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.
  • Oct- 2015 -
    20 October
    Tips
    horse racing

    Weekly Eyecatchers

    Not many runners for the column last week although Arctic Feeling was a good winner at Catterick at 8/1 and Beautiful Romance was an excellent third in the Fillies & Mares on Champion’s Day at 20/1. I mentioned in the recent free report the importance of keeping trainer comments about a horses future targets and this is what I wrote…

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  • 13 October
    Tips
    horse racing

    Weekly Eyecatchers

    For those of you have subscribed to the Eyecatcher Pro tool you would have been delighted with a big winner at York as Shared Equity deservedly got his head in front, having run so consistently this summer. A 7/1 SP isn’t to be sniffed at but hopefully you were on at 20/1 that was available in the morning with a…

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  • 6 October
    Tips
    horse racing

    Weekly Eyecatchers

    On Saturday one of my previous eyecatchers, Thatcherite finally got the strong pace that he needs to get his head in front at Redcar. On a relatively quiet week on the eyecatchers front it was nice to get a 9/2 winner. As I mentioned last week the emphasis of my eyecatchers in October changes and this is reflected in this…

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  • Sep- 2015 -
    29 September
    Tips

    Weekly Eyecatchers

    Not as many winners this week for the notebook but Karaka Jack won the Silver Cambridgeshire on Friday at 14/1. I had him in mind for a race next month at Redcar but this race cut up and it probably was about as competitive as the Redcar one will be. It’s been a long time between drinks for Shootingsta who…

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  • 22 September
    Tips

    Weekly Eyecatchers

    Last week was a good week if you’re a follower of the notebook horses: Emjayem, which I put up in last weeks column, won at Yarmouth 3/1, on Friday Fractal won at 5/2. On Saturday there were three winners at Newbury: The Corsican won at 4/1, Steps at 11/4 and then to cap it all What About Carlo won at…

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  • 15 September
    Tips

    Weekly Eyecatchers

    A quiet week but some nice winners including the Portland winner Steps at 12/1, Babyfact at 2/1 and Ribbons at 3/1. It’s worth looking at the Portland in a bit more detail as it shows the power of putting horses in your notebook and backing them when they get their optimum conditions! There were three tracker horses running in the…

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  • 8 September
    Tips
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-catchers

    Another couple of winners last week for the eyecatchers with What About Carlo winning at Epsom at 13/2 and Whitman a 11/4 winner at Ripon. I tend to split the Turf Flat season into three sections: Spring horses (March to May). Summer horses (June to August) and the autumn horses (September & October). I do something similar for the National…

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  • 1 September
    Tips
    horse racing

    Weekly Eyecatchers

    Eccleston was a well backed winner at 5/1 at Thirsk for the column last week on what was a fairly quiet week for the Eyecatchers. I am going to start by answering a couple of popular questions that I have been sent in recently by readers: 1. Do you have a view on how best to utilise your ‘eyecatchers’? –…

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  • Aug- 2015 -
    25 August
    Tips
    horse racing

    Weekly Eyecatchers

    On what wasn’t the best of weeks for the column it has to be said. Chill The Kite was the standout performance, when winning at 20/1 at York and even if you had been backing all last weeks tracker horses blindly that win would have given you a healthy profit on the week. I have to say that I gave…

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  • 19 August
    Advice

    York Meeting Trainer Stats

    The Ebor Festival is a four-day race meeting held at York, each August. The 2015 Ebor Festival is due to take place from Wednesday 19th to Saturday 22nd August. Each of the four days has big races: Wednesday feature race the Group 1 Juddmonte International over 1m 2f, and is considered by some the best race in the world and in 2012 was won…

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  • 18 August
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eyecatchers

    Mullionheir 7/1 was a winner for the eyecatchers at Newbury and Farquhar was a good second at the Newmarket also at 7/1. Before I look at this week’s tracker horses, I did mention last week that I had a few more horses “drinking in the last chance saloon” and I would only be looking at them as bets under certain…

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  • 11 August
    Tips
    horse racing

    Weekly Eyecatchers

    Another couple of winners came out of the notebook last week from only a handful of runners Bop It 4/1 at Haydock and Sharp Sailor 4/1 at Newmarket on Saturday, there was plenty of 7/1 available on Saturday morning about the latter. Once again it showed the importance of taking early prices about these horses if you are backing them.…

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  • 4 August
    Tips

    Weekly Eyecatchers

    A couple of nice winners last week at Goodwood in Mount Logan 8/1, So Beloved 10/1 the latter being backed in from much bigger odds in the morning and Baraweez at Galway on Sunday. I have been asked do I back my tracker horses blind or do I set out some qualifying criteria? The simple answer is yes but with…

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  • Jul- 2015 -
    28 July
    Tips
    horse racing

    Weekly Eyecatchers

    It’s the ninth eyecatcher article. How Time fly’s when you’re having fun. Last week was a good week for the column as we had five really good priced winners. On Monday it was Slip Sliding Away 6/1 at Windsor, on Thursday it was Disclosure at 11/2 at Doncaster. Great Park added to the profit on Friday at Ascot at 4/1.…

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  • 28 July
    Tips

    Glorious Goodwood Festival Trainer Pointers

    The end of July and the beginning of August see two of the season’s great racing festivals at ‘Glorious Goodwood’ and over the Irish Sea at Galway.   The ‘Glorious’ comes off the festival name this year with the start of a ten year sponsorship of the meeting by Qatar whose sponsorship is the biggest single deal in British horse…

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  • 27 July
    Tips

    Galway Festival Trainer Pointers

    The Irish do like their summer racing festivals and the Galway Festival is clearly the biggest of the lot. There are 7 days of racing both on the flat and over jumps. Some intrepid punters go for the whole seven days which is some achievement given the amount of Guinness that will be drunk both during the races and after…

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  • 21 July
    Tips
    horse racing

    Weekly Eyecatchers

    As I mentioned in last weeks column this week I am concentrating on the lesser class of races this week and I am pleased to offer a half a dozen horses for your trackers than ran at last weeks “minor” meetings. I do however finish off with a non handicapper who won impressively in Listed company at Newbury on Saturday.…

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  • 14 July
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eyecatchers

    More winners flowed out of the notebook last week with Bashiba winning at Doncaster on Thursday at 9/2 and Kimberella winning ay York on Friday at 7/1, there was plenty of 10s around in the morning for that one and I got on at 11/1. There was so much quality racing around from last Thursday that it’s been difficult to…

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  • 8 July
    Advice

    Trainer Stats – July Meeting

    The Newmarket July Festival meeting sponsored by Moet & Chandon is real Champagne event and one of the Summer Flat Racing season’s highlights. More relaxed than Royal Ascot with a garden party atmosphere, it’s about style, Panama hats, strawberries and top class racing what more can you ask for! Well hopefully some warm sunshine although in the last couple of…

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  • 7 July
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eyecatchers

    Rex Imperator was a nice winner at Thirsk last week for the eyecatchers but sadly Bashiba could only finish 2nd at Haydock on Friday. This week’s column is slightly shorter than normal as I have been doing a lot of preparation for this weeks July festival at Newmarket but there is sure to be a winner or two amongst them…

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