Not as bad as the nations finances, unfortunately my betting bank took a battering this month.
My “when I become professional” fund is “invested” tucked away in physical gold for the interim therefore the relatively small sums I’m betting now can be written off to “education expenses”. However it’s still disappointing that results have not gone my way after a lot of hard work. I’m 36 pts down since records began in July.
The fact of the matter is that I have a lot to learn and skirmishing in the mud and the blood of grade 5 and 6 All Weather races is bound to place a strain on my handicapping (and betting bank).
Racing is full of experts who have been trained to watch the sport for years. Why should a novice punter have any chance of being able to identify the occasions when the experts have it wrong?
The simple answer is that this expertise can only be required over time and that betting will only become serious business when the necessary skills have been mastered. By realising that you are seeking to back a horse with underestimated factors and bet against a horse with overestimated factors, you will start to acquire the right mindset. By learning to take no interest in betting factors that are merely positive i.e. good for a horse’s chance of winning, you will start to train your eye in what to look for.
Patrick Veitch – Professional Punter
With the comments above the focus for this month is to look beyond typical and obvious form analysis to focus on handicapping factors that provide wager value. I shall also spend more time reviewing race videos of past performances.
Unfortunately this will increase the time required to analyse races; to counteract I shall limit bets to one a day or at weekends as indicated in the betting calendar.