The question I’m asking today is, Can you make Horse Racing pay if you do not ‘read the form’?
The answer is ‘100% yes’. Hi, my name is Neil Stevens-Wood and I’m the owner of nwracing.co.uk
In the coming weeks we shall be looking at the statistical approach, and we shall see if form reading really is a thing of the past.
Before I continue, I do want to say that of course reading the form can & will help in your decision making. However if your anything like me you can soon find your mind wandering, and it can get tedious and boring thankless job.
This is why twenty plus years ago I decided to go down the statistical approach. I have to say it’s one of the best decisions I have made in my life. I didn’t want to rely on anyone else to help me find winners. I wanted to be a success and do all the work off my own back. You see at school I excelled at Maths, it was by far my favourite subject. I could work out equations in my sleep whilst others simply struggled to get the heads around specific aspects.
This is exactly why I love my job, I see it as a hobby, and a well paid hobby at that.
In the coming weeks I will be looking at many different angles to help us find winners. I shall also be looking at ratings, and how they can help you find winners, or at least cut down the size of a field significantly without much work. I will be looking on how to find the best value in a race. Why a long term approach is one of the most important criteria needed to make horse racing. Why being professional at all times will ‘make or break you’ plus much more.
I hope you will find my column an interesting read in the coming weeks, and that you give my ideas some thought.
Today I briefly want to look at ‘trends’. I shall be delving far deeper in to trends in the future, but today I want to divulge why they can be a very good ingredient when looking at a race.
There are hundreds of different factors you can look at with trends. However for now we shall briefly cover trends for trainers.
Why would a positive trend for a trainer be so important? This is a good question which I’m asked on plenty of occasions! Of course there are many reasons why a trainer may excel in a particular race. This could simply be that the trainer always performs better with their horses at a certain time of the year. Maybe a trainer has a good record in that specific type of race. Maybe the trainer even has close links with the sponsor of the race? There are many reasons why, however any small piece of information we can gain from a trend is important data for us which we must take note of.
So where can you find data for trends?
Well, if you’re reading this column you will of course have access to the internet which is great news. We all know that the internet is a fantastic source for information, and looking for trends in racing is no different. If looking for big race trends such as the Grand National, or maybe the Cheltenham Festival they are readily available. Indeed there are many websites that simply deal with racing trends. However for the daily ‘run of the mill’ meeting on a cold Tuesday Winter‘s afternoon the Racing Post can be a good source of information.
Trends are just a small part of a much bigger picture, but as I said earlier don’t dismiss these criteria readily. Using trends in the correct manner can work very well for you. From my experience there have been many times that a horse has no form, but has stood out with a number of positive trends and won at big odds.
There is no doubt it my eyes that trends data can be a become a little gem for you, Many punters never look at trends, so give yourself a small advantage by taking note of any positives you can find.
All eyes will be on Aintree today with a number of high profile races. As for the above mentioned ‘trends’ nothing much stands out to me today. However I have highlighted three horses that could offer value from our trends data.
2.05 – Mijhaar (Best price 16/1 Boylesports)
2.40 – Sam Winner (Best price 4/1 General)
3.15 – Rebel Rebellion (Best price 15/2 Coral)
Have a great day.
Neil Stevens-Wood.
NWRacing.
