While gaming at casinos is always -- ultimately -- a function of luck, the Sport of Kings is elevated far above games of mere chance. Regardless of the elegance of the roulette wheel or the intensity of the blackjack table, neither came approach racing for its subtlety, complexity, and beauty. The terms of casino games are always set. The odds might just as well be written in stone. Not so with this great sport. Flesh and blood come into play. The interplay of horse and rider. The conditions of the track. The field. Timing.

In order to bet successfully in this great sport, you must bring to bear your skill and judgment. In no other betting environment do you have so much control over your fate.

Your greatest advantage over the bookmakers is one of choice. Whereas you can choose your races -- and bets -- the bookmaker is obligated to participate in virtually every race conducted for 52 weeks a year. You can avoid a bet in a race that is not to your advantage. The bookmaker enjoys no such freedom.

Yes, choice is your greatest ally. Yet for too many, it is their greatest enemy as well. Without mincing words, the simple truth is that the average bettor frequently makes the wrong choice. In doing so, he concedes the edge he has over the bookmaker and virtually guarantees that he will remain a loser over time.

Common wisdom dictates that you should familiarize yourself with the individual characteristics of the horses, the field, the track and the form book. Needless to say, such an endeavor demands a huge commitment -- in time and effort. Indeed, it is virtually a full-time job. Those who master this knowledge will always be best placed to beat the book. They deserve the profits they earn.

But you are not such a person. You already have a job and you cannot invest the time or energy to compete with these professionals. What are you to do? By being disciplined, intelligent and sticking to a system that works, you can increase your odds of success.

Bookmakers love the bettor who places bets on whim, on the name of a horse, on the colour eyes of the jockey -- on anything but a system. You need a system if you are to win! The worst possible system you could use is no system at all!

You must focus on the most dependable horses if you are to correctly pick the day's best bet. Favourites will almost always be the ones you will look at. With good reason. They are favourites for a reason. By simply selecting any favourite at random you will have a 30% - 40% chance of picking a winner.

The question is, how to improve those chances!

The most reliable favourites on any given day inevitably are those who occupy the lower end of the price range. You must remember that because of all the variables involved in horse racing, the actual favourite cannot possibly be determined until right before the race. Obviously, you will have to consult with one of the printed betting forecasts such as the national dailies or The Sporting Life.

Study each race to be run that day and write down the names of the five favourites with the lowest odds. In the event that there is a tie, include all such runners for further consideration. From this short list, you will be determining the day's single horse selection.

Do not fear low odds. Short odds should not be rejected due to a cursory examination. Even money often translates into an outstanding value if its true price should be 4-7.

There are those who reject the favourite on the grounds that they can get better "value" elsewhere. We call these people fools. What is the "value" of backing a horse at 5-1 if, in reality, there is only a one in ten chance that your bet will succeed? There is only one person who will profit from a "system" like that -- the bookmaker.

The real key to successful betting is not being greedy. Do not look for a small stake to garner you thousands of pounds. Rather, use a system which will consistently make you a winner. Financially -- and psychologically -- winning small but often is a smart approach to any kind of wager.

Okay, so now you have your five favourites. What next?

Your next gambit is to establish a system to evaluate these five contenders. By following this point system, you will take the guess work out of your evaluation.
 

Forecast Odds	Points Given
1-2	67
8-15	65
4-7	63
8-13	62
4-6	60
8-11	58
4-5	55
5-6	54
10-11	52
Evens	50
11-10	48
6-5	45
5-4	44
11-8	42
6-4	40
13-8	37
7-4	36
15-8	35
2-1	33
9-4	31
5-2	28
11-4	27
3-1	25
10-3	23
7-2	22
4-1	20

Further, it is possible to evaluate a horse based on its last outing. This makes sense. After all, winning begets winning. For this reason, we can begin to quantify this aspect of our evaluation.

If a horse placed 1st in its last race, award 45 points.

If a horse placed 2nd in its last race, award 40 points.

If a horse placed 3rd in its last race, award 40 points.

For all other finishes, award 35 points. Also, horses that have yet to race in the current season receive 35 points irrespective of their final finish of the previous season.

Another consideration in quantifying your decision is the value of your horse's last race. If the winner's prize money of the previous race was worth at least 20% more than the current prize money, award the horse 50 points. All others should follow this criteria:

Last race prize same as current race, award 40 points.

Last race prize 20% less than current race, award 30 points.

You should also bear in mind that favourites win more regularly in non-handicap events. For this reason, it makes more sense to award more points to contenders in these events. Therefore, award 40 points to a contender running in a non-handicap race and 30 points for running in handicap or nursery races.

Another consideration in evaluating your contender is the size of the field. After careful review of the long history of racing, we have concluded that favourites succeed less often in events containing a large field. Therefore, we reject the "folk wisdom" that a bigger field means a "bigger" certainty and suggest the following awards:

45 points in those races with 10 or fewer runners.

40 points in those races with 11 - 16 runners.

30 points in those races with 16 or more runners.

Market leaders often have a poorer record in competitive races. Consider the following point award:

45 points if there are no rivals which won the last time out.

45 points if there is one rival which won last time out.

35 points if there are two rivals which won the last time out.

If three or more rivals won their last time out, award 30 points.

Finally, if a horse has demonstrated success on the day's course then this must be factored into your calculations. Award your horse 10 points if it has previously won on the course and 10 points if it has previously won over the day's distance.

Once you have factored in all these considerations, tally the points you have awarded to each of your five contenders. The horse with the greatest total is your best qualifier for the day's bet. It's that simple. No "feelings in the belly". No emotion. No getting caught up in the thrill of the race. Just smart calculation.

Even so, you should never forget that both horse and rider are living creatures bound to have better and worse days. This is a variable which you cannot often calculate and which makes betting exciting. Remember, it is the uncertainty which makes it wonderful. Never give up. Follow these calculations and you will win -- if not today then certainly tomorrow.

Your aim will be for target profit, T, of 5 points per race. I use a bank of £200 and give each 'point' a 50p or £1 value. Once you have decided the amount you wish to nominate for each 'point', this should never be altered during a racing sequence.

It is only a matter of time before you have a win even if you know nothing about racing. The reason you have to settle for a relatively low cash value for each point is that this amount multiplies on each loser. Lets imagine you had ten losers in a row, if you had given each point a value of £1 per point then your stake for the 11^th bet would be to recover £55. If you had given each point a value of 25p then you would be aiming to recover £10.25. Consider the risks you are taking and compare this with the profit you wish to make!

This system has been used for many years by those who do not believe in gambling. They believe in racing as a business. Now the secrets of the methods are yours!

T =Points target for race

T+L = Target + Loss (if losing)

OR Target - Gain (if winning)

S = Stake

R = Result

W = Points won that race

L = Points lost that race

AWS + Running total of accumulated WINS and LOSSES

Target profit reached, start sequence again
 

RACE	T	T+L	S	R	W	L	AWL
1	05	05	2	L	-	2	-01
2	10	12	4	L	-	4	-06
3	15	21	7	L	-	7	-13
4	20	33	11	2-1	22	-	+09
5	25	16	5	L	-	5	+04
6	30	26	9	1-1	09	-	+13
7	35	22	7	L	-	7	+06
8	40	34	11	4-1	44	-	+50
9	0	05	2	L	-	2	-2

As you can see, in race 8, the target profit of 40 points was reached and exceeded. At this point all the profit is withdrawn and the sequence started again with 5 points as the target.

To calculate the race stake, divide by T+L by 3 to the nearest whole number. Then to win at 3-1 or over will clear ALL outstanding losses AND give the expected profit.

Many professionals advise against using odds-on prices or anything below evens, and I would say that if you follow the instructions you should not need to bet on anything less than evens.

You could, if you wish, pay the betting tax on each race by adding it to the target for the next race. In this way the method would pay your tax as well.

You do not need to bet on each race however many Professionals bet on every race at any given meeting every day. For example there may be 6 races at a meeting and six days racing, therefore a total of 36 bets in a week.

My advice is select your races carefully or better still subscribe to an advice service. Beware of newspaper tips and naps. One 'expert' gave over thirty losers on the trot. Although this is rare, it can happen, and if the target is too high, this run can be uncomfortable.

Alternate your bets with three or four bookmakers as no bookmaker will absorb winning bets over a lengthy period.

Whatever stake you use remember that a single win of 3-1 or over will clear ALL outstanding losses AND give the EXPECTED PROFIT!

This system can be relied upon to produce regular winners at reasonable prices.

Choose one race a day. It doesn't actually matter which race.

There are two different systems depending upon whether the race is a handicap or non handicap. If the race is a non handicap the bet is as follows:-

One point ot win on the unnamed favourite and one point on the named favourite. It will sometimes occur that in reality you are placing both stakes on the same horse, more often than not in non handicap races this will not be the case, however either way stick to the bets as explained here as this will give a good safety margin when betting on the specific race each day.

If the race is a handicap race the bet is slightly different as follows:-

One point to win on the forecast second favourite and one point to win on the forecast third favourite.

As you can see the bet each day be it on a handicap or non handicap race uses two points from your betting bank.

As an extra measure to increase profits you may wish to use two separate betting banks and utilise two different races each day.

Either way it is entirely up to you which race you use and for the more adventurous punters who wish to increase profits this plan is so consistent that any reasonable staking plan can be used.

Form Races refer to all the past races given in detail by the Racing Post.

Placed refers to 1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd NOT 4^th or anything lower.

You can use level stakes or a staking plan.

Only consider races run in Great Britain.

Do not consider the courses Lingfield and Southwell.

Do not consider any meetings held on all weather courses.

Consider most races except selling races, conditional, amateur or those with lady jockeys.

Out of the remaining races consider those with between four and sixteen runners.

Don't consider races where less than half or only half of the runners have a topspeed rating.

Narrow down the runners in the selected races by picking the horses which coincide with being in the topspeed's top 2-4 and topspeed's last time out top 2-4. This varies from race to race depending on the number.

For a race with 4-6 runners the horse must be in the top 2.

For a race with 7-11 runners in the top 3.

For a race with 12-16 runners in the top 4.

So for an eight horse race for example, we are interested in the top three of each rating.
 
 

HORSE & RATING FROM LAST RUN		MASTER RATING
A(86)		104
B(95)		101
C(51)		94
D(41)		94
E(91)		91
F(40)		84
G(72)		72
H(39)		52

Here the top three are horses A,B and C. The last time out the top three (the figures in brackets) were B, E and A. The two coinciding horses A and B qualify for further consideration, the rest are neglected.

The horses must have been placed in at least half of their races this season. If they haven't run this season then you can rule them out.

The trainer must be one of the top 20 trainers (in the most recent list given in the Racing Post). If on a day a list greater than 20 is given then the trainers who produce more than 30% winners qualify also (but only on the day they appear in the table).

In the form races the horses must have been placed in a race of greater or within 25% of the value of todays race (this is achieved by multiplying the value of todays race by 0.75 or three quarters and then comparing.

These are the rules specific to National Hunt Racing:-

Rule out the following:-

Horses which haven't run within 35 days

Horses aged 12 or over

Horses which are odds on in the betting forecast

Ignore horses carrying 11-7 and above. Only consider horses carrying 11-3 and above if they have been placed carrying within 2lbs of todays weight.

A horse must be able to handle the distance therefore it must be either a distance winner (indicated by a (D)), or placed 4 lengths behind in a race within 1 furlong of todays distance or won a race within 2 furlongs. (Remember there are 8 furlongs in a mile).

If more than one horse remains then rule out the race. If 1 horse remains then that is the selection.

These are the specific rules for Flat Racing:-

Rule out the following:-

Horses that haven't run within 28 days.

Horses aged 8 or over.

Horses which are odds in the betting forecast.

Ignore horses carrying 9-7 and above. Only consider horses carrying 9-3 and above if they have been placed carrying within 2 lbs of todays weight.

A horse must be able to handle the distance therefore it must be either a distance winner (indicated by a (D) ) or placed 2 lengths behind in a race within ½ furlong of todays distance or won a race within 1 furlong.

If more than 1 horse remains then rule out the race. If 1 horse remains then that is your selection.

1) Watch the first race at any given meeting.

2) Subtract the smaller Trap No from the Larger: I.E.: 1 beats 3, 3-1 =2.

3) Back the resultant trap No in the next race.

4) If  lose, repeat : I.E:  5 beat 4, 5 - 4 = 1, back the 1 dog next
race, double your initial stake.

5) Sounds so simple, I challenge you to find ANY meeting on the Dogs
where  the system loses in any 12 race run.

A good little system for backing in a race where you have no idea as to
the form, etc.
 

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