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The late Don Scott once wrote that the best form of exotic betting is the trifecta. I think he was right. Don said picking a trifecta winning bet was a test of skill rather than a game of chance. ...
I’ve spent years trying to beat the TAB and bookies and I’ve lost my bank more times than I can remember. There have been a few big wins; as many as a man with only three fingers could count on ...
There are two groups of punters who invariably go to the races, or their TAB agencies, with the percentages piled high against them. They are the backers of favourites and longshots. No matter wh...
Victoria can proudly boast many of the best country racetracks in Australia. Quite a number of them offer spacious, testing courses which offer every runner a chance. The best courses, in my opi...
The great 'corruption in racing' probe continues...and now it's alleged that top jockey Mark Zahra is embroiled in the Smoking Aces race-fixing scandal. The Age says it can also reveal that the Aus...
The shortest way home is always on or near the inside rail. Well, that's technically true, as we all know, but we also know that many times it doesn't find you the winner of a race. Especially whe...
The impact of 'weight' on any horse is invariably a key talking point every raceday. When it's said that a horse is 'well-weighted' for a race it means that it's considered the horse is favourably...
Can any Practical Punting Monthly readers remember back to the 'dark' days before 1985, when there wasn't such a magazine as this? Doesn't bear thinking about, does it? In those bygone days, punt...
In this series of articles, Denton Jardine and The Optimist chat about ideas for successful trifecta betting. As the series continues, we will also be bringing you the ideas of various experts fro...
Big bets and market movers on Saturday (from TAB Sportsbet):RANDWICKRace 2 - NEVER DOUBT MEOpened at $5.50 backed into $4.20Some of the bigger investments were $2,600 @ $4.80, $3,000 @ $4.20, $3,00...
Psychologists call it 'patterns of behaviour' and, of course, they're talking about human beings and the way that 99 per cent of us adopt a rational lifestyle with predictable behaviour. But what...
The fitness of a racehorse, as we all know, is of paramount importance when it comes to determining how it might run in a given race. Fit horses win races, goes the old saying. When I lived in Am...
0ne thing that is constant in the world of punting is that we need to explore new angles to either enhance our selection process or improve our ability to eliminate losers. An angle that has been ...
Fitness plays such an important role in horse racing, and so few punters really know much about how to assess it, that we assigned Statsman to set out in detail his own expert views on this import...
Fitness - as far as off-course punters are concerned is very much a mystery. TAB punters haven't a clue as to whether a horse is fit or otherwise as it lopes off to the starting gates. We may see...
Few horses manage to win immediately after returning from a spell-a rest from racing of two months or more. Some manage to win after a let-up, but the odds are pretty much against any horse coming...
There are, I believe, six 'basics' in horse-racing form assessment. After experimenting with real money for the past three years I have formulated the following list: A fit horse One of the ...
There were a number of horses racing second-up from spells at Eagle Farm on December 5. All lost. At Sandown that day, there were 11 horses in that category. All lost. At Rosehill, there were six....
We hear a lot about the 'second-up syndrome'. Those who believe in it make the sweeping generalisation that horses racing second-up from a spell never win. They avoid them like the plague. But wh...
In his fine book The Key Factor Is Fitness, Queensland racing analyst Barry Blakemore provides some classic examples of how the power of the form book can guide you to winners. The Chester Manifo...