áMaking Money at The Races (3)Last time I was talking with you about systems and how they can be devised. This session is about the second way I listed: professional selectors.Of course I have my biases and you probably do too, but I'll stay neutral and set out a list of prerequisites. We can go from there.1. The selector must be known and proven, or from a proven stable of selectors.2. There must be some evidence of this selector's consistency.3. We must accept that every selector, no matter ho

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Making Money at The Races (3)

Last time I was talking with you about systems and how they can be devised. This session is about the second way I listed: professional selectors.

Of course I have my biases and you probably do too, but I'll stay neutral and set out a list of prerequisites. We can go from there.

1. The selector must be known and proven, or from a proven stable of selectors.

2. There must be some evidence of this selector's consistency.

3. We must accept that every selector, no matter how good, will have runs of outs.

4. A professional selector should be available to his public via email or some contact form.

5. The later the selector can select, the better.

6. Trust in your selector(s) is the ultimate commitment and must exist.

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Now let's have a look at those:

1. New faces appear. Of course they do. If they are from a trusted stable, fine. If not, ask for some evidence of their history etc. Surely that's not too much to ask.

2. Over the long haul it's nice to know that your professional selector(s) do pick winners. This game is hard. Look at the newspaper tipsters every week. I can show you examples where specialist racing papers go whole programs with NONE of their tipsters tipping ANY winners at all.

3. There'll be the bad patches. Claims of 100% - or close to it- success rates are unsustainable. Ever tried to pick a certainty - just one- from each of the major cards on a Saturday? Do it for fun next weekend and you may be surprised. And suitable chastened.

4. Yes I use a nom de plume but you can email me (ask me a question) and you'll get an answer. That goes for many pros. The ones that live in post boxes or on 1900 numbers may be somewhat more difficult to locate. I don't say they are... but there's the caveat.

5. The paper guys have to go in Thursday evening for the weekend tips. What's more, the specialist papers are printed by lunchtime Thursday! That's 48 hours ahead. The best of them have been considering the noms and then awaiting the final fields. But it's still a rush. Most selectors are restricted by work hours and by punters' wishes, and they can do a grand job by early Friday afternoon. They've seen the form and had the time to weigh things up. The few that can provide final thinking are often favoured by final information.

6. So, all in all, I think trust is a key factor. That's built out of what you have come to know and expect from a professional or a group of professional selectors. Call it faith if you prefer. Once you have determined that someone does a better job than YOU can, stick. Long term, it should pay off.

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