No staking plan can weather a really bad run of outs without either breaking the bank or the punters heart. For a couple of months I have been testing a target betting plan for small stakes and although there have been some curly moments it has delivered simply because the worst run of outs was sensible. This weekend I ventured up north to Coolangatta, Queensland with three mates, Kibbo, Moonie and Gavin, for a good old fashioned boys weekend. Whereas they sunk enough beer combined to sink three

No staking plan can weather a really bad run of outs without either breaking the bank or the punters heart. For a couple of months I have been testing a target betting plan for small stakes and although there have been some curly moments it has delivered simply because the worst run of outs was sensible. This weekend I ventured up north to Coolangatta, Queensland with three mates, Kibbo, Moonie and Gavin, for a good old fashioned boys weekend. Whereas they sunk enough beer combined to sink three battleships I sipped orange juice, drank tea, coffee and the equivalent of about six stubbies for the whole weekend due to my recent heart issues. As I knew boredom would set in just watching the boys down a few I decided to push my staking plan and bet on horses racing in unchartered territory. "Unchartered territory" is a cute way of saying racetracks I normally do not bet on across the country. With a wallet full of money, an active mind and no beer in my hand what else could I do?

On Friday afternoon I struggled to come to grips with the Friday class horses and lost however a juicy $3.90 place dividend at Moonee Valley night meeting saw me surge back to a slight lead at the end of a frenetic days betting. After my normal Saturday punting, on fields where I actually know the horses, I surged further ahead and was making a delightful 21.7% profit on turnover. I bounced out of bed Sunday with massive anticipation as there were meetings everywhere and my confidence levels were high. After all place betting on well fancied horses is not that big a risk, is it?

By the time I had finished Sunday night at about 7 pm all my profits from the previous two days had disappeared and a cavity had started to appear in my wallet big enough for seven elephants to stampede through. After 28 races, plus some "let's throw in a lazy $10 each and have a go at the trifecta" bets, the statistics showed I had collected a pathetic 11 times with three place dividends at the miserly odds of $1.00, $1.30 and $1.30. Never mind each was showing around $1.60 or better just before the jump: that's what they paid after the race.

Actually, I am exaggerating, as the loss was not that much in the scheme of a weekend away with the boys but it did drive home three gigantic lessons. If you bet on fields where you do not know the relative ability of each runner, how they normally position in a field from certain barriers and where value is difficult, if not impossible, to calculate then you are history. Another lesson learnt (again) is that you just cannot trust dividends, especially in the place pools, to hold up on the lower class meetings. You really are gambling that no one decides to bet a sizeable amount in the last thirty seconds and ruins your dividend.

However, what really mattered was that I had a fantastic weekend with three great mates who love nothing better than to have a beer, a bet and most of all laugh. I do not think I have laughed so much so often in such a short time. I look forward to the next trip wherever and whenever that will be - again I will be tempted for those "throwaway" bets but isn't that part of the fun, too.