In these days of parlay betting, more and more punters are looking towards coupling up their fancies in doubles, hoping for the day when they strike three or four winners and have grouped them all in the one parlay.

The only drawback is that it's extremely difficult to get four winners, or three, for that matter! But when I say that I add a get-out clause-you can get multiple winners but only if you have the patience to take one a day. What I mean by this is that you spread your parlay over a number of meetings on different days.


In this way, you can operate what I call The Chain Gang Method of investment. It's basically aimed at place punters, but you can use it for the win tote if you like.

I stress that you must have lots of patience if you are to work this method to the best advantage. What you do is pick ONE special a day and back it for a place. Just stick with the one bet a day, and you'll give yourself more than a fighting chance of coming out on top.

The Chain Gang Method means that you spread your investments in a series of mixed doubles over eight plays. Now, a $1 punter will need a bank of $28. That's all. But let's assume you bet in $10 units and that means a bank of $280.

Your first bet is $70. You set aside $60 for your 2nd bet, $50 for your 3rd bet, $40 for your 4th bet, $30 for your 5th bet, $20 for your 6th bet and $10 for your 7th bet. The 8th bet will depend on how you've done on the previous seven, as it will be entirely made up of re-investments. Okay, now you kick off with that $70 bet and the broad idea is to have a complete series of doubles embracing eight races (on different days).

Let's assume you place your $70 on a placegetter which pays $1.50 for a $1 unit. This gives you a return of $105. You now re-invest this sum over the next seven horses you have chosen-that's $15 each. On to the next bet. You now invest your required $60 on the 2nd horse and also have a separate $15 bet on it. Let's assume the horse ran 3rd and paid evens. On the $60 bet you get back $120, on the $15 bet you get $30. Okay, pocket the $30 as a bonus profit. Then re-invest the $120 on the next six horses-at $20 each.

You will see by now that you have a rapidly mushrooming investment. On the 3rd horse, you now have the required $50 bet, and also $15 from your first placegetter and $20 from your second placegetter. Things are becoming clearer? They should be. You are now on the threshold of making some real big money from your special place bets.

And so the progression goes on. Should you strike eight placegetters in the method you will collect an absolute stack, even with short-priced results.

Over a play of eight races you are having 28 doubles. If you were patient enough to wait for the right horses there's every reason to expect that you could land at least six of the eight selections as placegetters.

You can, if you wish, play this method for win bets. Naturally, it will be harder to achieve results, but if you did happen to strike say, four or five winners from the eight horses, you'd be rolling in loot.

If you lack patience, there's no reason not to use the method on the one day. You could pick a horse in every race and work the Chain Gang Method on those selections. With three or four winners you would enjoy a very profitable day.

My suggestion is that you adopt a cautious approach and pick ONE bet a day and spread the mixed doubles over eight days. That way you'll be on the best bet of the day each time.

Example: If you had seven horses all running a place at, say even money, by the time the 8th bet came around you would have staked $280, but you would have $800 in your hand with another $120 going on to the 8th horse. If it won at evens you would then have an extra $240, making a grand total of $1040 for your $280 stake.

Take a good look at this most interesting method of investment. I am confident it will provide you with a lot of fun and some nice profitable streaks.

By Mick Collins

PRACTICAL PUNTING - JULY 1988