If you had been a reader of the May issue of PPM, you would have struck a host of excellent winning bets. The winners were right there in front of you.
Some examples: Solo Affaire (13-2) and Excitable Lady (10-1) in the Ready To Win In All States section (both tabbed as specials), Brequillo (20-1), Solo Affaire, Taj Royale (12-1), Scott's Lane, Jewel Planet and Moss Kingdom, all clearly tipped in Brian Blackwell's Melbourne Monitor.
The same flow of winners were tapped in our June issue, with Lord Vegas, a winter jumps tip, getting up at 9-1, and Gelidity (3-1) scoring for the Brisbane Banter column. There were also terrific winners from the Ready to Win In All States.
Of course, not all readers of PPM would have backed these winners because they can't check each section of the magazine every raceday. Then there are some who will read it - and promptly forget about the horses that have been tipped! A few shrewd punters make a 'business' of following the horses that PPM highlights, and their patience and good sense is rewarded with big collects at the TAB and the back of the bookies' stands.
All of us at PPM want our readers to share in the spoils, and the purpose of this article is to help you discover ways and means that suit you for following the tips.
Now we know that many of you will not want to back all the horses listed in all the sections of the magazine. Some will want to follow the trackwork specials in Ready To Win In All States, others are fans of The Optimist, while still others like to follow Brian Blackwell's advice for Melbourne and Brisbane.
You have to decide for yourself what section, or sections, you wish to follow. Once you have done that, it's an easy job to keep track of the horses which have been named in each magazine. Our easy-to-foilow ABC index at the back of each magazine is there to aid you in finding out which horses are running on any particular day.
Apart from Ready To Win, you will find a great many horses mentioned to follow. We like to keep all our information as exclusive and valuable as we can. The fact that you are not having to check on too many horses, is a plus for any punter.
Your job is certainly made easier if you use a newspaper, or racing form guide, that lists all the runners for each meeting in alphabetical order. These papers include the Sydney Daily Mirror, Sydney Morning Herald, The Sportsman and Best Bets.
Let's assume you decide to follow Brian Blackwell's Melbourne Monitor section. In the May issue, he mentioned 19 horses. Some of them ended up not having a start, but the ones that did, performed very well indeed.
All you would need to have done, is to have marked off Brian's horses in your PPM index, and then kept an eye on the Melbourne fields each raceday. It doesn't take long to skim through a day's programme against the PPM index.
How you actually bet on the selections is up to you, but we suggest you keep a record of your bets, which should be at level stakes (that is, the same amount on for a win and place each time). A general rule-of-thumb is that you back any horse from evens to 15-4, for a win only, and those from 4-1 up, for win and a place. Don't bother with odds-on chances.
You can operate each section of the magazine in the same, simple fashion. The key is not to overload yourself with checking. Decide on one or two sections of the magazine and stick to them. Some punters have more time than others to study form, and it is these punters who will probably spend their time with The Optimist's Ratings.
There are really seven steps for making a profit from PPM and they are as follows:
Step 1: Take your current copy of PPM and turn to the index (usually on page 42). Also take your form guide for today’s races. Some newspapers, such as The Sportsman, and some editions of The Sydney Morning Herald publish an alphabetical list of runners. This is useful, and will save you time if you use it.
Step 2: Delete from the form guide all horses who have been scratched.
Step 3: Look at the first horse running today and see if he/she is listed in the index. If it is, write down the number of the race, name of horse, and the page or pages mentioned, e.g. Race 5 Stately Queen 16,37'. Run through the whole programme, until you are left with all the runners mentioned in the magazine.
Step 4: Decide which sections of the magazine you want to bet on, and eliminate all other horses. Suppose you want to follow The Ratings on pages 35-38, and Ready To Win on pages 16-17. Cross out any horse who does not have these pages by the side of his name.
Step 5: Now re-assemble the remaining horses in Race order. This will show you if you have more than one selection for the race, and will also assist in the final elimination.
Step 6: Apply the rules for the relevant section - let's use Ready To Win as an example. The rules are shown at the start of each section every month, so ask yourself:
1 . Has the horse shown previous form in this class?
2. Has it run within 2 lengths of the winner in either of its last two races?
3. Can it handle today's track conditions?
4. If there are more than two who qualify, which is the shorter pre-post price?
Finally, remember that Ready To Win 'Best Bets' are automatic selections.
Step 7: Having assembled all your bets for the day, write them down as a permanent record against each 'section'. This will enable you to review each section's performance month by month.
If you want to bet on only one or two horses each weekend, then limit yourself to one or two sections only. In which case, at Step 3, do not write down all the horses mentioned, only those that are mentioned on the relevant pages.
Since its inception in April, 1985, PPM has provided its readers with scores of winners, many of them at huge odds. It has also introduced readers to the world of ratings and systems and staking plans, thus fulfilling a major need among rank-and-file punters.
We stress, though, that if you want to make regular profits from the magazine, then you have to be prepared to spend five to 10 minutes each raceday checking off the horses that we have mentioned. That's all you really have to do.
The statistics from the Ready To Win trackwork specials pages have been astounding. Look at some of the recent winners: Plimsolls (10-1), Common Sense (5-1), Gold Zama (7-4), Port Taburn (9-1), Bounding Away (3-1), Nimble Touch (2-1), Sky Hook (11-4), Periscope (9-1), and Callenza (8-1), Dance Hall Girl (7-2), Signal To Noise (5-1), Periscope (9-2), So Torrid (6-1), Lucky Rass (5-2), Swift Cheval (7-1), Piccata (6-1), Eye Of The Sky (9-4, 3-1), Bounding Away (6-1), Fair Power (4-1), Lucky Rass (8-1), and Emma Green (6-1). There were others winners, too, as well as a stack of placegetters.
In May, the winners to bob up included Faris King at 13-4, Excitable Lady at 10-1, Solo Affaire at 13-2, and Aquistar at 9-2.
Ready To Win In All States continued its superb run of success in the June issue. Winners came up, like Waiting at 20-1, Testimony (4-1), Aquistar (8-1), Lord Julian (11-2), Gelidity (3-1), Handy Proverb (8-11), and Right 'N' Ready (16-1).
PPM's Stopwatch Specials are also great money-spinners. This year, they have produced winners like Hula Chief at 6-1, as well as fine placegetters. In the June issue, a Stopwatch Special tip was Enchanteur, a big winner in Adelaide.
The Profit Watch column, which you can find on the main Editorial page of each issue of PPM, provides an up-to-the-minute analysis of how each section of the magazine has performed during the current racing season. When the May issue was put on sale, only four sections of PPM were 'in the red', while the other sections were making profits - Ready To Win plus 301 units, Stopwatch Specials plus 81.6, Brian Blackwell's Late Mail plus 11.6, Sydney Scene plus 59.3 and Melbourne Monitor plus 6.5.
The Profit Watch column in our June issue told an even more successful story. Mention was made of Brian Blackwell's achievement in pinpointing winners, like Brequillo (20-1), Taj Royale (12-1) and Solo Affaire (13-2), in his Melbourne Monitor column in May. The statistics revealed that Ready To Win was now 305 units ahead, Stopwatch Specials were ahead 71 units, Blackwell's Late Mail had gone up 10.6 units, Sydney Scene was in front by 59 units, and Melbourne Monitor was making a profit of 45.65 units.
We at PPM urge you to read this article carefully, and then approach your betting in a controlled and methodical manner. Haphazard betting ends up being losing betting. Controlled betting is betting that can be manipulated. Losing money leads to a punter betting with scared money, and that is a recipe for financial danger.
Examine how your betting methods have performed for you over the years, and decide whether you could benefit financially from a switch in tack. PPM could provide you with renewed impetus.
The Profit Watch column can be a marvellous initial guide to help you decide which sections of the magazine you wish to follow. As well as this, you can turn to The Optimist's pages to see what profits his ratings methods are making. In the June issue, The Optimist's progressive figures showed the following remarkable results on his suggested plans of operation:
Favourite Plan: Winning $832.40.
Winner Plan: Winning $532.60.
Top Pick Plan: Winning $739.20.
This gives an overall winning total of $2,104.20, using $20 unit stakes.
By Statsman
PRACTICAL PUNTING - JULY 1986