Most people still pick up a paper in the morning and check the days races to see if there is a bet they fancy. They may have some hardwired preferences such as liking or disliking handicaps, leaning towards NH racing over flat or any number of any other filters but on the whole they tend to go looking for a bet. This strategy is the polar opposite of allowing bets to come looking for you and is the fundamental message behind Warren Buffets point number two in the following video, although I would be the first to guess that Mr Buffet has never backed a horse in his life.

I strongly believe that if you set out at the start of the next NH, AW or Flat season with a policy of perhaps absorbing yourself solely in staying handicap chasers or Novice hurdlers over two miles or sprint handicaps on the AW, you would be surprised at how expert and knowledgeable you become about not only that particular pool of horses but also other factors such as the nuances of the draw, the demands of the track, the pace bias of the track, even the behaviour of particular trainers who specialise in these subsets of animals.

With this approach bets will start to come to you rather than the other way round and your bottom line will improve. Which area to choose is one for you to decide, I would suggest starting with an area that interests you the most although this choice may be effected by a certain opinion you may have regarding an angle of analysis. For example you may feel that the draw is under valued in races beyond 7f so you might think that this gives you a good starting point to specialise in one mile to 10f handicap races on the flat. There are numerous areas you could specialise in and I am sure your judgement on when not to bet will automatically improve.

Please feel free to leave a comment, it is nice to know someone is out there.