SECRET SPEED FIGURES

[BOB PATRICK]

Hi, I am a 64 year old man who has recently taken up betting again after a 20 year gap. I only bet on horses, although I do like to play poker for small stakes. When I used to bet I took it very seriously and spent hours of my life studying form books and statistics. I read everything I could, like martin Pipes biography, William Hill's biography, Alex Bird's biography, etc. I've no intention to be that serious again, but my interest has been rekindled by my 28 year old son who loves a bet. I just want to join in and talk to fellow punters. At one point I could pick winners that no one else would have dreamed of, I'm not saying I can do that now, I am slowly re-learning,  Thank you.

[BOB PATRICK]

I used to find winners , sometimes at massive prices by, the use of speed figures, sometimes secret speed figures. By secret, I mean hidden in the horses past, sometimes years ago. I have been browsing some other racing forums and read some right rubbish. Some people think speed figs are only of use in flat racing sprints. Absolute rubbish. Speed figures work especially well over long distances both flat and jumps. In sprints, it is very hard to recover from a bad start, or, a bad draw, although likewise in jumps the speed figure means nothing if the horse falls or is brought down, or if the going and distance are wrong. Just because a horse ran a super time in the past , it might not feel like doing it today, or the connections might not want the horse to do it today, it might not produce a top figure for 2 years, and indeed sometimes they never do it again. And it can be hard work doing the research, looking back through 2 or more years of past form and deciding if today is the day. It can be draining. I used to buy all the form books like raceform, and Directory of Racehorses etc. Its easier now. You can look up a horses entire career on Racing Post website. I'm not saying it is easy to come to the right conclusion, just EASIER. In Martin Pipes biography, (for example) he admits they would would run horses over wrong distances and wrong going  for 2 years or more, so the weight  went down and/or the price was massive. In general you wouldn't fancy a horse if its last 6 runs read UFPPP, but sometimes they are just the ones you need to investigate.I remember some 25 or 30 years ago when I first cottoned on to this. me and my colleague found a horse called STUNNING STUFF. MY PAL SAID  LOOK LAST 2 FIGS PP, 2 P'S FORGET IT! next day we watched it win easily at 33-1! Talk about gutted! Current speed figs are valid too, you got to weigh one up against the other. I am currently re-reading ALEX BIRD'S (the late legendary punter) who became a multi-millionaire and race horse owner. One of the horses he owned he put 2 stone of lead weights in its saddle when training it so any observers would think it was always struggling....and so on. If anyone is interested in the above post please join in.....and as it all comes back to me I'll see if I can find the odd good priced winner for us.