Drink Me Pretty Horse

In Australian horse racing the four Melbourne racecourses stand out for their complete difference to each other — and the barrier draw is worth something different at every one. Statsman takes thre...

Australian horse racing runs on so many racetracks, all of varying sizes and designs, that the track itself carries a form guide of its own. Statsman spent five years on winning patterns at Randwic...

Professional gamblers call it 'deep state' handicapping: the horse racing method Bill Benter and Alan Woods used to make millions on Hong Kong racing. The average punter has no idea of the penetrat...

Most horse racing staking plans tell you to bet bigger after every loser. The 10K System does the opposite — one of three betting systems Peter Travers set out for Australian punters, where the sta...

The favourite looks like the safest bet in Australian horse racing, and across 660 races counted one at a time it lost 25 per cent on turnover — even though the first favourite won 174 of them, mor...

Do lucky saddlecloth numbers win? In 2007 a Practical Punting writer counted 660 Australian horse racing results — 7,363 runners, every TAB number from one to ten — instead of arguing about it. Num...

In this article, PPM editor Brian Blackwell reviews a new book by the colourful English professional punter Dave Nevison, called A Bloody Good Winner and examines what Nevison has to say about bei...

Paul Simon found fifty ways, at least, to lose his lover. I suppose that there must be at least 500 ways to lose your money and, so far as the racetrack is concerned, we can probably double that w...

Paul Simon found fifty ways, at least, to lose his lover. I suppose that there must be at least 500 ways to lose your money and, so far as the racetrack is concerned, we can probably double that w...

I went back to July 1990 for this month's "back to beyond" source material. The Optimist was still writing the same patter then as he is now. Fifteen years ago, give or take a few months, he was...

When the editor came up with this idea, he really sparked some fiery opinions around the office. Our newest member argued that the magazine really shouldn't be telling people about all the mista...

INTERVIEW 1. THE VIEWS OF JON HUDSON Level Staking Versus Progressive Staking: opposing theories of successful turf investment. Thanks a lot Jon, for making the time available for this extende...