Here are a
couple of comments from our user blogs!
Oh, and the lady jockeys calender arrived
this morning-make sure you get a copy (link on first
post)
I'm very interested in this "must
have" calender full of the lady jocks . The picture
for May has already got me going weak at the knees.
The calender can be purchased from http://www.jagb.co.uk/Lady_Jockeys_Calendar.htm
Make sure you get your Lady Jockeys Calender,
its great!
How to Profit from Jump Racing
The Jumpers are out and winter profits
are on the way! David Keeldar takes an expert look at
National Hunt racing and gives tips on how to profit
from the sport:
One of the great compensations of the
chillier days of autumn and winter is that the jump
race season swings into top gear once more.
Brave horses. Brave men. And great sport
for us to savour.
Jump racing is a terrific betting medium too - so long
as you dont try to treat it like flat racing with obstacles
thrown in. That's a mistake quite a few backers are
inclined to make and they are overlooking some of the
best betting opportunities you'll ever see on a racecourse.
Over the years, I've complied a list of
betting rules for myself, to help take advantage of
the unique sport of jump racing. They've stood me in
good (and profitable) stead, and I'd like to share them
with you.
What are the Important Factors?
Firstly, the qualities needed to win a
jump race are usually quite different from those needed
to land your average flat contest. A high cruising rate
and the ability to 'kick on' at the business end of
a race will see a horse first past the post in most
flat affairs, but neither of these qualities are essential
over jumps.
In the winter game good jumping and a
liking for the conditions are what usually win the day.
That's because in jump racing everything
is much more extreme. If the horse doesn't like the
'going' he's racing on he's got to contend with it for
between two and four miles, not for five furlongs. If
he would much prefer to be on a level racetrack rather
than an undulating one it's not a minor inconvenience
- he's never going to be happy setting himself up to
leap those obstacles.
If he doesn't like the fact that he's
racing left or right handed, not only does he have to
suffer this for a longer distance than a flat horse
- but he also has to jump when racing what feels to
him like the 'wrong' way round.
And if he's running over his wrong distance
- then it's likely to be accentuated by being 'wrong'
by half a mile or more - not just a furlong or two.
So the first things I want to know before
backing a jump horse are - what are the conditions that
suit him best?
Conditions - A Major Concern
You can almost always rely on discovering
these preferences by checking out the horse's WINNING
form. When a horse repeatedly wins over say, three miles
on soft ground, on an undulating course, going left-handed,
then you can adopt these as his favoured conditions.
These are the 'markers' you are looking for when it
comes to investing cash on him in the future.
Having these favoured conditions is far
more important to a jumper than whether he is two pounds
higher in the handicap this week that he was last -
which brings us to the next thing for us to consider
- weight carried.
Is Weight Important?
In flat racing, where distances and racing
conditions are less 'extreme', weight is of great importance.
Some flat trainers would kill to get 5lbs off their
horse's back in a tasty handicap - but weight doesn't
have the same importance in the jumping game.
It's far more important for a jumper to
have his ideal conditions. When horses get them, they
win time after time - irrespective of what the handicapper
does.
How Good Is The Horse's Jumping Ability?
After considering 'conditions,' and then
largely ignoring 'weight,' there's another important
factor to take on board. We've all heard someone say
at some time or another, 'jumping is the name of the
game.' And it's true.
Jumping may look easy enough when you're
watching a race on TV, but horses expend a huge amount
of energy clearing the obstacles. Just how much energy
they expend is crucial in deciding the result of races.
Poor jumpers not only lose ground with
their bad jumping - they wear themselves out early in
the contest, and put themselves at a big disadvantage
when it comes to winning the race.
So, though I risk stating the obvious,
you must make every effort to ensure that your cash
is riding on a fluent, or at least workmanlike, jumper. |
