John Burke

John Burke

I have a MA in International Politics and having spent a number of years working in political campaigning but I eventually I realised that politics was not the world where I wanted to work I had been interested in horse racing since the late 1980s but in the early years I was merely just betting and watching racing like most people as a bit of fun and a hobby, then the hobby becomes a passion and that’s what happened to me with horse racing. I soon realised that to make money from my hobby I had to learn as much as I could about the sport and betting in general. The whole process took time but after a number of successful years of betting, I decided in 2011 to take the plunge, gave up my full time day job and decided to bet on horse racing as a part time business and I haven’t looked back since. I like to specialise in the better class of races and I love to solve the puzzles posed by big field handicaps the latter races often provide punters with great value betting opportunities. Whilst most of my time is spent reviewing previous races I like to keep things as simple as possible as even the biggest field handicaps can usually be pruned down to half a dozen strong contenders with the right sort of approach.
  • Aug- 2016 -
    9 August
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-catchers – Horse Racing

    A shorter article than normal this week as there wasn’t much top class horse racing to look back at last week or over the weekend with the Shergar Cup taking centre stage. Love it or loath it the Shergar Cup does attract a decent crowd with 30,000 in attendance. As for betting it’s really not a meeting that I take…

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  • 2 August
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-catchers – Horse Racing

    That’s the Goodwood & Galway horse racing Festival’s ‘done and dusted’ for another year and we enjoyed some great racing and saw some fantastic performances at both meetings. In this weeks column I am going to concentrate on Goodwood and there were plenty of horses that should be going into your trackers from that Festival. Before looking at last weeks…

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  • Jul- 2016 -
    26 July
    Advicehorse racing

    Weekly Eye-catchers – Horse Racing

    As I write this the Galway Festival is about to get underway with the first of five days at ‘Glorious Goodwood’ about to begin on Tuesday. What a really great weeks horse racing and punting to be had at the end of this article I will look at a trainer whose horses have to be kept on side at Goodwood…

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  • 19 July
    News
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-catchers – Horse Racing

    Well after the previous Saturday’s racing ‘overkill’ this weeks fare was more key, plenty of it but not much in terms of quality or big race flat handicaps. However, we have plenty to look forward to with the King George at Ascot on Saturday quickly followed by Glorious Goodwood and the Galway Festival. Those who like the summer jumping were…

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  • 12 July
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-Catchers – Horse Racing

    Well “Super Saturday” or as I prefer to call it “Saturated Saturday” is over for another year. I don’t have the time to write in detail as to why I think it’s bad for horse racing but suffice to say it’s not in the interest of punters. The only good thing about Saturday’s racing was the amount of potential tracker…

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  • 5 July
    News
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-catchers – Horse Racing

    A shorter article than normal this week as I spent most of last week enjoying a bit of a break away from horse racing and only got back on Saturday lunchtime. Not sure about anyone else but I am getting tired with all the soft ground that is about. Most of my eyecatchers prefer quick summer ground and they are…

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  • Jun- 2016 -
    28 June
    News
    horse racing

    Weekly Eyecatchers – Horse Racing

    Plenty of racing this weekend but not much in the way of big races but on the other side of the Irish Sea, it was Irish Derby this weekend at the Curragh. I will have a brief look at the action from the Curragh later. Given the lack of top quality action in Britain I thought this was the ideal…

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  • 21 June
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eyecatchers – Horse Racing

    That’s Royal Ascot’s horse racing spectacle out of the way for another year as have four or five of the English Classics and it’s not even the end of June. Still there is plenty of great racing to come with Newmarket’s July Meeting next month and then we have Galway, Goodwood and York Ebor Festival’s to look forward to. This…

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  • 14 June
    News
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-catchers – Horse Racing

    Well it’s here, the best 5 days of flat racing in the world starts today at Royal Ascot. This week’s column is shorter than normal and you can guess why, as like probably most of you I have had just one thing on my mind in the past week and that’s the biggest flat turf festival of them all! More…

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  • 7 June
    News
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-catchers – Horse Racing

    Well the sun is shining here, as it is if you had being following the eyecatchers last week with Duke Cosimo, landing a bit of a gamble at Ripon, backed into 5/1 and the filly Elbereth winning the big fillies & mares listed race at Nottingham at a generous 8/1. It got even better on Saturday as Blaine (8/1) landed…

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  • May- 2016 -
    31 May
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eyecatchers – Horse Racing

    Well another Bank Holiday is over and for England & Wales the next one isn’t till the end of August. Still there is a whole load of top class horse racing to look forward to in the coming weeks with the Oaks and of course the Derby at Epsom this weekend and Royal Ascot in the middle of the month.…

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  • 24 May
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-catchers – Horse Racing

    Before looking at this week’s tracker horses I will have a look at last weekends big horse racing action. There was really top class racing in Britain on Saturday with action from Haydock Newmarket, Goodwood and York. At Haydock the feature race the Group 2 Temple Stakes was won by one of my recent eyecatchers in the Clive Cox trained…

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  • 17 May
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-Catchers – Horse Racing

    Before looking at this week’s tracker horses I will have a brief look at last week’s Derby & Oaks Trials at York’s Dante Festival and a couple of performances from Saturday’s Newbury card. Wings of Desire one my recent horses to follow followed up his easy win in a Wolverhampton by taking the Dante Stakes in some style at a…

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  • 10 May
    News
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-Catchers – Horse Racing

    Well that’s Chester’s May Festival over for another year and this week it’s the turn of York to host its first meeting of the new turf season with the three day Dante Festival starting on Wednesday. The last week has seen Epsom Derby & Oaks trials at Chester and on Saturday at Lingfield. There has been almost too much good…

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  • Apr- 2016 -
    26 April
    News
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-Catchers – Horse Racing

    A much shorter than normal column this week, only three horse racing eyecatchers, as I am in the process of moving house which has had to take priority. There is no weekend review but if you are an Eycatcher Pro subscriber you would have been delighted with the win of the The Young Master in the Bet365 Gold Cup at…

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  • 19 April
    News
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-Catchers – Horse Racing

    Last week saw horse racing’s Newmarket’s Craven meeting and the ground on Day 1 was good to soft but turned soft by race 5. Day 2 was once again good to soft. Meanwhile Day 3 also began with good to soft going but the rain that fell during racing once again turned the going soft. It’s probably worth mentioning that…

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  • 12 April
    News
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-Catchers – Horse Racing

    Well the Grand National is over and done with for another year and my long term horse racing eyecatcher/ selection for the race Goonyella plugged on to take 5th and thanks to the perseverance of jockey Johnny Burke repaid morning each way support. I thought the 22/1 that was available early Saturday morning was too big considering the rain that…

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  • 5 April
    News
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-Catchers – Horse Racing

    A good weekend if you’re an Eyecatcher Pro subscriber as Secret Brief took the first big turf handicap of the horse racing season at 12/1 with 16/1 available with plenty of firms in the morning. Hopefully this will be the first of many more successes this summer as I will be targeting this summers big handicap’s for subscribers. This is…

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  • Mar- 2016 -
    29 March
    News
    horse racing

    Weekly Eyecatchers – Horse Racing

    Another good week for the eyecatchers with 6 wins from just 16 bets with a nice level stakes profit to bank just in time for the start of horse racing’s turf flat season and of course the Grand National meeting at Aintree next week. The highlight of the wins for me was Alben Star who took the sprint on All…

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  • 22 March
    News
    horse racing

    Horse Racing – Weekly Eyecatchers

    Well the Cheltenham horse racing Festival has come and gone. You gear your betting up for that week of blissful horse racing and once it’s all over you get an empty flat feeling for a week or so and I am starting this week on that flat note. There is, however, plenty to look forward too; All Weather Finals Day…

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