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.
  • Mar- 2016 -
    15 March
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eyecatchers – Horse Racing

    By the time you read this the first day of the 2016 horse racing Cheltenham Festival will be with us. Like most punters I have been spending most of last week doing research on trends for the races at Cheltenham and putting together horses for the Eyecatcher Pro software subscribers. If you are a subscriber you will see my recent…

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  • 8 March
    News
    horse racing

    Weekly Eyecatchers – Horse Racing

    This time next week we will be preparing for the first day of the 2015 Cheltenham horse racing Festival. I don’t know about you but for the last week I have been concentrating on my form study on that almost to the exclusion of everything else. My Cheltenham Eyecatchers will be completed by the weekend and they will also be…

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  • 1 March
    News
    horse racing

    Weekly Eyecatchers – Horse Racing

    As I mentioned last week more and more my eyes are drawn to looking for horses that will be running at Cheltenham, Aintree and over the Irish Sea at the Fairyhouse and Punchestown festivals. This means the number of eyecatchers from the National Hunt sphere is now being much reduced as I also start to gear up for the start…

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  • Feb- 2016 -
    23 February
    Tipshorse racing

    Weekly Eyecatchers

    Another good week for the eyecatchers column with 4 winners, at 7/1, 4/1 & 3/1 and the new week started in the same vain with a 5/1 winner on Monday at Lingfield, all adding up to more profit for our betting banks. The closer we get to Cheltenham the more my eyes are drawn to the upcoming spring festivals and…

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  • 16 February
    News
    horse racing

    Weekly Eyecatchers – Horse Racing

    Another good week for the eyecatchers column with 5 winners from just 11 bets and 12.5pts level stakes profit to add to the kitty. Indeed over 60pts profit has been made from my eyecatchers since the 10th November 2015. As in previous weeks before looking at this week’s eyecatchers I will have a brief look at the weekend’s action and…

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  • 9 February
    News
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-Catchers – Horse Racing

    I love it when a plan comes together in horse racing and a trainer plots a horse to win a big race. That’s what happened on Saturday over at Leopardstown as the Liam Cusack trained Who’s That won the mares handicap hurdle. This is what I wrote for Eyecatcher Pro subscribers after the mares run at Leopardstown over Christmas: Who’s…

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  • 2 February
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-Catchers – Horse Racing

    I will begin this week’s column with a look at the weekend’s big horse racing action from the Cheltenham Trials Day and then have another look at a couple of horses that are worth having onside come March. Weekend Review: Smad Wins Place in Gold Cup! It was Cheltenham Trials Day on Saturday and I think most would agree that…

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  • Jan- 2016 -
    26 January
    News
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-Catchers – Horse Racing

    I will begin this week’s column with a look at last weekend’s big horse racing action and then have a brief look at a couple of horses that I have backed for Cheltenham and are worth having onside come March. Weekend Review: Mullins Machine’s Dominate! Willie Mullins dominated the action this weekend with his runners taking big races both sides…

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  • 19 January
    News
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-Catchers – Horse Racing

    This week’s article is shorter than normal due to preparing for a funeral today and because the horse racing has taken a bit of a hit due to the wet weather recently. Next week ‘s article will be back to normal but it wont just contain the eyecatchers but also a review of the weekends big race action and hopefully…

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  • 12 January
    News
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-Catchers – Horse Racing

    It’s always nice when a plan comes together in horse racing and it did on Saturday with the rescheduled Coral Welsh Grand National. Hopefully you were on one of my eye-catchers in the shape of Mountainous. This is what I had written about Kerry Lee’s trained runner in a previous column: “Is well handicapped on his best form. Fair reappearance…

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  • 5 January
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly EyeCatchers – Horse Racing

    Plenty of winners flowed out of the horse racing notebook last week with wins by Keppols Queen 14/1, Boomerang Bob 3/1, and One Track Mind 11/8. Some of you might also have been on previous winning eyecatchers: Aristo du Plessis 5/2 and Buckland Beau 5/1 over the weekend. As we enter 2016, lets hope the winning run can continue! Thanks…

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  • Dec- 2015 -
    29 December
    News
    horse racing

    Weekly EyeCatchers – Horse Racing

    The Eyecatchers provided us with some nice winners over the festive horse racing period courtesy of Full Shift 6/1, Tea For Two 5/2 and The Last Samuri 13/2 and hopefully some of you will have been on the Gary Moore trained Ar Mad in the big novices chase at Kempton on Sunday. In my review of the Tingle Creek meeting…

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  • 22 December
    Advicehorse racing

    Weekly Eyecatchers – Horse Racing

    Christmas is almost upon us once again and with it comes some outstanding horse racing. Kempton’s host the William Hill Winter Festival, with the King George VI taking centre stage on the 26th and on the 27th we have the latest renewal of the Coral Welsh Grand National at Chepstow. Meanwhile over in Ireland we have some really tremendous racing…

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  • 15 December
    News
    horse racing

    Weekly Eyecatchers – Horse Racing

    A quiet week on the horse racing winner’s front but for those of you who subscribe to the Eyecatcher Pro software you would have been on Dolphin Village, one my eyecatcher extra’s, who won at 7/2 at Lingfield, 9/2 was available in the morning for those who take early prices. On Friday we had a really excellent 2nd place at…

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  • 8 December
    News
    horse racing

    Weekly Eyecatchers – Horse Racing

    A profitable Friday and Saturday for the Eycatchers as Woodford County, won Exeter’s Devon National on Friday at 8/1 and on Saturday Carole’s Destrier won the staying handicap at Sandown at an SP of 5/1, bigger was available early in the day for those who grabbed the early prices. I seem to be doing best in 3m+ handicap chases at…

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  • 1 December
    News
    horse racing

    Weekly Eyecatchers – Horse Racing

    After a frustrating run it was good to see Entihaa win at Wolverhampton on Monday. I got on at 4/1 this morning and the value of taking early prices was reinforced as the horse was well backed into 9/4 at the off. As I said in last weeks column he “can win again on his favourite surface” Last weekend we…

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  • Nov- 2015 -
    24 November
    News

    Weekly Eyecatchers – Horse Racing

    Not many runners last week but one of my recent eyecatchers Rich Again ran at Wolverhampton on Saturday evening and shaped well again when finishing 4th. The six year old is becoming a very well handicapped horse in horse racing and must be backed next time out in my opinion! Another eyecatcher to run last week was Compton Bird. The…

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  • 17 November
    News
    horse racing

    Weekly EyeCatchers – Horse Racing

    Another three winners from the Eyecatcher horses last week coming courtesy of Izmir, Final Assault and King Massini! Like last week there were a few horses to catch my eye for this week’s article. Here are six that should provide you with some winning opportunities in the coming weeks through horse racing. As ever for those of you with Eyecatcher…

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  • 10 November
    Newshorse racing

    Weekly EyeCatchers – Horse Racing

    Well the winners keep flowing out of the notebook and this is why we love horse racing! Aristo Du Plessies won twice at 5/1 and evens and on Saturday there was a fantastic 25/1 second at Doncaster courtesy of Jamaican Bolt and for a few strides in the final furlong I thought it was going to be another Chill The…

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  • Oct- 2015 -
    27 October
    Tips
    horse racing

    Weekly Eyecatchers

    The Charlie Hills trained B Fifty Two put behind him a poor run last time out with a 14/1 win for the Eyecatchers at Doncaster on Saturday. It could have been an even better weekend as the same trainers Boomerang Bob was 4th on Friday at 20/1 and Green Light was a fast finishing 3rd at 14/1 at Doncaster. For…

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