Guide to Horseracing Betting

So you want to make money from betting on horseracing 

  1. Study, Study, Study! There is an old saying, fail to prepare, prepare to fail and it is very true when it comes to punting. Bookmakers make millions every year from guys who wander into a shop, have a couple of bets on whatever races happen to be on at that time placing their wager off the back of all of five minutes form reading in the shop. You’ll get lucky once in a while but more often than not you’ll do your cash. I have links to numerous stables on my PC favourites and troll through the news and updates on these sites daily. I read all the major sites each day, makes notes off snippets of information I pick up for later reference. Even on days I do not bet I will go through the results and watch race replays looking for future clues. For big meetings such as Cheltenham or Ascot my note taking will start three or four months in advance!
  2. An old fella over Romford dogs once told me many moons ago to never allow the price to cloud your judgement. If you fancy the animal to win back it whether it’s 2-1 or 20-1. Down the years I have come across hundreds of punters who’ll have more on a 6-4 shot than one at 12-1. If you like one at a decent price get on. Favourites win about 35% of the time as a rough guide - including long odds-on shots and winners of big handicaps at big prices – leaving a lot of races won by horses at ‘working man’ prices. The reason I back to level stakes (say £10 every bet whether 2-1 or 20-1) is it is how you make a profit simple as that.
  3. I always make a point of looking at the prices early, usually overnight; any regular visitor will have noticed I often put bets up the night before the race. These days the old satchel swingers price up a huge number of races the night before and every now and then one of the firms slips up and goes half a point or so larger than the rest. Jump on these errors, there’s little better than finding a winner and getting the best price on offer.
  4. Stick to your guns. If I had a quid for every time I have heard a punter say ‘I was going to back that winner but changed my mind ……….’ I would be writing this on my yacht in Monaco Harbour. Make your decision based on your own research, form reading and whatever advice you chose to read, and then stick with it. If you cannot pick just one from a race to back walk away, if you think the price of your chosen horse is to short and no value, walk away. Mistakes are quite literally costly when it comes to punting.
  5. In short, as with most things in life, there is no short-cut to success. If you want to nick a few bob off the gee gees you need to love the game and be prepared to spend time on the game. It can be a rollercoaster, everyone has runs when they couldn’t tip a wheelbarrow, and you need balls of steel to keep going at times, but stick to the rules and you can earn yourself a few bob.