October
MayStipes hold the key
For about 17 years I subscribed to the popular magazine Practical Punting in its various forms until it went online and the print version virtually disappeared without notice.
During that period I purchased, through that magazine’s distributor Equestrian Publishing, myriad selection systems and staking plans by gurus and tipsters such as Statsman, The Optimist and Roman Kos, along with sage advice from a dozen more monthly contributors over the years — costly experience.
I’m 68 years old, on the age pension, and the hay burners owe me a squillion but I still love a bet or 10.
The bottom line is that systems and selection methods from the spruikers (I have designed my own also) have a frustratingly short lifespan of success and Winning Post’s System of the Week is a case in point.
Eventually, through hip-pocket economics, the punter is best to purchase a thorough comprehensive form guide such as Winning Post and do one’s own homework.
One of your recent contributors (6/5) sang the praises of the trackwork section but I find it spasmodic, like the tipsters’ “best roughy”, as trackwork rarely seems to translate to raceday success when the heat is on.
My starting point is to check the stewards’ reports for a recent unlucky performance before even checking the field then, with a bit of detective work and a process of elimination work make my selection, preferably from the smallest fields.
I seem to jag more well priced winners and placegetters from the stewards than other sources — to the point that I won’t bet at any weekend venue unless Winning Post has included “What the Stewards Saw”. Go through that section on any Sunday and you’ll be surprised how many winners it contains.
Good luck and good punting.
South Gladstone (Qld)