Do punters give staking plans a fair go? Frankly, I don't think they do. Quite a few friends of mine have started off following certain staking approaches and then simply discarded them when a few losers arrived and, quite naturally, the plans couldn't deliver a positive result.

The best staking plan in the world will not work unless the punter can provide it with some ammunition and that means winners. Here I must stress that a vital ingredient of successful punting is patience, and it's something the majority of punters seem to lack. Which is a pity, because a dose of patience will often see you ride over the hump of despair and into the valley of sweetness and light (profits!).

Patience is required when using one of my longtime favourite staking plans, the Succulent 600, a plan that will give you a small winning day if you can arrange to back just one winner at 9/4! Sound tempting? It should, because that's a pretty good deal in anyone's betting language.

Some of you may consider it a tall order. It isn't really. Take your selecting seriously, think carefully, study form, stick to the rational elements of form and you should be able to stab such winners-and better winners, too.

I am assuming now that you have a betting bank of 600 units (say $600). Read the following rules carefully and you will understand fully how to operate the Succulent 600 Plan.

Bet 10 units on Horse A.
(a) If Horse A wins and pays 9/2 ($5.50) or better, then bet 20 units on Horse B and 20 units on Horse C.

(b) If Horse A loses, or wins at less than 9/2 ($5.50), then bet 10 units on Horse B and 10 units on Horse C.

(c) If Horse B wins at 9/2 ($5.50) or better, then regardless of As result, bet another 10 units on Horse C.

(d) If Horse B loses, or wins at less than 9/2, no more bets. You will already have 10 or 20 units going on Horse C.

The most you will need to kick things off is 30 units. My recommendation is that you have a bank of 600 in hand (20 times the normal bet) -just for safety's sake. Hopefully, you will never need to risk it all. If you do, you should seriously consider doing something about your selecting!

The following is an actual test of the method. I asked Brian Blackwell to choose three horses at a midweek Sandown meeting in late July. His bets were as follows:

Horse A: Hadeed-10 units win. Ran 3rd.
Horse B: Cash Trust-10 units win. Ran 2nd.
Horse C: Princess Phoenix-10 units win. WON $4.45. Return $44.50.
Total Stake: 30 units. Total Return: 44.5 units. Profit: 14.5 units.

As you can see, Brian had two placegetters and a winner at 7/2 (Queensland TAB), but this was enough to return the Succulent 600 a very nice profit of 14.5 units, or 48.3 per cent on turnover. In effect, because of the way the bets went, the plan merely provided you with level stakes on each horse (10 units on each).

What if the winner had arrived as the first bet? It would have been the same result. Horse A as a winner paying $4.45 would have meant the same 10 unit bets on Horses B and C. If you got, say, a winner at 5/1 with your first bet you would then place 20 units on each of Horses B and C. If B won at 5/1 you would then have a further 10 units on C. The possibility of big profits is there, as you can see.

You go into the betting day looking for three winners and here's what could happen:

One winner at 9/4: Stake 30 for total return of 32.5 units.
Three wins at 9/2: Stake of 60 units for return of 330 units.
Three wins at 6/1: Stake of 60 units for return of 420 units.

Another example: Horse A wins at 9/2. We have 10 units on it and get a total return of 55 units. We then place 20 units on Horse B and 20 units on Horse C. Let's assume Horse B wins at 2/1. We get a return of 60 units. Because Horse B won at less than 9/2 we have no further bets, but we still have that 20 units from Horse A's win going into Horse C. If he wins at, say. 2/1 we get another 60 units return. Altogether we have staked 50 units for a total return of 175 units-a grand profit of 125 units.

The potential for good wins like this is very good with the Succulent 600. It hits hard when it hits in full flight. All you need do is to think very carefully about your selections; don't shoot too high.

The beauty of this plan is that you should never get into a bad position. Just that one winner paying $3.25 on the TAB will see you emerge with a small profit. A 3/1 winner will give you a $40 return for a $30 outlay - a profit of 33 per cent on turnover! Not bad.

Look at this staking plan carefully and decide if it suits your needs. You can, if you like, run separate banks for racing in different states. If you want to stake $90 a day, or even less if you don't want to bet in $10 lumps, you can have a good day's betting in, say, three states, backing a total of nine horses in blocks of three.

By The Optimist

PRACTICAL PUNTING - SEPTEMBER 1990