I have been besieged by callers wanting to know more about the AB-field trifectas I have a craving for, and wanting me to apply some rules and regulations to selections.

I will not be providing specific "systematic" rules this month, because I want to go another way. Next month we can have a look at some examples.

Why ABC, and even D, as I titled this month's effort?

Well, A is the first horse (see the interviews with Damien Whitchurch in the August and September issues of PPM), and B is the second horse.

C is the field. Shouldn't it be F? No, because we are going to try something different here to keep matters within the bounds of betting reality.

Say you have a bank of 900 units. I have said so many times in the past (many of you can probably repeat this parrot-fashion) that you don't need the bank up front; you merely have to be sure that you can be honest about it and not spend 10 per cent on the first day. One per cent would be 9 units, maximum.

If you start with 3 units for an AB race, that leaves 887 units in the bank if those 3 go down. You will need to find another 3 for the next operation.

My advice would be to seek out one or two ABs a day. I have frequently found them on daily double races, allowing me an extra bite of the cherry. For example, if I have AB-AB-field (C) in each leg, I will also take a daily double AB into AB (four bets).

I call it bet D.

My bets are:

  • Two singles in each leg: A and B (four bets, four bank units)
  • Two C trifectas (two bets, two bank units)
  • Four doubles (D) (four bets equivalent to one unit of my bank)

This means at least 7 units of my bank are in play for the day's operation.

Of course, I bet so that if my first leg wins, I may not then bet on A and B in the second leg, and I can sit on 5 units outlay for the day if I wish.

Should I lose the first bet and the double, I might consider having 2 units on each of the A and B singles in the second leg, thereby increasing my day's outlay to the 9 unit (1 per cent) figure 1 mentioned above.

Let's go into all this in some detail.

Let's say I pick an AB trifecta in race five and another in race seven, and they are the legs of a daily double.

I estimate that, on average, I will outlay $26 to $30 on this AB trifecta. To simplify matters I am going to therefore make $30 equal 1 unit.

A $30 unit means I will need a bank of $27,000, with a maximum of $270 ever being in play on one day.

If you bet in 50 cent trifecta units, you can halve all that. A $15 unit means a bank of $13,500, over 100 betting days (which could mean a year for the weekend punter, and assumes no returns at all from a hundred ABs, before he goes broke!).

Let's say I bet in $1 units, okay? I have to be able to find $270 maximum if I want to take this idea through. I remind you that if this is too steep, forget it and go back to 1 unit total on A and B, and 1 on C. That means you'd spend $30 on the trifecta (C) and $15 win on each of A and B, a total of $60 in $1 units and $30 in 50 cent units.

Now, back to that $270.

I bet $30 on the C in each leg. That makes $60. I regard that as ONE unit each.

I then bet ONE UNIT on A and ONE UNIT on B in leg one. That makes $30 each, or $60.

So I have outlaid $90 on race five.

So far I have also outlaid $30 on race seven for the C.

I am out $120, or four units.

I then take the daily double, AB into AB. I call it the D bet. Total outlay is ONE UNIT, $30, so the four doubles here are for $7.50 each.

I have now outlaid $150, or 5 units (A,B,C in leg one, D in both legs, and C in leg two).

I do not bet on A and B in the second leg until my first leg has been run. I then decide whether or not to bet on A and B in the second leg.

If I know I have a good double going, I don't outlay the additional 1 or 2 units. However, I need to use my head here. If the C got up in leg one, clearly I am having a good day with a trifecta and a winner, and I let the double run. If it didn't, but A or B still won, I estimate my likely return on the double and calculate the necessity of having more money on the race seven selections.

If they are not favourites, I will probably just let them run. If they are shortish (say $5 or less), I might still back my second leg selections. This is unlikely but I might do it, given the right circumstances.

If I lose race five altogether, I will probably have TWO UNITS on A and B in the seventh race.

So I will now have outlaid 9 units for the race.

Next month I will argue the case for and against betting two horses for a win in a race, and look at various ways of arranging these bets to take advantage of the odds and the logic of racing.

Click here to read Part 2.

By The Optimist

PRACTICAL PUNTING - OCTOBER 1999