.

I say that because this is where so many punters that I now make a BIG mistake; they have a few losers and then either don't place another bet, or they look to change their strategy.

This, as I say is a BIG mistake - HUGE in fact.

You must, absolutely must stick to your strategy - whether this is the horses that you select or your staking amount - you should not deviate away from what has gotten you success in the past. At the end of the day horse racing is gambling, and (unfortunately) a few losers are to be expected.

So, yesterday we hit back with Fastnet Storm (who we advised at 5/1 so I hope you got on that price) winning the 3.10pm at Pontefract for a one point win. This was an impressive win for the Irish horse and fully justified the information that we got for him, as his price came in during the late morning and the SP ended up at 11/4.

The second bet we advised yesterday was Mr Crystal in the 4.10pm at Pontefract. The Micky Hammond trained gelding ran a great race but was pipped on the line by a neck by the impressive Markington, who had started slowly but came on strong late-on to deny us a double on the day.

So a decent day with 3 points profit on the day, and we'll be looking to continue this form up to the month end with some exciting meetings coming up.

Horse Racing Tipster Service Update For May

2009-06-01T19:38:00.000+01:00

And so May is in the books and for my horse racing tipster service its been another good month for our members. We even got some sunshine this month too, so its been a good month all round!

We also had a record number of members join this month too, and the feedback from these new members appears to be that freezing our membership prices was a good thing to do, and that given the current economic situation a few extra quid is a welcome relief.

And given the fact that after May's 29.25 points profit we are now at 116.55 points in profit for the year. That means that even at 10 pounds per point you'd be sitting at more than 1,000 pounds in profit this year already.

Plus, as you can see from our previous results page, we have already beaten our total for the whole of last year which is astonishing.

But this month is going to be a strange one for me as I shall be moving house, always a challenging task, and so I will not be available for tips for a few days. I should be back in the fold by the weekend and I'll as always keep you fully up to date as to what is happening.

Well done to those of you who shared in this month's success and here's to a cracking June.

Famous Race Horses - Desert Orchid

2009-05-30T17:35:00.000+01:00

Easily one of, if not the most popular racehorse in UK horse racing history, is undoubtedly the great grey, Desert Orchid, who was affectionately known as 'Dessie".

There's something about a grey horse that stands out amongst others. I suppose its that although not rare, they are not as popular as bay, chestnut etc, and so stand out as a white knight in a blur of dark horses. And Dessie was exactly that, a white knight.

How It All Started

Desert Orchid was born on 11 April 1979 to the aptly named Sire (father) Grey Mirage, and to Dam (mother) Flower Child.

His horse racing debut was in 1983, but did not exactly start as planned, as he fell at the first fence at a race at Kempton. The fall was a heavy one and many wondered whether he'd recover to race competitively again, but despite this early setback, Dessie was already showing the courage that would adorn him to millions of fans.

I must admit that I did not see his first race, but what would ensue was something that I did witness, and boy am I glad that I did.

Dessie Gets Off The Mark

At the start of the 1983/84 season, Dessie was up and running, winning his first race of the season by 20 lengths at Ascot. In fact the season proved to be a successful one for Dessie and got him the attention that he would keep for the remainder of his career, as he would rack up six wins from eight starts in that season.

But the following season saw him struggle once again. After the success of the previous season, he was no longer eligible for running in novice races and the step up in class showed.

He would go on and win only one of his eight starts that season, at Sandown in the February, but as many horses do when stepping up amongst a better class of horse, Dessie struggled to aclimatise.

A Change Worked Wonders

After that season, trainer David Elsworth decided to switch Dessie to the bigger obstacles, this time racing in steeplechasing races, rather than hurdles, and he immediately looked and felt more at home.

He would run up a sequence of four wins at Exeter, Sandown and twice at Ascot, and his famous front running style was proving hard to beat, but proving to be hugely popular with horse racing fans.

At the start of the 1986 season, he would feature regularly in the top three places, but failed to win a race until the November, when he would win at Sandown.

He would also taste success twice in December, winning a two mile handicap chase at Ascot, followed up by victory on Boxing Day at Kempton by a massive 15 lengths, against a hugely impressive field, that included Door Latch, Forgive 'n' Forget and Wayward Lad.

Dessie Starts A Rich Vein Of Form

This impressive and consistent form would lead Dessie nicely into the 1987 season, with wins at Sandown and Wincanton in February, followed by a decent run at Cheltenham in the two mile chase, where he finished 3rd.

Dessie would then win three out of his next four runs, tasting success at Ascot again, Wincanton and Kempton, but he would miss out in the December, where he had been so successful the previous year, achieving two second places. This was a measure of the horse, as second places were now considered disappointments.

Over the course of the 1988 and 1989 season, Desert Orchid would run riot, producing a winning run that would begin to create the legendary status that he go on to enjoy.

From 7 April 1988 until 16 March 1989, the beautiful grey would win eight races on the spin (consecutively), starting with victory in the Chivas Regal Cup Chase at Liverpool over three miles and a furlong. This impressive run of wins would take Dessie through Sandown, Wincanton, Sandown (again), Kempton, Ascot and then Sandown (yet again!).

The run of eight wins culminated, perhaps fittingly, with Dessie's magnificent victory in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, infront of a packed crowd at Prestbury Park. In heavy conditions, Dessie would prevail by one and a half lengths, ahead of Yahoo, with Charter Party a further eight lengths back.

Dessie's Record

In all, Dessie's record was impressive, leading Time Form to rate him as the fourth best national hunt horse of all time.

He won almost half of his 70 races, achieving 34 victories whilst accumulating over half a million pounds of prize money - a lot of money in those days.

Dessie's last victory came on 2 February 1991, fittingly at Sandown, the venue for many of his successes.

His last two races were later that year. In November where he showed the kind of professional style that was his hallmark, finishing 3rd in the Peterbrough Chase at Huntingdon.

Dessie looked a tired horse in his final race on Boxing Day however, and after struggling throughout, he fell three fences out.

And so his career ended as it had started... with a fall. What had come in between however, was a spectacular, glittering and thoroughly entertaining career that spanned 8 years.

He had captured both the attention and the imagination of the horse racing public at large, with horse racing fans, horse racing experts, broadcasters and everyone involved directly in the industry, all seemingly hypnotised by this great horse.

Dessie Retires And Shows Courage ... Yet Again

After that final race in 1991, Dessie went into a well deserved retirement, and no one could deny that he'd earned it.

He continued to show his bravery by surviving a potentially life threatening operation for colic in 1992. But in true Dessie style, he battled through it and he would go on to make many public appearances, raising money for charity through a variety of appearances, and through the selling of Dessie merchandise.

In fact, when his trainer David Elsworth relocated from Whitsbury, to Egerton House Stables in Newmarket, Dessie went with him as if he was part of the family. In fact, just after the move, Newmarket racecourse held their annual press day, which happened to fall on Dessie's 27th birthday in April 2006. He was greeted by a huge crowd and in typical fashion he acknowledged and appreciated the attention that he got.

As Dessie got older, naturally his public appearances became less and less, and he spent more and more time relaxing at his new home. In fact his last public appearance was on 1 October 2006 at his fan club open day. The great horse was determined not to let down his fans for one last appearance.

In the coming weeks, it appeared that Dessie was becoming more and more frail, but he never complained and his fighting spirit kept going and going. On 6 November 2006 he appeared to be losing coordination, and all around him feared the worst, but the great horse kept on fighting.

He was last seen by someone in the early hours of 13 November 2006, lying down nibbling on some hay, determined not to make a fuss. Just about one hour later, at around 6am this magnificent horse had passed away, as quietly and as gracefully as he had jumped fences for most of his career.

Always Remembered

Dessie's ashes were buried at Kempton racecourse in a private ceremony. Fittingly, they were buried near to his statue and now anyone that visits the racecourse can see the legend for themselves.

All in all I shall remember him for the fact that as a grey, he stood out amongst the other horses. But one shouldn't under estimate that if he had not had class and ability, then despite his striking colour he would not have stood out at all.

He was truly one of the greats, both on and off the race track. The appearances that he made in public to raise money are a testament to this most fabulous of horses.

Dessie, you're on in a million and will forever be remembered :)

Famous Race Horses - Best Mate

2009-05-28T06:49:00.001+01:00

I don't know if you've noticed, but words like 'special', 'great', 'class' and 'legend' tend to be overused in sporting circles these days.

With Best Mate however, they all apply... in abundance.

Before I talk about his career, his achievements and the factors that made him great as a racehorse, I'd like to just give my own personal views first, as this truly was a special horse to me.

Best Mate - 1995 to 2005

And it is with a lump in my throat that I use the word 'was', because unfortunately for his owners, his trainers and stable hands, the jockeys that rode him, the racing public and me, Best Mate is no longer with us.

Best Mate was born on 28 January 1995 to his Sire (father) - Un Desperado and his Dam (mother) - Katday. This in itself makes him special to me as he shares his birthday with my son, who was also born on 28 January.

He was a beautiful, majestic bay gelding who really had a lot of character about him, and whenever I saw him at the racecourse he always seemed to be enjoying himself.

He also brought me a lot of luck at the course, winning for me on more than one occasion. Best Mate seemed to have a certain style, and certain elegance about how he did things too, and he stood out amongst his fellow horses.

Best Mate's Career

His record is one to admire and shows just how classy a horse the Jim Lewis owned gelding was. The first statistic that stands out is his three consecutive victories in the challenging and gruelling Cheltenham Gold Cup.

To win this great once is no mean feat, but to win it three times, and consecutively (2002, 2003 and 2004) is quite remarkable and has only ever been done once before, by the great horse Arkle.

In all of his races, Best Mate was never out of the first two places. This is an amazing statistic and outlines the standard that the he set. Trainer Henrietta Knight is understandably very proud of his career and she should be.

In all, he won 14 out of his 22 starts and came second in seven. His impressive 14 victories are listed below:

• Martell Mersey Novice Hurdle, April 2000
• Independent Novice Chase, November 2000
• Scilly Isles Novice Chase, February 2001
• Peterborough Chase, November 2001
• Cheltenham Gold Cup, March 2002
• Peterborough Chase, November 2002
• King George VI Gold Cup, December 2002
• Cheltenham Gold Cup, March 2003
• Ericsson Chase, December 2003
• Cheltenham Gold Cup, March 2004
• William Hill Chase, November 2004

You will no doubt have noticed, that I mentioned that he'd never finished outside of the top two in any race, yet 14 victories and seven second place finishes equals 21 and not 22 right?

Tragedy For Best Mate

Well, the 22nd race of his career is one that I would rather forget (along with all of the horse racing loving public) as it was the race where unfortunately Best Mate lost his life. The only consolation is that he died doing something that he loved, and it showed the bravery of the horse.

He was known to have had a big heart, being a generous horse and always giving 100 per cent. The tragedy happened at Exeter racecourse on 1 November 2005, during the running of the William Hill Haldon Gold Cup race.

Jockey Paul Carberry knew part of the way around the course that the horse was not quite right, and as a precaution pulled the horse up (withdrew from the race). However, in negotiating a way to get off the race track, Best Mate collapsed and though vets fought as hard as they could to revive him, he died moments later.

A True Star

But in the end he went doing what he enjoyed and what he did best. It is a sad reality that we all have to go sometime, but right to very end he did what he did so very well.

A measure of how much he is respected in the horse racing fraternity is the fact that he has a bronze statue of him at Cheltenham racecourse, where his 3 consecutive victories in the Gold Cup are an achievement that may never happen again in my lifetime. He was also voted in to Cheltenham's elite 12 Hall of Fame - another appropriate accolade that this horse fully deserved for his achievements.

Indeed, his ashes are also scattered at the winning post of the same racecourse, and were done so at the request of owner Jim Lewis. The ceremony was held on December 10 2005, even though Lewis' wife had tragically died not two days before that, after a seven month battle against cancer.

The Legend Lives On

And so the legend of Best Mate lives on, with his ashes and the statue standing as majestically as he did at the winning post at Cheltenham. In fact, Best Mate has a brother who is still running.

He is called Cornish Rebel and is right out of the Best Mate mould, a talented horse with a bright future ahead.

I've never felt so attached to a horse, nor a shocked to hear the news of his passing. But he truly was a great horse and his spirit will live long in the heart, even though we will not see him grace the race track again.

I write a lot about my interest in horses and some would even call me a horse racing expert, but I'm really a big fan of the sport and very passionate about it, so I'm not sure if that classes me as an expert.

Which just leaves me to say thanks Best Mate for sharing yourself with the horse racing world. It wouldn't have been the same without you.

Horse Racing Software - Things To Watch For

2009-05-10T11:47:00.000+01:00

I have written several articles about horse racing software products, discussing their reliability, accuracy and how they work.

For those of you who really are adamant that using horse racing software to select winners is the way to go, I am going to discuss the things to loom for - and avoid when choosing which horse racing software product is right for you.

Look For Believable Claims

As a horse racing enthusiast and racing tipster myself, I am constantly looking at anything new that springs on to the market, be it a piece of software, a new horse racing system or a new tipster service.

What is evident by doing a little research, is that some horse racing software systems appear to have slightly exaggerated claims for the accuracy of their system. I suppose this is done in an attempt to persuade you to believe that by buying that particular product will get you rich overnight.

If you see claims of eighty and ninety per cent strike rates then I suggest that should proceed with caution. In my experience, a success rate of this level is really not realistic and so what you could do is dig a little deeper. For example, you could contact the product owner and ask for a list of previous results or maybe even a free trial of the product.

Have Others Used The Same Horse Racing Software Product?

You could also search on the internet for people who have used the very same piece of software and see what they thought of it. Horse racing forums are also very helpful places to ask - these guys are generally very savvy and would have tried most things out, so they should be able to give you an unbiased review of the system.

The horse racing software website may also have testimonials from customers who have used the product. Now whilst it is possible to forge customer testimonials, it may still be worth looking at them to see exactly what they're saying. If all the testimonials are giving rave reviews about becoming millionaires overnight, then perhaps these aren't quite the real deal.

How Easy Is It To Use?

You need to find out about the usability of the product. So for example, do you need to be a computer engineer to use it? I have reviewed many software products in the past and they generally work on an array of past statistics. On this basis, you can expect that a horse racing software product will contain all manner of statistics, such as a horse's age, it's previous form and it's record at each race course.

From all of these statistics, the software then selects the horses that it feels has the greatest probability of winning. All of this should be designed to make your life easier, however I have tried one or two products that did involve a lot of work, so you need to know which one you're using.

Now whilst I am not really an advocate of using horse racing software to select winning horses, if one is easy to use and comprehend then you are more likely to continue to use it and feel comfortable doing so. They should be designed to make picking winners easier for you the punter, and take the studying, the reading of form out of the equation.

This is also what most racing tipster services, such as mine do for their customers, but some people are just happier using software due to the technological age that we exist in today.

Horse Racing Tipster Services - Should You Pay Or Not?

2009-05-08T16:38:00.000+01:00

As you may have seen, there are literally hundreds of horse racing tipster services on the internet today. The majority of these tipster services are subscription based, meaning you pay a monthly fee, but are they worth it?

In this article, I aim to help you sort out the good ones from the bad ones, by giving you some pieces of advice that should help you form an opinion of the tipster, either good or bad.

Why Pay For Horse Racing Tips?

Interesting question this one, and one that I get asked a lot, particularly by people who are interested in my horse racing club. Well, the bottom line is, yes I believe that it is worth paying for quality horse racing tips - as long as they are just that, quality racing tips.

The problem is that nowadays anyone can throw up a website, write a compelling, convincing story and have punters subscribing to their 'reliable' horse racing tipster service tomorrow. So how do you determine who is genuine and who is not?

Can You Trial The Racing Tipster For Free?

One thing that you can do is see whether or not the tipster offers or is willing to offer you a free trial of their service. This would give you the opportunity to see how you fare while using their service during the free period.

If the racing tips they were giving you were not very good, simply cancel and look at another service. There is always a chance that the tipster is in fact reliable and that they just happened to have an off week, but this is the chance that you’re taking.

You can repeat this process until you find a horse racing tipster who is both reliable and suits your style of betting. You can also do more homework if you like, such as emailing them some questions.

Do They Have A Track Record?

You could perhaps ask them some questions to determine how long they've been a racing tipster, how they first became interested in horse racing, what their favourite racecourse is, and so on.

These types of questions help you establish some credibility. So for example, if you asked me these questions, I would say that I've officially been a racing tipster since 2003, and that horse racing has been a passion for a very long time - more than 35 years now. I am also lucky enough to live near two of my favourite racecourses; Chepstow and Cheltenham.

Any reputable tipster should also be able to tell you exactly how they've performed each month since they've been advising selections, so this is definitely a question worth asking. If they claim that they never have losing horses, they're probably not being truthful, as the sad fact is that we all do - it's simply part of this great sport unfortunately.

In Conclusion

I hope this gives you some help in what to look for and what to do in terms of finding a suitable, reliable horse racing tipster service.

Ultimately many people look upon paying for a service as an investment, rather than an expense. I'm sure some people would say that I am bound to say that a I run my own tipster service, but the fact of the matter is that I was once where you are now, so I know the pitfalls.

There are some very good, genuine tipsters out there and although there are some unreliable, not so genuine ones too, the tips in this article should help you sort out who can trust and who you cannot.

Does Horse Racing Software Really Make Betting That Easy?

2009-05-05T10:32:00.001+01:00

As someone who is interested in betting on horse racing, no doubt you've looked at different methods in which to get quality racing tips. Horse racing software products are designed to enable you to pick winners quickly and easily, but is it really that simple?

I have been backing horses for the past 35 years, so without wanting to come across as big-headed I do my fair share about betting on horses.

As I run my own horse racing club (or horse racing tipster service) I am always intrigued when I see technology being used to predict the outcomes of sporting events and so I'd like to write about my experiences with horse racing software, both from a punters perspective, and an experts view point.

What Exactly Does A Horse Racing Software Program Do?

We'd all like to consistently back winning horses, of that there is no doubt. What horse racing software products can do for a punter, is provide you with predictions or percentage outcomes based upon a vast database of statistics, factors and laws of probability.

Some of these products are really complex in their make up, containing a library of horse racing statistics, information and detail dating back five years or more.

They really are very sophisticated in the main, some are better than others but then that's the same when comparing any product or service. The one thing that they are designed to do however, is give you the outcome of any given race. At least that’s the theory.

I Know As I Have Tried Several Of These Products

From my own personal experience of using horse racing software, picking a horse that the program has selected as a sure fire winner is not always as easy as you'd think.

Of course, anyone can look at the favourite of any particular race and say that it has a good chance of winning - that'll be why it’s the favourite.

But if you've read some of my other articles, you'll know that back favourites really is a mug's game.

You need to look for value horses, and whilst these horse racing software programs analyse the statistics, trends and previous form methodically, I am not sure that it factors in to the equation the aspect of value.

Intangible Factors Are Critical Too

I've also had experience of other key aspects of a horse race not being used within the algorithms of a horse racing software product - factors such as taking into consideration (or changes to) jockeys. This is an absolutely key piece of information that must be used when assessing a horse’s chance of winning a race.

Whilst I found that many of these products took into account the racecourse and whether it is a left-handed track (meaning that the horses run around it anti-clockwise) or a right-handed track (horses run clockwise), they did not appear to consider the going (racing conditions under foot) which is once again, one of the critical issues to use when selection suitable horses that have a chance of winning.

I suppose that there are only a certain number of factors that can be used when considering statistics, trends and laws of probability, and so this is why I prefer to utilise (up to date) information that I can obtain myself when choosing horses for me and my members.

There is no doubt that these programs do hold a wealth of information that is literally available at your fingertips, but I would be a little concerned at some of the gaps in the information that a horse racing software program cannot provide, but then that's just my opinion.

Racing Tipsters That Can Make You Money Have These Skills

2009-05-02T11:24:00.000+01:00

If you look online or in the newspaper, you will see adverts for racing tipsters all claiming that they make you some money, fast.

You may even receive postcards and fliers through the mail demonstrating the very same claims. Yes, the niche of horse racing tipsters is becoming extremely popular, however I would like to offer some words of advice; proceed with extreme caution.

Although finding information and tips for betting on horses is not an issue, the key and more pressing issue is who you should listen to. Just how do you spot the tipster who is giving genuine, quality advice from the one who is simply looking to take your money and run?

What To Look For In A Skilled, Honest Racing Tipster

Most of my insight within this article is going to lean towards the internet, rather than paper-based publications, as this appears to be the medium of choice these days for the majority of horse racing tipster services, mine included. It’s a cheaper, more efficient way to service clients and therefore these savings can be transferred onto the members who subscribe to the service; well that's my mantra anyway.

But of course we live in the real world and all is not what it seems at times. Unfortunately there are scams and not so honest folk out there, and you really do need to be wary of them. But how do you tell them apart from the honest tipsters out there who have many happy customers? Well, a little research is required, but its easier than you'd think.

The first piece of advice that I can give you is to communicate with this person. This instantly gives you an opportunity to form an opinion of them before you pay any money. You could simply email them with one or two basic yet important questions, and guage their response.

You can monitor their efficiency in getting back to you, their manner, their style of communication. Do they welcome an enquiry or are your questions an inconvenience to them?

Assess Their Credentials Further

You can also do an online search under their name, or the name of their tipster service, and see what comes up. You can bet that if they've upset someone previously that there will possibly be details of this online, such is the ease for publishing almost anything on the internet these days.

Equally though, this means that you have to apply a degree of scepticism, as its also easy to fake complaints and accusations, just as it is to create fake recommendations and testimonials. This is why contacting the racing tipster himself is all important.

You could also ask how he arrives at his selections. Sure, you would not expect the racing tipster to reveal his master plan, or his sources in their entirety, but he ought to be willing to at least give you an idea.

What About Previous Form?

You could also ask to see previous results, to prove or back up any claims. Any tipster worth his salt ought to be able to provide these for you, and those that do not may well have something to hide.

Even if they cannot give you a detailed list of all the winners (and losers) that he's had previously, the tipster should be able to give you an indication of how much profit he has earned during the past twelve months or so.

These pointers should really help form an initial opinion of who you could trust and who you should avoid. At the end of the day, even the most reliable and successful racing tipsters can get it wrong, so it is always worth staying with one for at least a month to establish the quality of the tips that you are receiving.

If they are not particularly reliable, then its back to the drawing board and more research, but it is worth your time I can assure you.

Horse Racing Software - How Does It Work?

2009-04-30T21:19:00.000+01:00

You may just be starting out betting on horses, you could be a seasoned punter or perhaps you're somewhere in between. Whichever group you fall into you may well have considered, or even used, some sort of horse racing software in the past.

For those of you that haven't, perhaps you've seen various racing systems advertised on the internet; horse racing software products guaranteeing you success with your horse racing betting. Well today I am going to explain how these products work and discuss their reliability.

What Makes Horse Racing Software Attractive?

The thing is we live in an age now where we rely and use computers and software so much, that it is almost the norm. You can do your shopping online, contact friends and family using various software applications over the internet and now of course, horse racing software products are claiming to be able to provide you with a string of winners with no effort on your part.

So we are now trained to think that technology makes life easier and enables us to do things quicker, and in most cases it does. Most of the horse racing software products I have looked at are extremely sophisticated pieces of kit, with very complex algorithms driving the data it gives you.

What these racing systems can do is certainly speed up your selection of horses to bet on. There is no more trawling through the newspapers looking for suitable horses, these products identify them for you at the click of a mouse.

How Does Horse Racing Software Work?

Most of the ones that I have reviewed have a wealth of information to draw on. They take into account the age and sex of the horse, its previous form - including races its won and races it hasn't and the distances these races were run over.

Other key data that these systems use is the racecourses that the horses have run at, the weight being carried and the going (race conditions). While this may sound an exhaustive list, all these factors combined can mean the difference between a winning bet and a losing bet.

Throw into the mix that these variables also differ from flat racing to jump (National Hunt) racing, and you can see that these software products need to be robustly built to provide accurate data for each horse, in each race and at each racecourse around the country.

And this is exactly why these systems are not quite as reliable as they perhaps claim to be.

My Experience Using Horse Racing Software

In my experience, the first variable in which these horse racing software products fall down is the going. Typically if the going is either heavy (extremely wet underfoot) or firm, then the systems are not able to give an accurate assessment.

Secondly, most (if not all) systems do not appear to be able to take into account the jockey on board. This is a factor that as a racing expert myself, you would always factor in to which horse you select.

Don't get me wrong, these many of these systems have an absolute wealth of horse racing data within them, and they are able to be updated daily, weekly or monthly, which is quite astonishing.

However, they do not appear to be able to take into account other key factors that influence a race, such as the race conditions, and the jockey scenario that I have just mentioned. Both of these factors are critical to when I am selecting horses for my horse racing tipster service.

Horse Racing Software - Three Things You Need To Watch Out For

2009-04-29T16:28:00.000+01:00

Convincing aren't they? I've been reviewing horse racing software, systems and tipster services for over a decade now and some of the claims are quite astonishing.

The purpose of this article is not to give horse racing software products a bad name, but simply to point out the pit falls. I am hoping that by lifting the lid on the myth about these horse racing software systems that you the punter (or horse racing enthusiast), will be able to avoid the mistakes that many others make.

This article will cover what I feel are the top three things you need to look out for, if you're in the market for making some money from betting on horse racing. A lot of people that I speak have previously fallen fowl to the so-say capabilities of horse racing software products that are readily available, and the last thing I want is for you to add to that list.

Why Do People Find Horse Racing Software So Appealing?

In a word; laziness. These days we seemingly have so little time on our hands, and so the thought of making some extra money and quickly is an obvious attraction.

In previous articles and white papers I often refer to the classic 'if it’s too good to be true, it probably is'. A simple search on the internet will show you countless websites who all claim to be able to make you a millionaire overnight, whilst sitting in your pyjamas and with little or no effort on your part.

Do you really believe that is how the successful and wealthy got to where they are today? I thought so.

Things You Need To Watch Out For - Number One

And so this is really the very first thing that you need to look for in a horse racing software product, or even any horse racing service or system that you see advertised. Does it sound too good to be true?

The normal tell tale signs are vastly over-inflated claims of what you can win. If it appears that by using this racing system you'll be able to give up work tomorrow, think again. This should really start the alarm bells ringing.

As you may or may not know, I run a successful horse racing tipster service, however one of the key things we teach is that you have to start small and build up your winnings. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as an overnight success, it does take a little effort.

Things You Need To Watch Out For - Number Two

My second recommendation of what to look out for is exaggerated strike rates. I am sure that you've probably seen them, claims of eighty per cent or even ninety per cent strike rates for winning horses, but yet again this is simply unrealistic.

Of course, guaranteeing you a hit rate of almost one hundred per cent is going to sound appealing isn't it, and this is the hook for the many people that have fallen for this ploy. It’s almost because a horse racing software product is made from software, that many people believe it has this mystical power. I'm afraid not, otherwise we'd all be buying them.

Many professional gamblers struggle to get a fifty per cent strike rate, however they make sure that the bets they have provide sufficient profit, which ensures that they could potentially have one winning bet out of five and yet still make a profit.

In essence it is about how you stake and the prices of horses, rather than the regularity and amount of winners that you get. This is why it is simply not feasible to back favourites all of the time. Favourites on average win thirty per cent of the time, so you'd be guaranteed a thirty per cent strike rate, but of course the prices would be too low to make a profit.

Things You Need To Watch Out For - Number Three

The final thing to beware of is this; do you really believe that there is software out there that can accurately predict the outcomes of races?

In my experience, most of these horse racing software products are pretty good, as they gather up all of the racing statistics, horses form and the details of the course, but what they're doing is just looking at statistics and trends. This may be ok when looking at the stock market, which does have an historical set of trends to go by, but this is horse racing.

Horses are not machines, and despite the fact that horse racing software products will look at all the statistical evidence that you could throw a stick at, this simply isn't enough.

Yes, it may show you that a particular horse favours Ascot, however other factors such as the type of race, the competition (other horses involved), the jockey on board and the going (racing conditions) all play a part.

This is why you need to have this intangible, yet very important information at your fingertips before knowing which horse to back. Horse racing software simply cannot do this for you.

Horse Racing Tips Advice - Value Is Key

2009-04-28T16:59:00.000+01:00

I posted this on my other horse racing blog, but thought that it was THAT important, that I should post it on here to. Here is the post:

After posting yesterday about how our horse racing tips have been performing this month, I was asked by some about the prices that we were advising.

This was a great question to be asked, as it is a crucial factor to betting profitably. So thanks to those of you who posed that little question :)

So in this little entry I shall demonstrate just how critical it is to target value horses, rather than just betting on horses who are favourite. I think that it may shock some of you...

Up until yesterday, we have advised 38 bets in total. Of those 38 bets, we've had 9 winners - so you can quickly see that in terms of a strike rate, it's a little less than 25% (23.6% to be precise). This would translate to a disappointing month for us, however we are still nicely in profit, because of the system that we adopt.

So lets look at the prices of these winners in the order in which they have won:

Winner 1) 6/1

Winner 2) 2/1

Winner 3) 4/1

Winner 4) evens - a real rarity for us, but as close to a dead cert as we've seen in a long time

Winner 5) 5/2

Winner 6) 6/1

Winner 7) 4/1

Winner 8) 4/1

Winner 9) 10/1

So you can see that despite suffering 29 losing horses (although almost half of these finished 2nd or 3rd), if you target quality, value horses, you can still make a profit whilst achieving relatively low strike rates by using our system.

Of course, as you saw last month, if we are able to achieve an even higher strike rate then the profits can sky rocket, but even in a slightly below-par month for us, we are able to achieve a reasonable profit.

And what does appear to have been popular, is the fact that our Grosvenor Racing Club service is freezing its prices for the whole of 2009, so there will be no increase in our membership prices. There are a few places still left available, so why not try our free racing tips for 21 days and share in our success.

Betting On Horse Racing And Managing Your Money – Part Four

2009-04-27T18:36:00.000+01:00

So this is part four and it is also the final article in the series. So far I have covered what I consider to be the golden rules of betting on horses, as well as some of the mistakes that you need to avoid in order to be a successful punter.

In this article, I will look at something that encapsulates everything that I have spoken about so far, and so it rounds of this series of articles quite nicely.

The Correct Attitude Is Important When Betting On Horses

It’s something that I teach my members because I really do feel that this is important. If you seriously want be successful and make good, consistent money from betting on horse racing, you have treat your betting like a business.

If betting on horse racing for you is just a hobby where you don’t care too much for the end results, then your hobby will almost certainly come at a cost.

I’ve already mentioned in previous articles about losing money through bad habits and this is frustrating for a lot of punters, because they do not actually realize that they are doing what they are doing.

Fortunately, that’s where horse racing tipsters like myself can help, as we are well aware of the bad habits that need to be avoided, and that having discipline is vitally important to succeeding.

Why Is Discipline Important?

Well, let’s go back to the analogy of treating your betting on horses like a business. If you operate your own business, you’d keep records of transactions, expenses and file all your receipts for your accountant each month.

You would also have a business plan for both the short term and the long term, and you’d also allocate funds for particular aspects of your business.

Now whilst betting on horses is not as complicated as running your own business, I hope you can see that by just applying a bit of discipline and structure to your betting, that you will treat it more seriously, and therefore (hopefully) you will be more successful with it.

In the second article in this series I discussed creating a betting bank so that you allocate a certain amount for your betting. This is essential, and it will eliminate the temptation to dip into savings, or the using of your credit card.

How Well Are You Doing?

Would you believe that if you were to ask ten punters this question, and try and get them to tell you specifically how they’re doing, they probably couldn’t tell you. How scary is that?

You need to know how well (or not) you are doing on a weekly basis, otherwise, how else do you know whether your racing tipster or betting system is working?

If you have no idea how you are faring, how can you possibly progress to earning more money by (slowly) increasing your stakes?

And this is of course no more difficult that getting an exercise book and noting down your bets each week, including how much you wagered, what the price of the horse was and where the meeting was – as a bare minimum. The more technical of you could do this using a spreadsheet or other application of course.

Try Before You Buy

Another thing that I suggest to punters is to ‘paper-trade’ a horse racing tipster or betting system, before actually committing any money to it. You may also find services such as mine that offer free trial periods too, and so this way you are not laying out any money at all.

This would be the same as running a feasibility study for your business, as you wouldn’t just launch a business and hope for the best. What this should do is allow you some time to assess whether your given source of horse racing tips is suitable for you, and whether or not it is reliable.

As we’ve discussed, if you do find yourself losing money on your selections, you should never be tempted to chase your losses. You should not increase your stakes to try and cover what you have lost, as you could find yourself with an even bigger hole in your betting bank.

And that concludes this series of articles focused on betting on horse racing and managing your money. I do hope that you have found these articles a useful resource and that you now feel more prepared for improving your chances when betting on horses, as you now know what you should be doing and what you need to avoid.

Horse Racing Tipster Service Update For April

2009-04-27T14:04:00.000+01:00

It's been a hectic weekend for me but I wanted to update you on our horse racing tipster service for this month, as we've been in really great form of late.

On the back of last month's bumper profits, where we achieved our best ever monthly profits total of 79.30 points to the good, we've stormed back this month after some pretty bad luck had reigned us in for part of the month.

We've had a cracking month really, and if some of the many second and third placed horses had come home we'd be up near last month's record, but we're now sitting pretty after having had to come from negative territory from mid-April.

In the past three days, we've secured two more quality, decent value winners for our members, leaving us now sat on 13.5 points profit for the month. Whilst this is not bad, I am really pleased with the way we have come back from -14.0 points at one stage, so that's a swing of almost 30 points.

Our horse racing tips from the past three days have yielded 18 points profit, with Where's Susie winning at 15/8 (we advised at 4/1 in the morning, don't forget our racing tips are available from 9.30am every morning) on Thursday at Fontwell. We had a 2 point win on Where's Susie.

And on Saturday at Sandown, Sangfroid won at a fantastic 12/1 - although we did advise it at 10s in the morning, so either way there's decent profit in that one for you. This was a one point win by the way.

So, as we enter the last few days of the month we are at 13.5 points profit and we'll be looking to push this over the 20 point mark if we can, and assuming that the right horses are available for the right prices.

Speak soon.

Is Betting On Horses With Betting Exchanges A Sensible Thing To Do? Part One.

2009-04-25T09:42:00.001+01:00

They're so popular these days that I am sure that most people will have heard of a betting exchange. Betting on horses via betting exchanges has completely changed the way punters place their bets, but why should you consider using one?

Betting exchanges burst on to the scene in the late 1990s to much skepticism to begin with, it has to be said. Punters were wondering what this new breed of bookmaker was all about. A betting exchange is simply a different type of bookmaker that gives punters the opportunity to bet against other punters who have a different opinion regarding a horse race for example.

Let's Explain The Difference In A Bit More Detail

Of course when you're betting on horses with a traditional bookie, you place your bet with the aim of beating the bookie, be it at your local betting shop or an on-course bookmaker. If your horse is successful then you win money directly form that bookmaker making you happy and the bookmaker not so happy.

Betting exchanges however, are a bit different. What they do is pit punter against punter so that if you like the look of a horse to win a race, but another punter doesn't like the look of that horse, then you can effectively go head-to-head. So in fact, you would be betting that horse wins the race whereas the other punter would be betting that the horse does not win, also called 'laying'. I'll explain the difference between the two later on in this article.

Whether that horse wins or not, someone is going to win some money. If the horse ends up winning the race then you would take money off the punter would thought that the horse wouldn't win, but if the horse fails to win then you would pay your counterpart.

Why Laying A Horse To Lose Has Become So Popular

This is perhaps the one area which most clearly separates betting with a traditional bookmaker from betting on horses through a betting exchange.

Traditionally, all we as punters have been able to do is back a horse to win or to be placed. Now that's all changed. Betting on a horse to win or to be placed does basically work in the same way whether you use a conventional bookmaker or a betting exchange. Simply put, you put your money on your horse and if it wins or is placed then you will receive some money back for your bet.

However, where betting exchanges have changed the playing field is by offering you the punter the opportunity to select a horse that you feel will not win it's given race.

So what this entitles you to do is to look for a horse that you think will not win its race, and place what is known as a ‘lay’ bet. Let's use an example. You're looking through the racing section in your newspaper and you notice that a horse cannot possibly win its race. You decide that you want to place a lay bet on this horse, and so what you are doing is in a sense offering odds to other punters who think that the horse will in fact win.

Of course, if your horse fails to you will take the backer's stake from him, but if the horse does win the race, then you must pay out.

Why Use Betting Exchanges As Opposed To Conventional Bookmakers?

I'll now explain what I believe to be the key benefits of using a betting exchange. I'll be giving you my 'lucky' seven reasons for betting on horses using betting exchanges over the course of two articles. The first three reasons are listed below:

Betting Exchanges Generally Offer Better Odds To Punters

A bit of a no-brainer this I suppose. As a punter, getting the best possible price is crucial. Even a minute increase in price can enable you to improve your long term profits significantly.

Traditional bookmakers have upped their game a little by offering slightly better prices than they have previously, but because of the way they operate they will never be able to directly compete with betting exchanges. This is because at the end of the day they are a bookmaker and they have to make money through a difference in odds - what they're prepared to offer you versus what they think the market value is.

Betting through the exchanges is very different as there is no longer a middle man involved. Betting exchanges make their money by taking a small commission on each successful bet that is placed. Basically if you win, so do they and so they perceived as more friendly towards the punter.

Betting exchanges will also enable you to ask for the odds that you want. Can you imagine the reaction you would get if you strolled up to an on-course bookie and asked for a much more favourable price (for you) on a particular horse? This is the difference, as betting exchanges are all about punter versus punter, so as long as there's someone out there willing to oppose your views, you can get the bet that you want.

Winning And Losing Horses Mean You Win

We have of course already touched on the subject of laying a horse to lose but this is just another reason why punters are leaning more and more towards betting on the betting exchanges. In a sense they allow you to play the role of the bookmaker (as this is what they do - they oppose your bet), therefore giving you the opportunity to bet that a particular horse will not win its race.

Betting Exchanges Won't Close Your Account If You're Too Successful

If you've read any of my previous articles or you're familiar with my horse racing tipster service then you'll know that I'm a firm believer in managing your money effectively.

A betting exchange allows you to do this perfectly as they would never dream of closing your account purely because you were pocketing lots of money. The reason betting exchanges are more than happy for you to continue winning is they of course make a small commission from your winning bets; unlike a conventional bookie where you're eating in their profits.

So these are my first three reasons why betting on horses using betting exchanges is important for a punter to succeed. I will complete the 'lucky' seven reasons and cover the remaining four reasons in a separate article.

Betting On Horse Racing And Managing Your Money – Part Three

2009-04-20T07:46:00.000+01:00

This is the third in a series of articles on betting on horse racing profitably through sensible money management.

I have so far discussed why looking for value in horses, rather than just betting on favourites is so important. This was in the first article in this series.

Then, in the second article I emphasized the point that if you’re not using a betting bank, or you do not have a structured staking plan, then you are playing with fire. In short, this is a big mistake when betting on horses.

One Of The Biggest Mistakes You Can Make As A Punter

In this article, I am going to examine possibly the most common mistake that punters make when betting on horses. This is one that perhaps all of us have been guilty of doing at one point or another, as the temptation can often prove too great.

So which mistake is it that I am talking about? Its chasing your losses.

The reason that I am dedicating a whole article to this one subject, is because it can literally take the shirt off your back as things can escalate so quickly.

Plus I know first hand how this can happen, as I did progressive staking (a posh name for chasing your losses!) several years ago, before I became the disciplined punter that I am today.

How Chasing Your Losses Can Spiral Out Of Control Quickly

The easiest way to illustrate this is by using a simple example: Let’s say a punter places £50 on a horse, and he loses. What happens next is the punter selects another horse in a different race. However, instead of placing another £50 on that horse, the punter feels the need to also win back what he lost on his first horse, and so places a bet of £100.

When this second horse loses, the punter is now down to the tune of £150, just like that. And so the punter selects another horse that is a dead cert to win its race, and its at a price of 2/1, so what does the punter do?

He doesn’t place £50 on the horse to recoup £100 and only be £50 down for the day, oh no. He chases his losses by placing another bet of £100, thinking that the £200 profit he’ll get will recoup his losses of £150, plus £50 profit. Right?

Well, yes, mathematically and theoretically that is correct, but let us examine this equation more closely to see what big mistake this punter is making by betting on horses in this fashion.

Do Not Break One Of The Golden Rules of Betting

In effect, what this punter is doing is placing a £100 bet to win £50, as this is the profit that he will make, factoring in the £150 that he already lost. Are you with me?

So this is like betting on 2/1-on favourite, where you have to put £2 on just to win £1 back. This is madness, as there is no value whatsoever in this bet and it goes completely against what I talked about in the first article in this series.

And that’s assuming that his third horse wins!

It’s a fact that good punters get use to; when betting on horse racing you are always going to go through a losing run, it may be two horses, five horses or more, but you need to weather the storm and this is done through the value horses I discussed in the first article in this series.

Even the best horse racing tipsters, the ones who work for newspapers and on television, have losing runs, and they’re as close to being experts as you will get. So we all go through it, and the secret is staying focused and true to your plan – not disregarding the plan just because a couple of horses have not won.

Betting On Horse Racing And Managing Your Money – Part Two

2009-04-18T08:44:00.000+01:00

You may recall that in the first article in this series, I discussed how important value is when betting on horse racing.

Getting a price that is technically above what it ought to be is a big key to earning consistent profits from betting on horses, and is central to my own betting strategy. I teach a lot of my members this from day one.

It is down to you to effectively change your betting habits, and very often you wouldn’t even know that you had these bad betting habits, until they were pointed out to you, so don’t go blaming yourself here.

So once you’ve learned to look at value bets, and eliminate the habit of just betting on horses that are favourites to win their respective races, you can move onto the next good habit that you should have in your betting armoury.

Create a suitable betting bank that is appropriate to your financial circumstances.

How A Betting Bank Can Help You Achieve More Profits

This sounds such a simple concept doesn’t it? Do not let its simplicity fool you in to thinking that its not important, because it is absolutely vital to your success.

Not having a betting bank can often mean you do not know how much you’ve bet this month, and just as important; how much you won versus how much you’ve lost.

The reasons for having a betting bank are so key for success when betting on horses. First of all, you are able to monitor how much you’ve bet, and how much you’ve won (or lost) each month.

This is critical, particularly if you use a horse racing tipster service and you want to know how successful and reliable it is.

Secondly, it enables you to stake correctly on each horse that you bet on. For example, I advise my members that they use what’s called a ‘points system’ for their betting.

Simply put, all this involves is dividing your betting bank, let’s use a figure of £100 for example, into 100 points. This means that you have complete control of what you’re betting.

How A Points System Correctly Structures Your Betting

You may decide, as I do with my service, that horses who you feel have an excellent chance of winning are worthy of a five point bet (the maximum bet I place on horses), which in this example would therefore be five per cent of your betting bank, so £5.

Conversely, you decide that horses that have just a good chance of winning, may only need a one point bet, as the information you have about the horse, coupled with the horses form, is not as conclusive as it would be for a five point bet.

So in this instance you would only bet one per cent of your betting bank, and therefore only wager £1 on your horse.

This type of betting ensures that you can weather and recover fro the bad runs – as these are inevitable unfortunately, but you can also take advantage of the good runs too.

Furthermore, you are in complete control and know exactly where you are from day to day, which is so important.

What You Should Not Be Doing When Betting On Horses

One of the big mistakes you as a punter can make, is to stake too high in proportion to your betting bank, and this generally comes out of wanting to make money more quickly.

You have to think of the long term picture, more than the short term. If you have a betting bank of £100, as in our example above, you cannot realistically expect to make £100 per month in profit, this is just not feasible.

The temptation for get-rich quick is so rife these days, due to the many claims out there that it is possible to become a millionaire overnight.

Let me tell you, it really is not. Lets look at how slowly, slowly really can catchy monkey...

How Small Gains Can Produce Great Results

Lets use our £100 betting bank again to illustrate just how powerful staking with an effective points system is.

If by betting on horses each day, you only increased your betting bank by a mere one-half of one per cent (0.5%) every day, you would have a balance of almost £250 (£244 to be precise) after just six months, such is the effect of compounding and using a long term strategy.

So in six months, you could potentially more than double your investment with very minimal points gains. Not bad for starters and of course, this can be multiplied depending on how much your betting bank is.

So in summary, you can now see that by finding value bets, and betting correctly that your betting bank will grow. And of course as your betting bank grows, so you are able to increase the size of your stakes and therefore make more profit.

In Part Three of this series of articles, I will discuss more bad habits that punters do while betting on horses, that cause them to lose money hand over fist.

Horse Racing Tips So Far This Month

2009-04-14T14:49:00.000+01:00

I thought it may be appropriate to update you on our horse racing tips for April so far, as we're nearing the middle of the month.

It's been a mixed month so far with several winners and several near misses... very near misses, but hey that's racing. After last months bumper profit from our racing tips, we need to get back in the groove ... but this is what's happened thus far this month...

We began the month with a winner at the Aintree Grand National meeting, with Tartak winning on the Tuesday at 6/1.

In the Grand National itself, you'll recall that I wrote a post debating the difficulty of racing tips for the National. I finally plumped for Black Apalachi and having lead and looked comfortable for much of the race, he of course fell at Beecher's second time around when looking good for the win, but this unfortunately happens :(

Scale Bank also did the business for us at Sedgefield last week, winning at 2/1 for a one point win, but in between those winners we've been plagued by that awful affliction of second-itis and third-itis... and very frustrating it is too! :(

Yesterday we did claw some profit back, with Ffos Las Diamond winning in the 1.55pm at Chepstow, and this was a two point win at 4/1, so got us back some much needed profit.

So that leaves us at 9 points down for the month so far, so not a disaster and a situation that can very realistically be pulled around, starting today we hope.

I'll catch up with you all with another update later in the month.

Well Deserved Rest For Well Chief

2009-04-14T08:21:00.002+01:00

I've heard today that Well Chief, trained by David Pipe, will not be running again this season after rumours that he may be running at either Sandown or Punchestown.

Having spent almost two years on the sidelines, it was hoped that the ten year old horse may well have a few races in him towards the end of the season, however Pipe has decided to put him away until next season now, where it is hoped that he'll get a full season out of him.

The rest will certainly do him good and he should be nice and fresh and ready for the challenges of next season. He had an epic race at the Cheltenham Festival when he chased down Master Minded and it appears that this has taken its toll more than was expected.

In fact Pipe said "He's fine, but has taken longer to come out of the Cheltenham race than first thought. With the way the ground is at present, we decided to put him away for the remainder of this term and enjoy a full season with him next term."

Betting On Horse Racing And Managing Your Money – Part One

2009-04-12T07:01:00.000+01:00

This is the first in a series of articles that will cover the importance of managing your money effectively whilst betting on horse racing.

You would be surprised just how often this is overlooked by punters, and getting it wrong can be financial suicide.

A popular question that I am asked when members join my service, is “how much should I bet on each horse?” Another one is “can I realistically earn £500 per week by using your horse racing tipster service?”

Before I go into a little detail here, let me first explain that this is completely the wrong way to go about it.

Why? Well, the answers to those questions all depend on your personal circumstances, and as I would have no idea what your personal finances were (nor would I want to as that is your business of course), I would be unable to give you an accurate answer.

Before I discuss the money side of things in detail, I would first like to explain about how I do things, and how this may help you decide how to start betting on horse racing in a structured, focused and professional manner.

You Must Look For Value

This may indeed mean a change in philosophy for many punters. I’ve seen many a person in the local bookies purely backing favourite after favourite. Please promise me something, do not do this.

Favourites generally win less than a third of the time, and this statistic couple with the prices that you’d receive from betting on favourites, does not make it a long term viable proposition.

The key is to know when to bet on a particular horse, and so therefore, know when its price represents good value for your bet, right? Correct.

Now this is of course a little harder than it sounds, but it is by now means impossible and it is why there are thousands of professional punters out there, making a killing.

What You Should Not Do

Imagine that you walk into a car dealership to purchase a basic family saloon car. You’d have an idea of what you wanted to spend versus what the likely cost of the car is, wouldn’t you?

So would you be shocked if the salesman approached you, explaining that the Ford Mondeo you were looking at would cost you £250,000? Of course you would. The car is clearly over priced and I imagine that you’d instantly walk away without purchasing the car.

Well, strangely enough this is not dissimilar to betting on horse racing, as many punters will simply take any old price on a horse, just because they think it will win.

So you can now see that this would be a huge mistake. Making a profit from betting on horse racing, whether you are choosing the horses yourself or using a horse racing tipster service, is achieved by looking at value priced horses.

To use the car analogy once again, it would be a bit like acquiring a brand new top of the range Ferrari, for the price of a Ford Mondeo.

Now, of course this is an extreme example but I hope it illustrates what we try and achieve here. By doing this, you will profit in the long term, as you’re getting an increased value for your bets.

In Conclusion

So the lesson here is to only ever bet on a horse when you know that have value on your side. If you do not, then the best thing to do is to just let the horse run. Developing this habit does take a little work, so do not be disappointed if you find it difficult to being with.

But with practice, or by following someone who may be an expert in the field of betting on horses, you can soon develop this most crucial of betting habits.

In the next article in this series, I will discuss how to assess a suitable betting bank for your exploits.

Why Betting On Horse Racing Is Easier Than Ever Before

2009-04-10T16:23:00.001+01:00

In recent years, there have certainly been many new developments that anyone who seriously likes betting on horse racing should take note of.

Of course, arguably the most enjoyable method is still to go to your local racecourse to enjoy a days racing, whilst pitting your wits against one of the many on-course bookmakers. But the new millennium has brought a multitude of outlets where you can bet on horses and in this article we are going to explore some of these new betting methods.

Some of these betting techniques are a bit more complicated than others and so are generally only used by the professionals, however for all of you that enjoy betting on horse racing, there is something for everyone.

Betting On Horse Racing Using The Net

Possibly the most profound change to betting on horses of the last ten years, has been the advent of the internet. With access to the world wide web, punters now have the opportunity to place bets on any race anywhere in the world at virtually anytime.

All of this can be done quickly and easily and from the comfort of your own home. The internet also enables you to monitor the best prices available on horses and of course with the introduction of betting exchanges, you now have the chance to bet against other punters.

This evolution has also caused a rapid increase in the number of horse racing tipster services that are now available. In the past, punters would have had to have telephoned their bets in and relied on horse racing tipsters placing advertisements in newspapers.

These days, the internet is full of options and so if you do your research properly, you should beb able to find a racing tipster service that is suitable for your requirements.

Betting On Horses For The Pros

The Internet has also brought with it a new age of ways to bet on horses, as well as other sporting events.

As well as the traditional standard betting and betting using the Tote, you can now spread bet on horse racing (which I have covered in a previous article) and also partake in what is called matched betting.

Matched betting on horse racing is essentially the same as standard betting in as much as you can bet on a horse to win, but the difference being that you can 'create' your own odds, rather that betting with the odds that are being offered by a bookmarker.

To take part in matched betting all you have to do is review the odds on a particular horse that other people have offered. Once you find one that is suitable you can match their bet. Alternatively, you can set your own odds and see if anyone is prepared to match your bet and price.

This is a method of betting that is growing in popularity, but I would recommend that unless you are well versed in betting in horses, that you stay away from this for the time being.

Fun Bets Are Now More Accessible

The internet has also helped introduce more people to some of the more exotic or fun bets, such as the Tote Scoop Six. The Tote Scoop Six guarantees a large win if you correctly pick six winners from six races, with the option to also receive a lesser amount of winnings if your horses place well.

The Scoop Six enables you to bet on any six races from any racecourse across the country on a Saturday afternoon, so that your note restricted to just one racecourse. This in theory gives you a wider opportunity to pick your winners and although this is a popular bet for many punters, I do not recommend it as a staple part of your betting activities.

Beginners Betting On Horse Racing Should Take Note

As you can see, whilst there are many new ways for you to start betting on horse racing, as a beginner I always recommend that you start with the basics rather than trying to be too adventurous too early. Particularly with betting on the internet, as you can lose a lot of money very quickly without even realising it.

Starting with the basics, for example by just betting on horses to win using an online bookie, will enable to get used to betting on horses in a structured manner. Once you are used to this process, you can then start to look at betting exchanges where you can potentially obtain more value for your bets.

And although you will see bets advertised such as the Scoop Six, Yankees, Doubles and Trebles, my advice is to avoid these at your peril, as they are purely designed, in my opinion, to take a punters money.

Is Betting On Horses With Betting Exchanges A Sensible Thing To Do? Part Two

2009-04-09T11:30:00.000+01:00

In part one of this article series, I covered the basics about betting on horses with betting exchanges and showed why they have become so popular with punters.

I also went through three key reasons why you should use betting exchanges, whether you’re using a horse racing tipster service or backing your own judgment of the horses. You may have a friend giving you racing tips on the sly (and for free) or you may be using some of the many horse racing systems that are out there.

However you are selecting your horses, betting with betting exchanges is certainly something that you should be doing.

And so in this article, I will explain some of the more technical and detailed facets of using a betting exchange, that could enable you to profit even more from your horse racing exploits.

And when I use words like technical and detailed, you’ll be pleased to hear that I do not mean complicated. So let’s crack on and look at these four key elements that could enable you to make more profit from horse racing.

Reason One – Get Prices For Horses 24 Hours A Day

I don’t know about you, but one of the real frustrations I have as a punter is reading the newspaper or hearing on the television of a good early price for a horse, yet when you go on the internet to check, prices are not always available.

And of course there is not a bookie in the land that opens there doors at 7am, so that avenue is blocked off as well.

With a betting exchange however, you can place a bet whenever you want. This enables you to take advantage of the often advantageous early prices of horses, long before everyone else starts lumping their cash on, leading to the price coming down.

Some of my members actually place their bets as soon as I advise them in the morning, meaning that they can take the best priced odds available, or indeed as I mentioned in the previous article, by naming their own price to see if it gets matched.

Reason Two – No Limit On Betting Stakes

How frustrated would you be if you’d received information from your horse racing tipster, about a gem of a horse that was over valued in price and likely to win its race, only to discover that putting a substantial bet on at 20/1 was out of the question?

Well, it can and does happen. More so in the local high street bookies, where you may be given the option to have some of the bet at 20/1 and some of the bet at the Starting Price – which is likely to be far lower come race time.

By betting on horse racing using an exchange, this does not happen. If you place a request to back a horse for a large sum at 20/1 and another punter is willing to lay the bet at that price, then you are able to have your bet placed without any questions being asked

Reason Three – The Race Has Started, But You Can Still Place Your Bet.

If you’ve ever got to the bookies just as a race is about to start, only to be told by the ‘friendly’ assistant behind the desk that you’re too late to place your bet, then you’ll like this one.

Betting exchanges actually allow you to continue placing bets on horses in a race, even after the race has started. This is something that is both new and requires nerves of steel, as while the race is still going, the betting market for each horse is constantly changing as each horse jostles for position in the race.

Of course, in the longer races, say a two mile hurdle race, there is a little more time to think, but in a five furlong sprint race you do not have much time at all, in fact most races are over in 60 seconds or less!

I must admit that this is not something that I myself do, as it is simply too risky for my betting philosophy, however there are plenty that do like the excitement of it, and profit from it.

Reason Four – Trading Your Bets To Secure Yourself A Profit

I’ve deliberately left this one until last, as it is a kind of an underground betting tactic if you like, although it is now growing in popularity. It’s a tactic often used by traders who play the financial markets, but it can be used for betting on horse racing as well, and can guarantee you a profit on a given race.

Guarantee a profit I hear you say, never. Well, let me explain:

Imagine that you’ve chosen to back a horse at 5/1 in a race. You think the price will shorten come race time, and so you’ve done the right thing and taken the early price. Having secured your early price of 5/1, you place your bet of £50 on the horse.

As race time approaches, you notice that the price of your horse has come in from the 5/1 that you backed it at, to a price of 2/1. Due to the drop in price, you could also decide to lay the horse to lose and place £75 on that bet.

So, how are you guaranteeing a profit by doing this? Well, there are of course only two possible outcomes for the horse that you’ve selected –it will either win the race or it will not.

If your horse wins its race, your winning bet will profit you £250 (£50 at a price of 5/1) but your lay bet was not successful and so you will pay out £75 for this. Therefore your total profit is £250 less £75, which is £175.

However, if your horse loses it race, your lay bet will profit you £150 (£75 at a price of 2/1) but your ‘to win’ bet was not successful and so you will pay out £50 for this. Therefore your total profit is £150 less £50, which is £100.

So there you have it, it is possible to guarantee that you make a profit in a race, if you are able to back the horse at one price and lay it at another (lower) price. This can also be done in reverse too, so you could lay a horse to begin with, and if its price drifts out (increases) then you can guarantee profits by backing the horse at the higher price.

So this concludes part two, the final part of this article series regarding betting on horses using the betting exchanges. As you can see, there really is no mystique surrounding them and I highly recommend that you give them a go.

Spread Betting On Horse Racing Explained

2009-04-08T12:47:00.001+01:00

I did briefly touch on spread betting on horses in a previous article, so as promised, I am going to elaborate on it in this article.

I have noticed that spread betting is becoming a more popular way for punters to bet on horse racing, as if it's done correctly it can enable you to really rack up large amounts of cash in a relatively short amount of time.

As with all gambling however, the risks are still there. If you're new to horse racing or a bit of a novice punter, you should be aware that spread betting on horse racing is a little complex, and due to the nature of how it is structured, although you can win big it can also cause you to lose a drastic amount of money if you are not careful.

This makes it absolutely essential that you must be sure that you clearly understand the methods of spread betting on horse racing.

Spread Betting On Horses Is Growing In Popularity

Spread betting is a concept that is traditionally more popular with sports that have the potential for big winning margins, so American football, rugby, cricket and darts immediately spring to mind.

Its also used by people who want to bet on the financial markets and so they bet on whether a stock will rise, fall and by how much.

I'm not actually convinced by spread betting on horses myself, as I find that the risk is just too high, yet many people successfully achieve great results with it. For many, it’s a more intriguing and enjoyable way to take calculated risks but everyone has to be aware that the risks are also pretty high, and this is what dissuades many people from trying it.

How Do You Go About Spread Betting On Horses?

The first type of spread betting on horse racing is based on what is known as the favourite’s index. Each favourite is awarded a certain amount of points. A hot favourite (for example at a price of 6/5) would likely get the maximum amount of points (which is 25), whereas a 9/1 favourite in the Grand National would only attract say eight points for the index.

Of course, what the bookies are doing here is protecting themselves, as the payout at 9/1 is going to be appreciably more that the 6/5, hence the reduction in the number of points.

So with the allocation of points, a spread is created and essentially what punters will do is buy if they feel the horse will win, or sell if they think it won't.

A real twist from traditional betting is that you can bet on the jockeys. The way jockey betting works is pretty much the exact same way as the favourite's index, with the only difference being that you are betting against a quote of how great a race (or more than one) a jockey will have.

Predicting Winning Distances Will Pocket Cash Too

Similarly, the winning distance index is played in essentially the same way but with a slight difference, as points are awarded based how much you think a horse will win by. These are broken down into short head, head, neck, half a length, ¾ length, a length and then multiple lengths (two, five, ten etc).

Typically the going of a racecourse affects what the spread and points allocation will be for distance betting, and this is where the bookies can really earn their corn. Poor judgment of how the conditions are going to affect a race could cost the bookies thousands, so they have to get it right.

In my opinion, spread betting on horses involves too much work. That is not to say that I am lazy, quite the contrary, but there are multiple factors and several key things that have to be considered properly even before you consider looking at what to back.

I do prefer a more simplistic approach and perhaps this is why I have done well, as I have kept it simple.

I'm also a firm believed in effective money management, and unlike traditional betting, or even betting on the Tote, you do not know how much you stand to lose with spread betting, until the race is over and then its possibly too late. That to me is a major drawback.

There are punters who do very, very well at this form of betting but call me old fashioned, I just prefer the more traditional approach, and certainly for all beginners out there, I advise that you do the same.

Which Racing Tipsters Should You Trust?

2009-04-05T11:05:00.001+01:00

Have you ever wondered how racing tipsters can predict the winners of a horse race better than most people who gamble on their own?

Well, the truth is that for the most part, when racing tipsters start out they are pretty much the same as most punters, being interested, fascinated and often frustrated in attempting to pick the horse that will win.

Why Them?

What launches them into the upper ranks and separates them from your regular punter, is the experience and the knowledge that they will have gained after many years of being interested and involved in horse racing.

From my point of view it was lots of reading, listening to other experts and attending lots of live racing that formed an essential part of my education. The difficulty arises of course when you have to separate the experienced and therefore more reliable ones, from the not so experienced and not so reliable ones.

To put it into simple terms, when you consult a horse racing tipster or expert, the truth is that you're tapping into their experience and qualities of being able to identify which horses can't win and which horses could win, and in many cases there are definitely horses that cannot win, which some people find surprising.

I recently interviewed one of the most respected horse racing experts in the country, although for obvious reasons I will not name names. He is considered one of the top people in his professional and appears on both television and radio.

He revealed during the interview that he became interested in horse racing from a very young age, and used to travel to meetings with his best friend. Having seen some live racing he was instantly hooked, and that's how he got into the business.

One thing is certain, no matter where or what kind of racing tipsters service you use there is never going to be such a thing as a sure-fire bet, but should you find a reliable one then you can certainly increase your chances of picking winners markedly, that is for sure. The key is how do you find the reliable ones? I'll now explain some of things to watch out for.

Reliable Racing Tipsters - What To Look For

The first thing I advise people to do is contact their prospective tipster. I know this may sound basic and almost elementary; however it is a very good way of finding out about them and an effective way to start forming an opinion of them.

A few emails to begin with should suffice; ask about their background, their successes, and their failures. Try to establish how long they have been providing racing tips to punters and how they got into horse racing. Do they specialise in National Hunt racing, flat racing or both?

Ask them how successful their service is. Anyone who claims they've never had failures can be eliminated from your list straightaway, as can the tipsters who claim to be able to make you rich overnight with a strike rate of 95 per cent.

If they are charging a subscription or one off fee for their services (which most reputable horse racing tipster services do) then ask them if they can offer you a free trial of their service. If they're genuine and they're keen to increase their membership, plus keep their reputation intact, then they ought to oblige you a trial period of their racing tips.

Once again, anyone who comes across as reluctant to do so, or evasive, avoiding particular questions should be avoided. Furthermore, you are certain to start forming an opinion of them over time and your gut instinct may well tell you that they are not to be trusted.

Should You Follow Your Initial Impression?

This is an intriguing one, as you're never certain to know whether you've made the right choice, until you've made it. The main thing is, if you're experimenting without paying a penny, then at least you're not throwing money away to find out that the service you've chosen is not suitable for you.

It sounds like an interrogation, coupled with a sprinkling of science and a bit of gut instinct thrown in, but seriously this is easier than you think. By asking specific questions, some of which I have highlighted in this article, you will be able to more accurately assess the good from the not so good.

As you ask more questions and start to form a little relationship with a tipster, you should be starting to think whether or not you feel this is right, and whether he can be trusted to give you the information that’s going to get you some winners on a fairly regular basis.

It’s a bit like buying a car really, as you know what you want the end result to be, for example own a car, or in this case, achieve some winners.

The key lies in the person 'selling' you the car (or racing tips), as if you develop a good relationship with him, you may be tempted to buy from him, however if there appears to be something not quite right about him, then walk away.

Horse Racing Tipster Service Figures For March

2009-04-01T13:32:00.004+01:00

I thought I'd give you the end of month update on our horse racing tipster service, as yet another month comes to an end; so that leaves less than 9 months to Xmas then eh!?

Well as you will have seen from my last update, the month of March has been very successful and our quality, value-driven racing tips have continued to come in. Now it doesn't always happen like this, as any professional punter will tell you, there are good months and not so good months, but the secret to success is sticking with your system.

This is something that I have learned from years of experience, and don't worry, I've been in a position where I've bailed out early, only to regret it later.

It also emphasises (and I know I do go on about it a lot - for good reason) our strategy of looking for value priced horses, as opposed to just backing short priced favourites.

Anyway, back to March's racing tips results...

Well in the past 4 days, one horse has secured 2 wins for us that has pushed us up to the lofty heights of achieving our best ever end of month score.

Handsinthemist, with 2 wins at Southwell, firstly at 6/1 although we advised at 11/1, and then at 4/1 although we advised at 7/1, has given us an end of month betting bank profit of 79.30 points - a tremendous effort from the entire team :)

So overall an excellent month for our Grosvenor Racing Club members, and although it is April 1st I kid you not, that we'll be looking to keep the momentum going for April too.

I hope you all were able to take advantage of our racing tips this month, but for those of you who are still not members yet, please read on...

I am still keeping my prices as they were for all of 2008, and will continue to do so for all of 2009, given the economic situation, so please click on the link below:

=> Get Free Horse Racing Tip s For 21 Days ... and Then Pay 2008 Prices For Membership <=

I guarantee this price freeze for the rest of the year, and you have a full 21 days to test drive our service, AND you are covered by our full 60 day money back guarantee, so we're eliminating any possible risk for you.

All Horse Racing Systems Fail Without These Four Rules

2009-03-28T06:28:00.000Z

If you are going to be successful and make money from betting on horse racing, you must have a solid plan. Whatever horse racing systems you prefer to use must adopt these plans, or you are doomed to certain failure.

But what plans should you follow? Well in this article I'll explain what they are and why they are so important to your success as a punter.

Let’s face it, no one places a bet because they want to lose their stake do they? Now I know that may be stating the obvious some what, but the way many people bet you would think that was their aim.

Although the sport of horse racing is entertaining, as a punter you need to stop betting for the entertainment value of the sport, and follow a four step plan that will enable you to develop a useful income stream from betting.

Sticking To Your Horse Racing System Is A Must

So what do I mean by this exactly? Well, whether you use a horse racing tipster, betting software or you choose your own racing tips, you need to decide on your bets, place them and then stop.

The last thing that you should do is try to recoup any losses by placing one more bet, or raising your stakes, this is a huge mistake that many punters make, thinking that it is the right thing to do.

Equally, you should not pile on more money in an attempt to win more, as you need to treat your betting like a business or investment opportunity. To not do so is fatal. It is also very important to add here that if your betting system does not highlight a bet on a given day, then you should have the discipline to keep your money firmly in your pocket.

If you have a plan from the outset and stick to it, you will protect yourself from making the fundamental mistakes that a lot of punters do.

Something that I talk about to a lot of punters is to begin acting like a professional. It is proven that adopting a more focused mindset will result in you making more structured decisions, rather than having the scatter gun approach that most punters have.

Being focused and professional about your betting, may not appear at first to be the fun thing to do, but it works. And ultimately, its no fun to keep losing and so I know which method I would rather adopt.

Using A Betting Bank Is Very Important

This rule actually follows the first one quite nicely, as it can be the first logical step in adopting a more focused and professional attitude to betting on horse racing.

One thing that you should never do, is bet with money that you cannot afford to lose. Financially it is just not very wise, plus it will also mean that your betting will no longer be dictated by your racing tips or your betting system, but instead they will become heavily influenced by your emotions, which incidentally is covered in the next rule.

The professional way to bet is to look at how much you can begin safely betting with, no matter how big or small that may be, and to create your betting bank. So in essence and just to emphasise this very important point, this is essentially a sum of money which you could, in the worst case scenario, afford to lose.

It is far better to start with even a very low betting bank, and to wager very small stakes to begin with, safe in the knowledge that you are betting within your means, than it would be to potentially leave yourself short or worse, borrow money for the purposes of betting.

Of course, as you become more successful, so your bank grows and enables you to wager more money per stake on your given racing tips, but do not run before you can walk.

Do Not Let Your Emotions Be Your Guide

I do hope that you can see a logical sequence developing here. Firstly you have a plan. Then you need a set amount of money set aside to execute your plan. The reason that the first two are important foundations is that if done properly, they will alleviate your emotions affecting your betting.

Once your emotions start having a say in your selections, you start climbing the hill en route to the slippery slope, I kid you not.

To prove this, the next time you go to a bookmakers, just take a look at the majority of people there. Do they seem happy? The trouble is that the vast majority of punters do not bet with a plan or a betting bank, but they back a horse that they fancy, or worse, one that they feel they should back as they've just lost.

This is not the way to do it and again, it may not be rocket science, however the number of people doing this every week would run into thousands I would think, so do not fall into this same trap.

Losing is all part of horse racing and so you need to develop a habit of not letting it bother you. You need to have faith in your given system, and allowing emotions to direct your betting is not the way to do it. Sticking to the plan, staying focused and not panicking, is the way to do it.

Keep A Record Of Your Bets

I would think that this is something that most people do not do and yet it is so simple, as all you need is some paper and a pencil.

Keeping a record of your tips and your bets is so important, as you need to know how you're progressing. Once again, its treating it like a business that will separate you, the strategic, successful punter who goes about his business in a professional manner, from the casual punter that you see in the bookies (as mentioned above).

All I do here is mark the date, the horse, the venue of the race and the result. Do not forget of course to write down how much you wagered and what price the horse was, and that's it. Six items of information per race is all you need really. You could do into huge detail if you wanted, but that’s entirely up to you.

You Have No Excuses Now

And there you have it. These four rules, principles call them what you will, are the cornerstone to success when betting on horse racing. And as you can see, it requires little effort to do so they're really is no reason why you cannot do this.

Racing Tips To Use With Handicap Horse Racing

2009-03-25T20:29:00.001Z

This article will look at how you can profit from handicap racing, plus I will cover the differences between handicap racing and conditions racing, as not everyone does in fact know the difference.

In fact the writing of this article came about from a request from one of my members, and so I thought that maybe you would also benefit from looking at how handicap racing differs from conditional racing, and how not knowing the difference could potentially cost you money.

Confusion Can Lead To Disaster So Don't Make These Mistakes

As you may know, I am a real advocate and believe in information being power when it comes to betting on horse racing. So with that said, if you want to drastically improve your chances of taking money from the bookmakers with your racing tips, you need to arm yourself with as much quality and relevant information as possible.

And this is where some novice punters fall at the first fence (pardon the pun), because before you place any cash on a horse you need to make sure that you know what kind of race you are betting on. That is to say, is it a handicap race or a conditions race?

And if you've been to watch live racing before, then you'll know what its like. if you haven't by the way, then this will explain what you can expect when you go for the first time.

You're looking at the different races and who's riding on what. You get to the parade ring and there are already whispers going around about this horse and that horse. It's easy to be influenced by what you hear. And everyone thinks they're an expert when it comes to horse racing tips don't they?

And so with all the jargon and gossip that you hear at the racecourse, is it any wonder that punters end up getting thoroughly confused, and betting on a horse simply because they like the name, the way it walks, the colour of the jockey’s silks or because they overheard someone in the pub mention that it had a chance?

I've seen it many, many times, but the truth is it doesn't have to be like that it really doesn't.

Your Horse Racing Tips Are Useless If You Don't Know This

So the key is having a bit of background knowledge, even just the basics, which will enable you to get started. This will ensure that you are a bit more savvy than the average punter, and therefore you will have a little advantage that will hopefully give you that edge over the bookmakers.

So having given you that bold statement, what are the most important factors to consider when betting on horses? Of course, there are many, many variables that affect the outcome of a horse race, and there's no way that I could cover all of them in this article, however let’s start with one of the fundamentals of horse racing. Handicapping.

This could be perhaps the biggest error that punters make, as they have no idea what kind of race they are betting on. In the UK, all races come under one of two categories. The first category is a handicap race, and the second one is called a conditions race.

The reason that distinguishing between these two different class of races is important, is because the bookies pay different amounts on each-way bets gained in the two different types of race.

So for example, in a handicap race of less than 16 runners, you are paid one-quarter the odds on the first three finishers for an each way bet. You are also paid for the first four places in a handicap with 16 or more runners, so this in itself is worth knowing.

In conditions races however, you are only ever paid one-fifth the odds for finishing in the first three places, so can you see where I am coming from now? It’s crucial to be able to tell what type of race you are betting on.

Handicapping Explained

Essentially the handicap that I'm referring to, is additional weight that is allocated to a horse based upon its ability. The better the horse, then in theory the greater the weight that is carries compared to its fellow horses. This is done so that each horse potentially has an equal chance of winning the race.

The British Horseracing Board meets each week to look at each qualifying horses form and to assess its rating. Not every horse in the UK qualifies for a handicap. At the time of writing this, a flat horse for example must have either won a race, or participated in three races, to enable the handicapper the opportunity to look at the horse’s form.

To the layman, the details of the ratings system may be a bit confusing, but essentially it boils down to the higher the rating, the better the horse. Of course, the reason that we don't just go and lump our money on the best rated horse is that it will be carrying the most weight, so from our point of view as punters, the key is to loom at the weight as just one factor of a horse's potential in winning a race.

It doesn't need to be any more complicated than this to being with. You now have some background knowledge of the differences between handicap races and conditions races and I hope this will stand you good stead when looking at the list of races in the paper tomorrow.

Is A Horse Racing Tipster Service Better Than Horse Racing Software?

2009-03-22T11:33:00.000Z

Every since the advent of the internet, the World Wide Web has opened up many opportunities for people who want to bet on the horses. You have the choice of using the human element in a horse racing tipster, or a horse racing software package, but how they compare?

The purpose of this article is to assess the differences and benefits of these two different means of obtaining horse racing tips. Certainly there are many options available online now and I do get asked regularly which system works the best, so I'll run through this with you now.

No Such Thing As A Dead Cert

Of course, the first thing I must state is that there is no one method that can ever guarantee you selecting a winning horse. Certainly, there are ways to make a more informed choice of which horse to bet on, which means that you have a better chance of winning – the aim of every gambler at the end of the day.

However, with so many different ways to get advice about betting on horses, there are many people who are now confused as to what the difference is in terms of the benefits between a horse racing tipster service and other software horse racing systems.

Horse Racing Tipster vs Software

Well, simply put and to look at the fundamental aims of each, essentially a horse racing tipster service, horse racing software or any horse racing system all aim to achieve the same thing.

Achieving winners or at the very least eliminating horses that are not suitable to back is a process that takes into account many factors, and so the principal difference between the three aids is basically the way in which they help you formulate your selections.

For example, a horse racing tipster service will generally come up with their top selections by interpreting previous racing statistics together with additional background information that they may have on the horses, racecourse, jockeys, trainers and other associated factors.

In a sense this can become a very scientific approach and it can be as detailed as you want it to be. I tend to look at the items listed above and see what looks favourable. It is possible to get what is known as ‘analysis paralysis’ in this business, so over analysing of information, although often tempting, is not recommended.

Does Racing Software work?

Essentially, if you purchase any of the horse racing software products on the market (and there are a lot), the hope is that you will be getting the same results as a horse racing tipster in terms of analysis, but that you will be getting the information yourself and therefore you must interpret the data yourself to make your own selections.

There is also some doubt as to the accuracy of how a piece of software can fully assess all the relevant factors than are involved in successfully betting on horses, and this is just one of the reasons why people prefer to use a horse racing tipster service.

Garbage In Garbage Out

Of course, neither can be right one hundred percent of the time, it would be foolish to think so, but it is widely recognised that generally tipster services have a better chance of correctly predicting the outcomes of races. I suppose that this is because of the human element. Software relies on the information that you put into it just like a computer does, so if the information is wrong, not accurate or out of date then the end result will mirror that.

In racing, information is ever changing and factors such as the weather which affects the going of a race, a change in jockeys that are riding particular horses, and a horse’s health or recent training performances are capable of affecting the result of a race.

The better racing tipsters out there who do this for a living will generally have a firm grasp of what they are looking for and what is happening in the industry, while a software program does not have this ability of reasoning.

This is why many feel that a horse racing system based upon a software program simply cannot accurately predict a race winner, whereas a racing tipster can look at all of the up to date factors subjectively, and try to give an accurate assessment of the likely winner of a race.

2009-03-20T09:12:00.000Z

Whether you are new to betting on horse racing or not, I hope that you’ll find this article useful as it explains three different channels for betting on horse racing. They are all quite different to each other, and there are nuances that if you're not sure about them, could mean you don't win as much as you should.

It will also help you to understand which way is more appropriate to the way you want to bet, because different people prefer different methods. Maybe you're hoping to interpret a horse racing tipster more effectively or maybe you just want to understand the basics. Whichever you are, the following will give you a grounding in what to look for.

Betting on Horse Racing 101

The three different means of betting on horse racing that we are going to look at are standard or traditional betting, spread betting, and Tote betting which is more frequently referred to as betting on the Tote.

I should also mention that recently, matched betting has also risen in popularity but this is perhaps not as common as the other three and that I will cover it in a separate article.

I would advise that if in particular you're a beginner, that you do not attempt matched betting unless you have a solid grasp of the standard forms of betting on horse racing, otherwise you are only going to get confused and potentially lose money.

Standard Betting Explained

So, the first form of betting that we'll look at is standard betting. This is still the most popular way of betting on horse racing and the one that most people tend to use when they start out betting. In fact, it’s still the way I continue to bet today.

Simply put, when you place a standard bet, whether its a bet to win (where the horse must win the race for you to win your bet), or an each way bet (where the horse can finish in the first three or four places), the bookmaker lays out their odds for each horse and these are set in stone, that is to say they cannot be negotiated. Odds do fluctuate and change depending on how much money is being placed on the individual horses, but the prices are always determined by the bookmaker.

To place a bet in this fashion, you simply select your horse, see if the odds appeal to you and if they do, you place your bet. Once you have placed this type of bet, as a punter you know exactly what you are going to win (or lose) right from the start, and so most people are comfortable with this type of bet since you can manage your money more effectively, and this is so very important as a punter.

Why Is Spread Betting Different?

Spread betting has become more popular in horse racing in recent years, although it started out as being more popular in sports such as American football, rugby and cricket; sports where there is potentially a large flexibility in the winning margin. It is also a popular method of betting for those who trade the financial markets.

Using this type of betting for horse racing is definitely not for the beginner, nor the faint hearted, as there is generally the possibility that you do not know how much you stand to lose if you're unfortunate enough to do so.

To explain this as concisely as possible, spread betting on horse racing is taking either the jockey index, winning distance or the distance of places between individual horses, and so involves a fair amount of guessing on the margin, known as 'the spread' between them.

It can be a very lucrative way to bet on horse racing, however the problem that I have with spread betting is that you're never entirely sure exactly how much you stand to lose, and so can quickly run yourself into massive debt without realising it if you are not careful.

It is also a very technical means of betting on horse racing and as I've already mentioned, I do not recommend this if you are a novice. In fact I do not entertain spread betting at all I must admit, it just is not for me.

Betting On The Tote

Betting on the Tote, or Tote betting, is a relatively safe way of betting on horse racing as there are low minimum stakes and your losses are controllable.

In Tote betting, all of the monies from the bets placed on individual races are collected into what is called a 'pool'. After the cost deduction of the bookmaker (The Tote) is deducted, the remaining amount of money is divided out amongst the total amount of winners for that particular horse.

Just like with standard betting, you know exactly how much you stand to lose if your horse does not win the race, but the Tote is also unique in that you may stand to win more than you would through the 'traditional' racecourse bookmakers. Depending on how big the pool is for the race and which horse wins, makes it possible to win more than you think you will.

It is also down to the fact that the Tote calculates their prices differently to the traditional bookmakers and is why the Tote is as popular a way of betting on horse racing today as its always been, particularly for the novice because you can bet with very low stakes and so it is ideal if you are just starting out

Betting On Horse Racing For Dummies

2009-03-16T19:21:00.002Z

I would guess that everybody likes the idea of making some extra cash on the side to supplement the cash in their wallet, and the promise of a possible jackpot is what has made gambling a popular past time throughout the ages. As with all forms of gambling you need to be careful, but I'm here to explain the basics for you.

If you are thinking about betting on horse racing to make some spare cash, here are a few of the basic forms or types of bet that you can place. Plus, for the beginners out there, you may be astounded to learn that there are plenty of ways to make money betting on horse racing outside of simply picking the winner.

First off, since we are covering the basics, the very easiest, (note: not necessarily the easiest way to win, but the easiest to understand) method of betting on horse racing is to place a win bet.

As you may have guessed, with this type of bet you select the horse that you think is going to come in first. If it does win the race then you win too, but if not you are out the money on your bet.

So an alternative, for those who like a better chance of winning back some of their cash, is by having whats called a 'place bet'. A place bet means that you are betting on a horse that you think will come in the first four places in a race, depending on the amount of horses that are involved in that particular race. Although you will not win as heavily, your odds of winning are increased. In order to place this type of bet there have to be at least five horses involved in the race.

If you like the idea of both of these types of bets, then you may decide when betting on horse racing to place a bet which is a combination of these two aforementioned bets, and its called an each way bet.

An each way bet means that you are essentially placing a win bet and a place bet and you get paid for a horse that places, plus if wins you get paid for that bet as well. This is basically a bet that you'd place on a decent valued horse, so for example at odds of 25 to one. Once again for this type of bet, five horses must be involved in the race.

For those who like the thought of higher stakes but therefore higher risk, then you may consider going for what is known as a double bet. A double bet can be either a place or a win bet, but the twist is that you lay money down on two horses in two different races. Essnetially, if both win your total winnings double, but if one part of the bet fails, you lose all of your money on both bets.

Working on the same principle, you can also place a treble bet which is the same only you are backing three horses in three races instead of two.

There is also a bet called an accumulator which involves betting on four or more horse. As you'd expect, the accumulator is a tricky bet to land as you are staking your money where there are many different potential outcomes. This type of bet is a bad idea for a beginner, and in fact I do not even entertain these myself and advise my members to do the same.

The final type of bet I am going to cover is a 'lay bet'. This is something that has become quite popular recently, and it involves betting on horses to lose, rather than to win. It is something that is often only permitted through a betting exchange, however the bet can often be quite lucrative.

The down side is that if the horse you're betting on wins instead of loses, then you can lose a fair amount of cash, so caution must be applied at all times.

Well that covers the basics of the basics. I will be going into more detail about each individual bet, plus other topics within the sport of horse racing in future articles.

Horse Racing Systems Can Have Flaws, But What Are They?

2009-03-14T22:02:00.000Z

Any time you gamble you are always taking a chance. Whether it’s implementing a horse racing system, going for it at the casino or spread betting on an NFL game, there is a chance that you will win and a chance that you will lose.

Maybe I've stated the obvious here, but there is a reason and it will become more apparent as you read on further, so do bare with me.

The world’s best gamblers will tell you that gambling is more of a sport that they can influence, than simply being lucky. So why is this?

Well, before I go into this and explain how you too can be more successful with your betting, let’s look at some of reasons why people fail and often it’s simply a case of relying on lady luck to bring you success.

Anytime you are betting on horse racing, there should be three things that will influence which horse you choose, regardless of which horse racing system you use, and these are:

The odds (value), the statistics (the horse's previous form, it's recent training performances, the jockey that is on board to name but three), and the outside influences (such as the course, the going or the conditions of the race and the competition).

Do Not Make These Same Mistakes

The price or odds being offered for a horse should speak for themselves, but yet I'm afraid to say that many people get this so wrong. A lot of people want the big win, and so implement a popular horse racing system which is just to back favourites.

Now as favourites only win less than a third of the time, the pressure is really on to get huge value from horses who by their very definition won't have much value. Because they are the favourite means that they are unlikely to offer you the odds that you'll need to make a profit, as the bookmakers will not risk putting a higher price on the horse as they would go out of business!

The second horse racing system often used by punters is simply to just back outsiders - a name for a horse that has a high value price, but is less likely to win the race, and often has no chance of winning the race.

In reality, this is just as flawed as the racing system mentioned above whereby you back just favourites. Backing outsiders does mean that you are least going for more value, and so you stand to win more from a winning bet. However, simply basing your horse racing system on price alone is a foolish thing to do, and this is the crux of this situation really.

Yes you want to be looking at value horses, but ones who have a chance of winning and not bringing up the rear, which is what the majority of pure outsiders do. Sure, the bookies get it wrong sometimes, and an occasional outsider will win, but not that often.

What You Should Be Doing

So at the top of this article we mentioned about successful gamblers and asked why they feel they can better their chances of winning, so how do they do this?

Well, from my own experience I would rather make an educated guess at which horse I feel will win, rather than just betting on a whim or shooting in the dark.

Which is why any successful horse racing system, betting plan, call it what you will, should be considering the items that were listed towards the top of this article; the odds, the statistics and the outside influences.

Sure, we don't get it right all the time, but by having and using the information that is available you stand a much better chance of consistently choosing winning horses and thus enjoying your racing all the more.

Cheltenham Festival Tips Did Well

2009-03-14T20:05:00.003Z

And although my Cheltenham Festival tips did well, I did suffer a little, from some vicious virus that has had me laid out for the past two and a bit days, hence my lack of activity :(

Anyway, given that my daily updates were scuppered by this illness, I'll give you a rundown of how the Cheltenham Festival went and how our tips did overall, as we had a decent week it has to be said.

So here goes:

Monday, day one of the Festival:

Tips given: 4
Winners: 2 - Forpadydeplasterer and Quevega

Summary: We advised that you take the price on both horses in the morning, as I had a feeling that their prices would shorten, which they did.

We advised Forpadydeplasterer at 10/1 (SP was 8/1) and Quevega at 5/2 (SP 2/1), and so at the end of day one of the Festival, we were 11 points to the good.

Tuesday, day two of the Festival:

Tips given: 3
Winners: 1 - Ninetieth Minute

Summary: Another decent day as Ninetieth Minute came home for us in impressive style. Once again we advised him early, and at 18/1 he always looked good value. The SP was 14s which is still good value, but I hope you got the 18s that we advised.

So another profitable day, as we accumulate 8.80 points in profit, and so we are 19.80 up for the Festival so far :)

Wednesday, day three of the Festival:

No Bets today.

This was a disappointment, but a fact of racing. There were impressive horses on show today, but we just could not decide and there was no clear cut value horse that we fancied, so there was no bet. The headline horse was Voy Por Ustedes whom most people thought would romp the Ryan Air chase, but with no value this was not worth pursuing... and we were right as he came second!

The other race we were looking at was The World Hurdle, but again we could see no value horse that we felt happy with and of course Kasbah Bliss the 10/11 favourite finished a disappointing 4th.

Sometimes you have to know when to keep your money in your pocket, and we did today to good effect.

Thursday, day four of the Festival:

Tips given: 1
Winners: 0

Summary: Another day where we were cautious because there was not much value worth pursuing in our opinion.

The one we tipped was Starluck in the JCB Triumph Hurdle, but although Timmy Murphy ran a pretty good race on him he didn't quite have the stamina coming up the hill and finished 4th. We only had the one point on him and this was the only bet fro us for the day.

We felt that Kauto Star would take all the beating in the big one, the Gold Cup, but yet again with no value in him this was not a worthwhile bet. As expected, he beat stablemate Denman to gain revenge for last year's result, and in doing so become the only hose to ever retain the Gold Cup.

And so all in all, it was a very profitable Festival for us and our members. 18.80 points at an event that can often be tricky, so we were very pleased with our efforts. Once again, the focus of our racing tips was value and this is why we made the profit that we did.

And so its all over. It came and went so quickly and so its back to the 'standard' meetings for a couple of weeks until Aintree is upon us. Enjoy your weekend and I'll be back soon.

Free Horse Racing Tips, Is There Any Such Thing?

2009-03-12T16:03:00.000Z

If, like thousands of other people each week, you're looking to win some money at the races this weekend, you may want to read the following article as it poses a rather controversial question, as highlighted in the title.

Many people who want to enjoy the instant success of a large win on the horses, often turn online to find what they believe to be effective, quality free horse racing tips. You will have no doubt seen the many countless sites offering free horse racing tips, but are they any good?

Now whilst I'm not here to bash those services that provide free horse racing tips, and whilst to the laymen this may seem like a good idea because you are getting something for free, you need to step back and think for just a minute.

There is an old adage you know, the one that goes "you get what you pay for". Well in this case it may just be true as from hours of research I have found that free horse racing tips can be as effective as putting a pin in the racing page of your daily newspaper.

Whilst I am sure that this is not always the case, and it would be both foolish and wrong of me to state this, it has happened to some of my members in the past. Maybe at times you will win from these tips, but ultimately what you are doing is gambling and you must take it seriously. I talk at great length to a lot of people about treating betting on the horses like a business, and you really do need to do it this way if you want to be successful.

So this begs the question then of how can you tell if the free horse racing tips that you find can be trusted or not? Well, there are several of ways that you can do this, some of which I will now cover.

The first way is to try and judge the authority of the website by looking at the tipster's credentials, previous results and their claims. If you see claims of 90 plus percent strike rates, the alarm bells should start ringing.

You can always contact the website and ask them some questions. You may want to know where they get their tips from and how often they pick a winner. Most should be happy to reply to your questions. Those that don't, alarm bells again.

Cheltenham Festival Tips For Wednesday

2009-03-11T11:21:00.003Z

And so the first day has come and gone already. Out of the four Cheltenham Festival tips we gave yesterday, two won and two didn't, to leave us with an impressive 11 points profit on the day. I do hope you backed our tips yesterday.

Our winners epitomised our strategy of targeting value priced horses, as Forpadydeplasterer won the 2.05pm by a head. I advised on the line in the morning to take the 10/1 on offer, which I hope you all did. The SP was 8/1, so still decent profit if you weren't able to get the 10s.

And in 4.40pm Quevega did the business for us. Again, I advised you take the 5/2 on offer in the morning, with the horse's SP eventually being 2/1. We had a 2 point win on Quevega, and so profited well from his victory.

So a good day.

Today however, is a new and different day. What does it hold in store?

Well, the race that's getting all the headlines today is the Queen Mother Champion Chase, or the 3.20pm to give it its abbreviated name! The reason is that the great Master Minded is running in this one, and I've noticed a lot of Cheltenham tips have involved this horse, but I wonder why?

The reason is, there is no value. Yes, he is a class horse and will take all the beating in this race. In fact, many believe that as long as he stays on his feet, he'll win. But 1/3 favourite?

So I'm going to avoid him and look elsewhere. I'm still finalising my selections, but ones that are worth considering and watching are Carruthers in the 2.40pm. He's a a good jumper and his form thus far has been very good. he won last time out at Ascot and looked a class act.

I also like Mad Max in the 2.05pm, as he is such a big horse that as long as he jumps within his ability, he should have no problem staying the course and competing for victory.

If i have time today I may post again with further thoughts, as I'm frantically looking at all the last minute details, and watching what the weather does.

And if you know of any other possible tips for Cheltenham today, please let me have your thoughts, its always good to hear from you.

Betting On Horses Using Betting Exchanges Explained

2009-03-10T23:31:00.000Z

There’s no doubt that they’ve created a new era in the betting world. Betting on horses via betting exchanges has revolutionized the way that we can place a bet now, but are they everything that we think they are?

You’ve most probably heard about them and you may have even seen them, but why has there been such a buzz about betting on horses using betting exchanges, rather than the traditional bookie?

In this article, I will explain the basics of what a betting exchange is, and why I think that using them gives you a better chance of increasing your horse racing profits.

What Exactly Is A Betting Exchange?

A betting exchange is essentially a betting arena if you like (Betfair being the most popular at this point in time), that enables individual punters that have opposing views about, for example, a particular race, to bet against each other.

This is very different to how it works with a traditional bookie, where everyone is betting on horses with the aim to beat the bookie himself. Betting exchanges are different, and in a sense they have cut out the traditional bookmaker altogether.

All bets placed on horses via betting exchanges, fall into two categories generally; some bets are placed by users who may want to bet in the more traditional way – by backing a horse to win the race. So in this type of bet, you select a horse that you think can win its race, and you place a bet on it to win.

Other punters however, may think a horse will not win its given race and prefer to offer odds to other punters. This is known as laying, and I will explain how this works in a little more detail now.

The Difference Between Backing and Laying

Backing a horse to win works in essentially the same way, whether you are using a betting exchange or a conventional bookmaker. So as I've just mentioned, you are betting that the horse will win the race and if it does, then you win your bet.

However, if you feel that a certain horse can not possibly win its race, then you can place what is known as a ‘lay’ bet on the horse in question.

What this simply means is that you are betting against the horse winning its race, and you are also hoping that there are punters out there that disagree with you, and so they will back it to win.

Look At This In More Detail

Here's an example - You may well be betting on horses and feel that a particular horse, lets call it ‘Three Legged Donkey’, cannot possibly win its race.

What you are doing by placing a lay bet is essentially offering odds to other punters who may wish to back the horse, as they think that it will win.

So you think the horse will lose, but they think the horse will win.

In the event that ‘Three Legged Donkey’ doesn’t win its race, you pick up their (the backer's) stake and so your bet is successful. However, if the horse does somehow win the race, then you must pay out to them.

How much you win or how much you have to pay out in the event of a loss is determined by how much you've bet and what the odds are, much the same as in conventional betting.

This is discussed in more detail in a subsequent article, but I hope that this gives you an idea of what betting exchanges are, what they offer and why if you're someone who likes betting on horse racing, you really need to have an account.

Cheltenham Racing Tips A Plenty This Week

2009-03-10T06:02:00.000Z

Yes, its finally here. I'm going to be posting some Cheltenham racing tips, thoughts and views all this week as we gear up for perhaps the most eagerly awaited Festival for many a year.

The weather could be all important today and so this will most definitely have an affect on who we look to for today, although there is one horse that we're tracking regardless of the weather conditions...

Binocular.

He runs in the 3.20, the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle (to give it its full title!). Binocular is an efficient jumper, which is one of the reasons I like him for Cheltenham, because if you cannot jump well then Cheltenham will find you out!

The chief threat appears to come from Osana, who has previous Champion Hurdle form and experience, and has the stamina to go round Prestbury Park well.

But I think that Binocular can do it. He is stronger than last year when he performed admirably and so this year he will know what to expect.

The only downside for me is that Binocular is currently listed as favourite, and as low as 7/4 with some bookies. I would be looking for him to drift in price, as one thing that you need to have from your Cheltenham racing tips, as with all racing tips, is value. That as you may know, is my mantra.

So I'll be glued to the prices this morning looking for any drifting in price for Binocular. Anything in the 5/2 range ought to be good enough to snap up, so stay tuned and enjoy the first day of the Cheltenham Festival.

Cheltenham Racing Tips Bumper Event Despite Recession

2009-03-09T04:57:00.003Z

Despite the poor economic outlook that seemingly has Britain gripped in an almost depressive state, the organisers at Prestbury Park think it'll be business as usual. Cheltenham Racing tips the attendance to be as good as ever, and they do not feel that the recession will affect attendances.

I must say that it depends on your point of view. Most people that go to the Cheltenham Festival will ha either saved up for it all year, or can easily afford to go anyway, so I suppose it depends on which side of the fence you are.

I expect the Irish to be undeterred however, as they would swim across if they had to! They are one fanatical bunch and I expect to see them in their thousands again this year.

One quick bit of news that I did mention on my other blog yesterday, and that it about the weather in Cheltenham.

It is forecast that is could rain by as much as 10 millimetres in the next day or so, and this could affect the going substantially. Its is currently, good to soft, good in places, but more rain would certainly change that.

As you would expect, we are all waiting to issue our Cheltenham Festival tips on the basis of the going, as it could be a key indicator around this energy sapping course. For anyone that has been betting on horse racing for any length of time, you will know that Cheltenham is one of the most demanding courses on the circuit.

And so it all starts tomorrow. I personally am holding off with my racing tips for the Festival until I know exactly what the weather situation is, so I'll be keeping half an eye on the weather and half an eye on the rest of the racing news coming out of Cheltenham.

Cheltenham Festival May Rock The Kasbah

2009-03-07T07:56:00.000Z

With the Cheltenham Festival only days away, it is evident that horses are being finalised for which races they're going to run in. One such horse is Francois Doumen's Kasbah Bliss, who will be running in the Ladbrokes World Hurdle on Thursday.

And optimism is such that he will go one better than he did last year, when he was runner up to Inglis Drever, that his price is as low as 11/10 with many bookies, so little value to be had.

In terms of challengers, there really isn't one that stands out for me although Big Buck's has experience of winning at Cheltenham.

There are also murmours for Punchestowns and Lough Derg, plus Mighty Man although just how effective he'll be after a near two year lay off is open to debate.

And so it may or may not be Kasbah Bliss that is celebrating next Thursday. I shall be finalising my form study over the weekend and will let you know if I find a suitable value challenger in this race.

Horse Racing Results Create Cheltenham Contenders

2009-03-05T04:27:00.003Z

With the Cheltenham Festival only a few days away (can't wait!), it is evident as that the horse racing results of the past three or four weeks are now increasing in significance, as favourites begin to emerge.

Indeed, confirmations for the upcoming races are now coming through, and one that has caught the eye is Nicky Henderson's Binocular, who is entered in the Smurfit Champion Hurdle.

As with many races at the Festival this year, competition is stiff with an abundance of quality horses making the trip to Cheltenham, and the Champion Hurdle is no exception. Binocular will be in good company, with the race also featuring four former champions; Katchit - whom I've talked about recently in my other horse racing blog, Brave Inca, Sublimity and Hardy Eustace.

And with other top runners such as Punjabi and Sentry Duty - again entries from the Henderson camp, plus David Pipe's two of Ashkazar and Osana, the field is jam packed full of potential.

As usual, the Irish contingent will also have a chance, with Harchibald, Muirhead and Jared all looking to be possibilites from Noel Mead's stable, and so this race is potentially as wide open as any at the Festival.

I am still hoping to be able to get the time to get to Cheltenham as I am having to juggle around a few things, so we'll see. If not, I will definitely be watching it on television, although I'm still hoping to get to Cheltenham to see it live.

Cheltenham Festival May See Best Of Denman After All

2009-03-03T10:08:00.004Z

I have to say this is all very confusing. On Friday, I reported that I'd heard from the Denman camp that opinion was divided on his chances for the Cheltenham Gold Cup next week.

Funny how things can change so quickly in horse racing, isn't it. No sooner had I heard that story, then something else cropped up this morning. A few days ago, there appeared to be a mixture of views on Denman.

Well, now there's been yet another twist...

Part owner, Harry Findlay having intimated the opposite just a fews days ago, has now apparently spoken about Denman having a good chance of competing well in the Cheltenham showcase event. He's now feeling a lot more optimistic of Denman's chances after a workout on the all weather gallops on Saturday.

Denman was apparently showing signs of enthusiasm when going over fences and demonstrated some genuine "zip" between fences, so potentially getting back towards something like his best.

I still think behind the scenes that there are doubts as to whether or not he realistically can win the race, but there is more optimism now that he will at least compete,a nd show that his last run at Kempton was a one-off.

I think everyone in the industry would love to see Denman back to his best adn it would certainly provide for a great battle between him and Kauto Star once again. But the heart problem he had may prove very difficult to fully recoved from, so we'll know a lot more come next week.

If you'd also like to know a little more about the Cheltenham Festival, I've got an article that I wrote on that very subject, so you can see this on my horse racing tips website.

So not long to go now and the excitement is definitely starting to build.

Cheltenham Festival Tips Secret Success

2009-03-02T10:47:00.004Z

In years gone by, the Willie Mullins' stable has seen a few successful winners cross the line at Cheltenham. This year, he tips the Cheltenham Festival to see a real quality horse of his in the form of its life, and with the potential to taste glory in the Weatherbys Champion Bumper.

Sicilian Secret impressed in his outing at Leopardstown, so much so that I'm hearing that Mullins' is quietly confident that the horse can do the same at next week's meeting. He understandably doesn't want to get too excited, but you can tell that he's looking forward to this one running on the big stage.

Mullins' has plenty of other options for the bumper too, but appears to see Siclian Secret as the one that could bring the prize back to Ireland .... yet again. The Irish do have a habit of winning this one, it has to be said!

Gagewell Flyer and Cranky Corner could also feature in the mix for this race, but Sicilian Secret's impressive run has everyone with eyes on the Cheltenham Festival, excited at the prospect of the Mullins trained horse running to his potential.

In fact I am also hearing that William Hill has made him the 4/1 favourite for the race, such was the impact of his run at Leopardstown.

Cheltenham Gold Cup May Not Happen For Denman

2009-02-27T19:38:00.000Z

With less than two weeks until the Cheltenham Festival starts, I am hearing some strange stories coming out of the Paul Nicholls' stable, you know, the one that houses Cheltenham Gold Cup hopefuls Denman (2008's Champion) and Kauto Star.

Apparently, one of the Denman's owners, Harry Findlay has stated that he is not sure whether or not Denman will ever be back to form that landed him the Gold Cup last year. He feels that the fantasctic run that Denman put in that day may have really taken its toll, and that we may never see a run like that out of him ever again.

I must say, if this proves to be true, it will be a real shame.

Paul Nicholls however, was much more upbeat about Denman's chances, saying he was showing signs that he may be back to his best, and that for the first time in a while he was 'sparkling'.

He went on to say that he was going to take him for a gallop but having seen Denman like that, he felt that he didn't need it. Nicholls added that Denman, unlike fellow stable mate Kauto Star, is not a good work house, but that was normal for him and should not affect his chances for a s hot at the Gold Cup again this year.

So a contrast in views. My opinion is that having seen Denman's last run at Kempton 3 weeks ago, he looked a shadow of the horse that we saw win the Gold Cup last March. We do have to consider though, that was his first competitive run for a long while and that it may have simply been a case of getting rid of a few cobwebs.

We'll see. It will be a sham if we never see him back to his best again, so fingers crossed. We'll know an awful lot more in a few days time.

Are Cheltenham Racing Tips Easy To Find?

2009-02-27T17:35:00.004Z

With the Cheltenham Festival fast approaching, a lot of preparation is going on behind the scenes with trainers, owners, jockeys and of course, the horses. But any tips for Cheltenham, whether its the Gold Cup or any of the other 24 races during the four day meeting are waiting on certain decisions.

Who's going to run, and in what race? Who's going to be aboard the horses? What is the going looking likely to be and what is the projected weather forecast?

Although this meeting is one of the biggest of the year, it is ultimately not really any different to any other meeting in terms of my preparation. I still need to study the form, look at the trends, do some digging and look at what could happen.

Obviously Cheltenham is such a high profile meeting, that we all kind of get caught up in the hype and interest, and thats just human nature isn't it?

Stories are coming out of Cheltenham and this is perhaps something that only happens before the bigger meetings, the Aintrees, the Ascots and the Newmarkets of this world, to name a few.

So I think this is perhaps why punters often scratch around for quality racing tips because outside of these higher profile meetings, good racing tips can be hard to find.

I certainly do hear this a lot. And I guess this is the purpose of this blog really, so when I hear a snippet of relevant news, I can convey it to you all.

Anyway, I shall be keeping my ears to the ground in the time between now and the Cheltenham Festival, so do keep an eye out and remember that you can always post an opinion or a suggestion on this blog as to what you want to see.

It is after all, more about you that it is me. Laters...

Will The Cheltenham Festival See Lightning Strike?

2009-02-25T11:28:00.003Z

There was some impressive racing performances yesterday at Leicester, so I am told by my friend John Fullerton. John, incidentally had 3 winners for the day, so well done John!

One of those who stood out was the Venetia Williams trained Lightning Strike, who won the Ladbrokes.com Rutland Water Novices Stakes.

Lightning Strike is now destined for the Cheltenham Festival now, and on this showing he'll not be out of place, as despite the job being made easier by the withdrawal of Jaunty Flight, he showed good form in winning the race.

It appears at this stage, I'm hearing on the grapevine, that Williams has got Lightning Strike ear-marked for the RSA Chase in next month's Festival.

I was also disappointed to see that Willie Mullins' impressive five year old Hurricane Fly, will miss his Cheltenham festival date next month. Word is that Mullins doesn't feel that the horse had made enough progress from a recent setback, and so the sensible thing to do, albeit a disappointment, is to rest him.

The plan will then be to have him fully recovered and refreshed ready for the upcoming Punchestown meeting.

Horse Racing Expert Interview Available Soon

2009-02-24T12:35:00.002Z

I've had feedback from the members of my tipster service and also from readers of my other horse racing blog, asking for more horse racing expert interviews as everyone seemed to enjoy the one that I recently published, the one with the BBC's Clare Balding.

So I'm putting the finishing touches to one that I did recently with an underground National Hunt horse racing expert. I'm in the process of having the transcript edited and finalised and it should be ready to roll in a few days, so make sure to keep a look out.

The interview comprises of a 47 minute audio interview, and at the moment what looks like it will be a 33 page transcript, so its great value and full of facts, stats, information and fun. As soon as its finished I shall annouce it on all my sites.

In fact, one interesting little snippet that came out of that interview was on the subject of racing tips for Cheltenham actually. The guy I interviewed, whom shall remain nameless until I make the interview available, has a strong feeling for a horse called Mikael D'Haguenet, who runs in the first race of the Cheltenham Festival, the WilliamHill.com Supreme Novices Hurdle.

At the moment, he's listed at about 16/1 so it may be worth a sneaky punt while the price is as high as it is, as it is not expected to stay that high, the nearer to the Festival that we get.

Oh well, thats it for today, and I'll see you all soon :)

Does Horse Racing Today See the New Dessie?

2009-02-22T04:44:00.004Z

I was watching the horse racing today on the television, and something spooky happened...

No, I wasn't able to walk away from the television for 5 minutes (those of you that know me will know that is an impossibility!), but what I saw took me back a few years.

In watching the Racing Post Chase at Kempton, I saw Nacarat ridden by AP McCoy, romp to victory over 3 miles at 10-1 ... unfortunately I wasn't on it :(

The spooky part is that this horse, a grey as it happens, went round leading from the front for much of the way, just as the great Desert Orchid used to in the 1980's and early 90's. It really was uncanny. And the competition was pretty good too, with Big Fella Thanks, the 7/2 favourite, coming in third.

AP was hugelt impressed with the run and I have heard a rumour that despite this impressive showing, Nacarat won't be going to Cheltenham as he does not like running downhill, so instead he will go to Aintree in April.

One to watch out for perhaps on this evidence and I'll keep you poste of any more information that I have in the lead up to the Liverpool meeting.

Racing Tips For Cheltenham via At The Races

2009-02-18T10:23:00.003Z

With Cheltenham Races on the horizon and tips a plenty in the offing, I wasn't sure whether to post this one in my regular horse racing blog or this one, but I suppose it doesn't matter really, as long as you get the information.

I've noticed that in the last day or so, our friends from At The Races have now included a separate section to their website for the Cheltenham Festival. You can get to it by clicking this link.

I've had a quick look around it and it is packed full of interesting information about the horses involved, their early prices, who to watch and much more. It's an interesting read and will give you some insight into what I'm sure will be a great meeting come March.

I am still hoping to be able to get there (commitments permitting), but regardless of whether I can or not, I will be updating on what I hear and what I see in both the run-up to the Festival, as well as during it.

So please let me know what you think of At The Race's inclusion of this wonderful Festival to their site, and I see you all soon.

Free Racing Tips For All You Statisticians

2009-02-16T12:26:00.003Z

The Cheltenham Festival is always a meeting I look forward to, probably more than Aintree in fact. As 2008 ground to a hault, I turned my focus to the Festival, to find Kauto Star was available at 3-1 for this season's Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Interesting, I thought, a decent price. So I got on it, not bigtime, but I got on it nevertheless.

My thinking behind it was this. There is in my opinion, a real lack in class opposition for him, apart from Denman, who we now know may never (unfortunately) be back to his best. Of course now Kauto Star's price has come in dramatically and he could be at evens or worse come the big race.

Just to illustrate the gulf in class between him and the rest and for all you Stattos out there, here are some facts that I discovered...

Below are the top 5 chasers since the 2007/08 season, which makes for interesting reading:

Kauto Star - rating of 171
Denman - rating of 169
Voy Por Ustedes - rating of 164
Our Vic - rating of 163
Exotic Dancer - rating of 162

So as we can see, Kauto Star is comfortably ahead of the rest, given that Denman is unlikely to live up to his 169 rating now, and what a real shame that is. A dual between these two at the best at the Festival again, is exactly what the public want to see.

The only thing that all Kauto Star fan's need to be watchful about, is the going at Prestbury Park. If it remains as soft as it is now, or worse, gets even softer, then the top Paul Nichols horse wil not be as happy a bunny as he should be.

Who Will Catch Catch Me At Cheltenham?

2009-02-15T16:35:00.004Z

Seven-year-old Catch Me has already won the Hatton's Grace, Lismullen and Leopardstown Christmas Hurdles this term, so what price a victory at the Cheltenham Festival?

Well, come next week, after his run in the Ladbrokes.com Boyne Hurdle at Navan on Monday, we may know a little bit more and be able to answer that very question.

The Edward O'Grady trained horse has certainly proved that he is comfortable with different distances, and in addition to running in the Boyne Hurdle I've heard that he has been entered in to the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle, as well as the Ladbrokes World Hurdle.

In a recent interview, Edward O'Grady commented that "We have been a little behind because of the inclement weather over recent days but I am very happy with the horse and the ground should be fine," when speaking about his inpending run at Navan.

In terms of his plans for Catch Me for Cheltenham, O'Grady would only say "We will see what happens".

I'll be keeping my ear to the ground with this one. I've watched him a couple of times and will do so on Monday if I can, to see how he copes with the softer ground.

Echo Noises, Are They True?

2009-02-14T12:44:00.003Z

Eight-year-old Hear The Echo has not run over fences since winning the Irish Grand National last spring. It is hoped that he will run in the Red Mills Chase at Gowran Park and trainer Mouse Morris is understandably cautious, saying "It's going to be heavy ground and I just hope he runs respectably and gets his eye in".

I've noticed that Hear The Echo is popular in the betting for the John Smith's Grand National, but it is still not a foregone conclusion as yet as to whether or not he'll run, so all ante post bettors are waiting with baited breath.

The reason that his place in the steeplechase centrepiece is in doubt is because Mouse Morris is not overly pleased with the treatment that Hear The Echo's has received from the handicapper, as the horse has been given 10st 11lb for Aintree.

Mouse also added, "I just don't know whether we go for the Irish National again instead". Well I can tell you that if he does, it will be a huge disappointment for a lot of people, particularly those who've already had a cheeky flutter on him for Aintree. Under the circumstances though, I can completely understand Mouse's predicament.

Comply or Die plans halted

2009-02-13T17:47:00.001Z

It is rumoured that Comply or Die will not run in the three-and-a-half-mile Blue Square Gold Cup Chase at Haydock, after reports that he scoped badly.

It appears the plan was for the 2008 John Smith's Grand National winner was to have used this race as a warm up for retaining his National crown, however due to this late setback he will not now be asked to carry joint top weight of 11st 12lb.

Good news considering, and it now appears the plan is to run him at Cheltenham next month in the William Hill Trophy Handicap Chase.

Trainer David Pipe commented on the reports by saying, "We had to withdraw him because of a dirty scope, so we'll have to wait a bit longer". He went on to add, "I don't know how long it will hold him up, but he'll entered for Cheltenham. Otherwise he's in great form."

I still think he'll have a legitimate chance in the National, depending in the going. This slight detour in plans will not affect his chances I don't think, but only time will tell.