Better Racing

[robertob]

With the flat season looming next month (finally!) I was long thinking of driving a different approach this year which hopefully will enable me to be finally profitable with horses again, while not having to commit as much time as I used to, when grazing through low grade handicaps day in and out - and which in turn worked when adequate time put in, but was impossible to keep up with work commitments - and if only half-heartedly done ended in disastrous results. So focusing on the better races, which I duly enjoy to watch anyway, should mean less races to look through, means less bets, less time commitment but hopefully quality makes up for quantity and leads to profit in the long term. Better races: That means anything better than Class 3 Handicaps for me. So those good handicaps can be really interesting, but I'm eyeing particularly the pattern races. Looking through my stats, it became obvious that those better races, where analysed properly, yielded a good return for me over the years, without that I ever really realized it. I imagine that I'm going to have most bets on the weekend from now on where the good flat racing tends to take place. For the moment, though Meydan and the better races on the domestic All-Weather shall be my hunting ground. Let's see how it goes. I've got my usual stakes 5pts & 10pts and will go win only.

[robertob]

Re: Better Racing 6.15 Meydan: Captain Lars @ 16/1 VC - 5pts win Intriguing and competitive handicaps. The two horses at the head of the market finished their respective races in eye-catching fashion and over 1.400m they would be clearly the ones to beat. However over 1m this may look different as both have stamina doubts over this trip. Short Squeeze is tipped to do much better today, after he needed his recent outing badly. He looks on a manageable mark, having won a tough Handicap off 5lb lower back in the UK last season. Mike De Kock has four runners in this field and Ajeeb looks his best chance, however as mentioned above, I have doubts about his stamina. De Kock may have a horse going to post with a better chance to get the trip in Captain Lars, who is a previous Listed winner over 1m in his native South Africa. He was very progressive there and had only a handful of starts today. There may well be more to come. He looked to needed his most recent run quite badly here at Meydan three weeks ago. He should come one allot and Mike De Kock voiced cautious confidence for his chance today. Our Channel is another interesting contender, having been Group 2 placed last summer.