Winter is almost upon us, and with it the challenge of bog tracks and their intrinsic propensity for flukish and downright flummoxing results. Personally, I normally quite enjoy these frosty months on the punt, for if you look deep enough into murky form and mud-splattered pedigrees, you can often find that little edge you need to stay ahead. Having said that, horses going from a dead track one week, to a heavy 10 the next, and then back to a slow 7 really can make studying the form an extremely

Winter is almost upon us, and with it the challenge of bog tracks and their intrinsic propensity for flukish and downright flummoxing results. Personally, I normally quite enjoy these frosty months on the punt, for if you look deep enough into murky form and mud-splattered pedigrees, you can often find that little edge you need to stay ahead. Having said that, horses going from a dead track one week, to a heavy 10 the next, and then back to a slow 7 really can make studying the form an extremely frustrating task, rendering consistent performance from both horse and punter virtually impossible, and it is at times like these that I encourage people to do one simple thing: go west. Virtually every weekend on Western Australian racetracks you are guaranteed to be faced with a dry track, thus ensuring (relative) reliability in performance and eliminating one of the typical variables of racing. In winters past I have found WA to be a sheltered cove in otherwise stormy seas, where at the very least, you feel mentally on top of things and can begin to trust tracks and horses again. Start brushing-up on your WA form now, as it can prove invaluable when the days grow shorter and the fetlocks plunge deeper.

Also, stop by tomorrow and read all about my flirtations with the weekend's AFL markets with 'FOOT$IE'; from tomorrow until season's end a regular Friday morning feature of this blog. Being a self-proclaimed doyen of Aussie rules, I'm expecting some high-flying results, so hopefully we can snare some winners. Apologies in advance for excluding League from my divine prognostications, but the fact that I until recently thought that the Adelaide Rams and South Queensland Crushers were competition forces means it's probably a good thing that I'm not offering any advice...