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.
  • May- 2017 -
    2 May
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-Catchers – Horse Racing

    Hi all, The curtain came down on the 2016-17 National Hunt Season at Sandown but it’s a shame that there isn’t a break between seasons as the 2017-18 season got underway on Monday. Henderson Celebrates Title Win With Sandown Three Timer Nicky Henderson became Champion Trainer and had a great Sandown winning three races and almost made it a fabulous…

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  • Apr- 2017 -
    25 April
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-Catchers – Horse Racing

    Hi all, As I mentioned in the last column we saw some excellent horse racing at Newmarket and Newbury and it’s the first week of the new flat season where I had a decent number of horses for you to put into your trackers with future races in mind. Before looking at this week’s horses for your notebooks I will…

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  • 18 April
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-Catchers – Horse Racing

    Hi all, Tuesday sees the start of Newmarket’s three-day Craven Meeting and on Friday Newbury gets in on the act with the two-day Greenham Meeting. There should be plenty of classic clues on show but more importantly, both meetings will offer plenty of horses for your notebooks. This is the week when the flat season really kicks into gear and…

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  • 11 April
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-Catchers – Horse Racing

    Morning all, Arthur Takes the High Road to National Glory Well, last week I gave you my five horse strong shortlist for horse racing’s greatest contest the Aintree Grand National and fortunately the winner One for Arthur was on it. This is what I wrote about the Lucinda Russell trained 8 year old back in January in this column. “There…

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  • 5 April
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-Catchers – Horse Racing

    Tudhope Takes Brave Route For Lincoln Win Bravery, an Aiden O’Brien cast off, won first big handicap of the new flat horse racing season to give trainer David O’Meara a first win in this historic handicap. Jockey Danny Tudhope had realised that there was a draw bias at Doncaster and switched the horse from stand side draw over to the…

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  • Mar- 2017 -
    28 March
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-catchers – Horse Racing

    Morning all, As I mentioned last week I thought I would share with you an interesting micro angle to get you prepared for the start of the 2017 horse racing flat season at Doncaster this Saturday. Whilst on the subject of the start of the flat turf season I will at the end of this, shorter than normal, column take…

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  • 21 March
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-Catchers – Horse Racing

    Morning all, Well, that’s it for another year as horse racing’s eagerly awaited Cheltenham Festival passes all too quickly into history. How was it for you? It’s wasn’t a great festival for most punters and like many I had a forgettable weeks betting. Granted it could have been worse and at least we have the start of the flat to…

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  • 13 March
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-Catchers – Horse Racing

    Morning all, By the time you read this the 2017 Cheltenham Festival will be underway. Well all my Cheltenham form study has been done and now it’s just a case of waiting for the race declarations to come and keeping an eye on the weather. It looks like most of the week will be dry although there seems some uncertainty…

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  • 7 March
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-catchers – Horse Racing

    Morning all, As I mentioned last week this weeks article is shorter than usual but still contains the following: • Two eyecatchers from last week’s racing; • The final race from my Cheltenham Festival Briefing; • My updated Cheltenham ante-post betting list. It’s been a frustrating month or so for the service with a couple more close up seconds at…

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  • Feb- 2017 -
    28 February
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-catchers – Horse Racing

    Morning all, As I write this it’s just 15 days to the start of the Cheltenham Festival and four of the best days horse racing you will see either flat or jumps in anywhere in the world. I am sure like me you have started your form study for Cheltenham and mines coming along well and I have managed to…

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  • 21 February
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-catchers – Horse Racing

    Morning all, This week’s and next week’s column are slightly different to normal as I will be taking a few days of this week and next week I will be doing an in-depth analysis of the Cheltenham Festival which is now just three weeks away. Where has this winter jumps season gone? In this week’s column looking at horse racing…

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  • 7 February
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-Catchers – Horse Racing

    Good morning all, In this week’s column looking at horse racing eyecatchers, you will find the following: • My performances of the weekend; • Last week’s horses for your tracker; • A look ahead to Saturday’s big handicap the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury and a 16/1 shot that can go well for his small stable. With Monday’s news that Faugheen…

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  • Jan- 2017 -
    31 January
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-catchers – Horse Racing

    Hi all, This week’s column you will find the following: • The best performances from the weekend’s horse racing; • The third part of my Cheltenham Festival Briefing, looking at the Albert Bartlett Novice Hurdle picture; • My Cheltenham Festival ante-post betting portfolio; • This week’s horses for your notebooks. • The horse that I think is handicapped to go…

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  • 24 January
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-catchers – Horse Racing

    This week’s column contains the following: • The best equine and human performances from the weekend’s horse racing; • The second part of my Cheltenham Festival Briefing, looking at the Neptune Novice Hurdle picture, with a 20/1 shot looking a bit of each way value; • A brief look ahead to Thursday’s Thyestes Handicap Chase at Gowran Park and some…

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  • 17 January
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-catchers – Horse Racing

    Arthur Races into National Picture at Warwick There was some good horse racing last Saturday, with the highlight for me being the win of the Lucinda Russell-trained One For Arthur in the Betfred Classic Handicap Chase at Warwick. The race over 3m 5f is a definite test of stamina but even more so when the ground is as soft as…

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  • 16 January
    Advicehorse racing

    Weekly Eye-Catchers – Horse Racing

     

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  • 16 January
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-catchers – Horse Racing

    Last week I mentioned that I would be beginning a series examining the state of the ante-post market for the main non-handicap races at the Cheltenham Festival. Well, today I will be taking a look at the Skybet Supreme Novices Hurdle which gets the meeting underway on Tuesday. But first, let’s start by looking back at last week horse racing…

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  • 10 January
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-catchers – Horse Racing

    Last week I mentioned that I would be beginning a series examining the state of the ante-post market for the main non-handicap races at the Cheltenham Festival. Well, today I will be taking a look at the Skybet Supreme Novices Hurdle which gets the meeting underway on Tuesday. But first, let’s start by looking back at last week horse racing…

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  • 5 January
    Advice
    horse racing

    Dubai World Cup Carnival – Horse Racing

    If you like your top class flat horse racing and you have been suffering withdrawal symptoms from the lack of top flat class action. Well, fear not, as today sees the start of the Dubai Winter Carnival at Meydan and a welcome return of top quality racing and prize money. The season at Meydan actually began on November 3rd of…

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  • 3 January
    Advice
    horse racing

    Weekly Eye-catchers – Horse Racing

    Eyecatcher Winners Bring Plenty of Christmas Cheer Well, I hope you had an enjoyable Christmas & New Year break and it was a profitable one from a betting perspective given the amount of top class horse racing action that was on last week. In last week’s column I tipped up Native River as the likely winner of the Coral Welsh Grand…

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