The Racing Dataform Novice Hurdler - 1/2f (Grade 7) - Kent

Hello All,

I was asked by Bob to give another angle for this blog from a 'newbie's' point of view. I don't know how much I can contribute but I'll do my best and hopefully somebody somewhere might learn something from me. If you're new to horse racing like me then you may even learn off some of my early mistakes. I'm going to post when I can and I am guilty of sometimes going off on tangents so I'll apologise now for future blogs. I thought the name 'The Novice Hurdler' would be quite apt as I haven't really won anything and I've definitely fallen a few times at the first, the last when in the lead by 3f, been pipped at the post and even left in the stalls in my short career as a horse punter. Anyway, I don't profess to be an expert by a long, long shot so don't quit your day jobs and start following what I say about horse racing just yet. In fact, I only really started following horses 'properly' in the Summertime 2010 after I opened up a Betfair account and the football season had come to an end.

To be honest I didn't have a clue about the horses (and still don't really) and was warned by friends to avoid betting on 'anything that has more than two legs'. My first few weeks as a horse punter I lost a few pennies as I was blind betting and made some very big mistakes. I followed people on betting websites, in daily newspapers who I thought were 'experts' rather than making my own decisions. However like a good student I've not given up and read all kinds of racing articles online, discovered Timeformradio, Timeform Facebook site, bought the Racing Post a few times, researched websites, listened to radio shows, tested ideas, followed tipsters, blogs etc. Over the months I've tried different strategies each time thinking that I've perfected it only the next day for it to fall apart. The important thing is I'm learning quickly off my mistakes and slowly but surely I'm getting better at what I'm doing even though my bank account is still a little bruised.

Over the weeks I'll tell you about sites that might be useful to look at, racing terminology, different kinds of races and my trials/tribulations trying to learn how to become a knowledgeable punter. I'm a bit worried about taking too much room on this blog as I've waffled on so I'll post a bit more later.

One of the best things you can do for now is follow the Timeform radio page on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/timeformradio . Thinking about it though you've probably got to this blog through that so you're probably already doing that. Anyway, if you haven't then do it as there are some fantastic tips on there and you'll realise for yourself who are genuine consistently good tippers and who are just full of hot air. Don't just bet straight away on these tips but just analyse over a week or so who consistently hits the nail on the head. It's also always a great read and discussion base with some brilliant characters on there. When you feel confident enough then have a go a posting a few tips as well. I always feel that I don't know enough about yet to contribute yet however there are a few Charlatans on there who don't have a clue. I recommend looking for posts by Adrian, Anthony (ew betting), Colin, Nathan (winners), Carole, Bob, Nicola, Ray, Tony, David A, Marianne (lay betting), Tea Bag Head (big priced outsiders and unsuspected winners). All consistently pick winners/placed horses and it amazes me how well they do it on a regular basis. There are plenty of other good contributors on there but the names above are the ones who I've noticed contribute good info. on a regular basis. I would one day like to experiment by only betting on posts put up on the Facebook page to see if I finish up. I'm pretty sure I would be.

It is a great sport and as well as enjoying the races I love following the reasoning as to how people approach their betting . There'll be as many different strategies as there are people so take it as face value and make up your own minds. One of my biggest faults was following 'I've got a whisper for .......' comments and falling flat on my face. Granted sometimes these whispers do come true and I've seen 50/1 horses come in based on this but much more often than not they don't even come in the top 3. The majority of time it's stats, stats, stats and a little luck.

Enjoy the blogs on this site. I've researched a few sites and this is by far the best site(it's the only blog I put my name to.......because I'm worth it ;-) ) . There's some really good genuine advice on here from people who don't have an agenda , who just want to share their knowledge and just love horse racing. I've learnt quite a lot on here in the last month. In fact everytime I read the page it has some really useful advice that excites me about placing a bet on from Carole the 'Queen of back to lay' betting to Nathan's secrets to his fantastic ratings to Bob's classic trends to Macroman's amazing top 2 selections for every race plus much much more (I'm not on commission yet from Robert but my agent is currently dealing with this).

Sorry it's a bit long and hope you've enjoyed the start of a beautiful relationship.

Thanks

Jonathan