Baa Baa Betfair

[billy the punter]

I've mentioned in the past, recently as yesterday, that the markets are swayed so much by what is heard. In-running punters especially are swayed so much by what the commentators say. Yesterday, in the first at Perth, the commentator mentioned that the 11/8 fav Regents Secret had come off the bit. He instantly went from 2.3 to 4 - the horse wasn't even in shot, by the time he was back in shot he'd moved to a prominent position, was trading at around 2.3 again and the sheep were left cursing their luck. Tonight in the last at Windsor, the buffoon Cattermole called the wrong horse. £100,000 was traded on the wrong horse at 1/100. And someone laid the winner at 999/1. The thought of placing massive amounts on Mike Cattermole's say-so would make me nauseous. If these people just back according to what they hear, then where is there edge? It isn't just racing, the in-running betting for the recent Calzaghe/Hopkins fight was all wrong, especially at the death. The commentators were constantly saying that Hopkins was in-front. It was clear to many that he wasn't. The market however echoed what the commentators were saying. Maybe subconsciously people are swayed in those instances. A friend of mine mutes his TV when planning to bet in-running on a sports event as he can't help but being swayed. It's not just in-running with horse racingh though. Prices alter due to pundit's comments just before a race. Someone on Ch4 says horse x is sweating - it lengthens a point without the horse being in shot. They were going behind at Folkstone the other day and Robert Cooper said "the one I like here is...." the horse he mentioned shortened immeditately. Now Robert Cooper seems like a decent chap but he wouldn't know what end to put the bucket and what end to put the nosebag with regards to horses, yet a horse was backed due to a throw away comment he made. I find this staggering. The market sorts itself out fairly quickly and theses knee-jerk changes usually reverse but they still happen. Some punters must be cursing Cattermole for the error tonight, but if you're money isn't going on your opinion or on what you're seeing yourself, then can you blame anyone but yourself? I'm not saying that no one should ever listen to anything they hear (PL wouldn't be around for a start!) but surely the most important factor should be who says it, rather than what is said.

[TheRat]

Re: Baa Baa Betfair This was early in my betting days but used to listen to sportinglife all day for commentary and you used to see on ATR the horses they were talking about getting backed in. Now, the way I look at it, is they have looked at the race in less detail than PL have, but they have to have an opinion on each race. But people listen. I don't listen to this anymore at all but this always used to happen, and to be fair they had some good winners But I feel there are a big percentage of punters out there that only listen to things like this and will wager their money on their opinions