One of my joys is to open a formguide and just simply start "doin' the form. To some people I know this an unbelievable waste of time yet the same people will spend all day on a golf course and extra time on the nineteenth hole in the bar or will go to the football or go elsewhere. To others those past times are also a waste of time and so it goes on. The bottom line is that I like the magic of a form guide and all those lovely figures that need analyzing.Earlier this week my editor, Brian
One of my joys is to open a formguide and just simply start "doin' the form. To some people I know this an unbelievable waste of time yet the same people will spend all day on a golf course and extra time on the nineteenth hole in the bar or will go to the football or go elsewhere. To others those past times are also a waste of time and so it goes on. The bottom line is that I like the magic of a form guide and all those lovely figures that need analyzing.
Earlier this week my editor, Brian Blackwell, asked me to put together a couple of articles on "the five most important things I have learned over forty years of punting". This is a most interesting topic for what have I actually learnt? I immediately made myself a cup of coffee and starting listing a few thoughts and when I rated them (don't we punters just love rating things!!) I chose specialization as my number one "thing".
It would be a rare punter who can keep up with all of the amazing number of horse races across Australia these days hence it is obvious a punter must select an area they feel the most comfortable with and for me it is the open class events, which will include mares/fillies and mares and jumping events as well. By the time a horse is considered one of my top three in open handicaps and WFA events the horse will usually have had several starts over the distance, in today's track conditions and at this level or higher. In other words there will have been some historical data to study. This is not the case in two and three year old events, in most cases, where continual class and distance rises make form study more guesswork than anything else.
So, as part of my punting from hereon, I am going to dismiss all races bar open races as explained for any serious betting expeditions. By strictly specializing in these races across the country I will also be able to better assess the overall ability of these runners when they meet in the Group races and hopefully that will translate into better returns to the pocket.
This Saturday there are 3 in Sydney, 4 in Melbourne, 3 in Brisbane, 2 in Adelaide and 2 in Ascot for a total of 14 races. I could look at New Zealand and Tasmania but I have to draw the line somewhere.
Each week, in my podcast, I shall provide my A and B selections for the Eastern States and my ABCD for Perth due to the issue of scratchings being unknown when the podcast is created. Hopefully the specialization will provide many winners.