Most of us know where this famous phrase comes from, and I’m sure that I used to give this impression to my family when I started betting nearly 30 years ago.
Guess what.. they’re still waiting!
I think they gave up a long time ago on having a lifestyle of fast cars and long haul holidays. I don’t mention it to them now because they don’t really want to know, but I’m still searching for that pot of gold. My first flush of over confidence has long gone, and after 30 years of failure I’ve found that it’s not easy to make a profit at this game.
The trouble of course, is me.
A complete lack of discipline and patience.
Always looking for something more profitable.
Betting on a whim, which is even more convenient and easier now than when I first started, standing in a smoke filled bookies looking at a Sporting Life pinned to a wall.
Now with the internet age I don’t have to get out of my chair!
I digress, but I can’t help thinking about a character who came in our local bookies. He used to help me out on my milk round (sadly he passed away at quite a young age) and would take a pile of betting slips home, write out every horse in every race for the day on a separate slip, tear off the front and keep the yellow back sheet. After every race he’d then parade around with a ‘winning’ slip in his hand to show everyone what a great tipster he was. Suffice it to say we never saw him picking up his winnings.
Anyway, back to the here and now…
Something has changed in the last year, and I’ve actually gone a whole year recording my bets. In the last 4 months, placing bets on our friend Michael’s Race Ratings Pro Method, it’s gone reasonably well too!
Although compared to some returns I’ve seen mentioned on Michaels site it’s quite small, I’ve made nearly 200 points in 11 months betting the Top Rated horse.
No, I’m not a millionaire yet, far from it. With £5 bets it’s going to be some time! But, I may have finally turned a corner.
I now use a ‘bot’ to place my bets, and it means I’m not emotionally involved with whether my horses are winning or losing and I’m able to do other things.
I’m still tempted though, and have to be careful that I’m not tempted into other races when I have an hour spare.
These ‘bots’ are excellent, and some are quite cheap. The one I use is free and, if you’re like me and easily dragged in by ‘wicked temptation’, a good idea.
Another thing I’ve learned regarding my bets is that the profits can be for just 2 or 3 months of the year and the rest of the time I’m ‘treading water’.
It can be quite frustrating, but is another aspect of being patient.
It’s not easy, I know!
Thankfully, with the ‘bot’ running, I can more or less leave it alone and start focusing on looking for another, hopefully profitable, angle.
There are plenty of different approaches out there, especially on the Race Advisor site.
For anyone who’s interested in my approach for Race Ratings Pro, here it is…
I use races of 12 runners or less, and all runners have to have at least 3 runs. I focus on races of 1 mile to 3 miles and use the same concept as Michael in his videos, but with one more column for Racing Post Ratings.
It’s up to you then how to bet. Top Rated, Top 3 or other combinations.
I hope you have found this brief passage of some interest. I have flirted with all manner of different approaches and spent a fortune doing so. If you took one tip from me, it would be to try to stick to one approach to start with and give it time. Being a simple soul, I like the simple strategies best.
If you can control your own emotions then you will have overcome the biggest hurdle I’ve found in making profits.
Lets hope I stick to my own rules!
hi ,are these ratings from race rating pro the same as in your racing dossier. i ask because making it for my own is very time consuming. and if all the facors are used in the racing dossier would be fine.
Hi Steve, the exact ratings are not, but there are very similar ones in Racing Dossier.
thx michael, so can i get nearly the similiar results whith the racing dossier? can you tell me which factors the ratings at racing dossier influence.
‘re rating pro method,I have added 3 more columns and when I use ratings there is no different in the total,am I doing something wrong or is this correct,thanks dave
Hi Dave, Mark here I hope Michael won’t mind my replying for him. I’m not sure from your comment what you are struggling with? I will say this that , you have to be very careful when copying the formulas in Excel when adding other columns. You may well be better at it than I am. The total will also be affected by the weights you have also for each column as mentioned in the videos. If you can be a bit more specific I might be able to help more. I found that the 3 columns from the original spreadsheet were good enough in themselves to bring in decent profits. Regards
Hi,Mark thanks for reply,I copied the columns the way the video showed me,l the weights I have are 1,I have rated races with just the 3 columns Michael gave us,and my added one’s but the total is just same in both results,dave
Hi Dave, if you are using the original spreadsheet then the totals you are getting must be correct. If your weighted totals are all 1 (as are my own) then you will get scores that are the same for AForm/WForm etc. Its the combined figure for WForm/Wspeed/WEarnings that gives you the final total. Then if your weighted total is again 1 and that fits with your combined total your final rating is there. If you change the weightings for some factors you can see any differences. I can’t see your doing much wrong. I hope that is of some help.
Thanks for reply,I was trying to make one of the horses stand out more by adding extra columns but maybe it does not make a lot of differance,so will go back to original columns,does the extra column you added for RPR make a difference,thanks dave
Hi Dave, I don’t think that it would make much difference having a horse with a bigger score but, I may be wrong. If you keep records for different weightings then you may see a different pattern emerge. I just stayed on the 1 point for each rating. From my experience don’t get to bogged down in different weightings. I just bet the top rated horse but, was also doing very well betting the top 3. In fact I made a higher points return with the top 3 but less roi. It’s really doing what you feel comfortable with. I now back the top rated and get around 15%-17% roi whereas with the top 3 around 8%-9%. Take your time and sometimes not betting for a while is a good thing. I had to build up a bank for a number of months as I don’t earn a big wage. I’m not sure regarding the extra rpr column really. I’m not sure it makes a lot of difference. As I said in my article sometimes you feel your getting nowhere but, then you have a decent run. I ended the year 122 points up after a decent last 2 weeks no to bad. Regards Mark
Hi Dave, sorry that should have been 222 points profit for the year
thanks mark for reply,will continue with original format and see how it goes,thanks again,dave
Being an old timer can someone explain the ins and outs of a Bot and what is the free one that Mark uses.
Hi Brian, sorry for the delay in replying. I haven’t looked at the site lately having been tied up with a number of matters. In regards to the ‘bot’ I use, if you type the bot depot into your google search engine you should come up with the bot I use myself. There is a free one but, now I use the Pro one myself as I felt that the owner and creator Nigel deserved some reward for all his work. It takes no time to set the bot up. Just follow the simple tutorial and you will be setting up your bets in no time at all. Best Wishes Mark