6th March 2012, 03:07 PM
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Member
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Join Date: Jan 1970
Posts: 4,367
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I agree about the Betfair forum Shaun.
We should also consider the differences between the way the countries approach horseracing.
Us Aussies (in general) tend to concentrate on ratings and speed maps.
Tactics are an important fabric of form assessment also because our races are run at a different type of pace.
USA punters are obsessed with speed figures and their races are run pretty much like greyhound races, they jump and it's on. Probably because the large percentage of races are dirt based. It will never ever suit an Australian or English horse to go and attack a Breeders' Cup or Kentucky Derby, our horses don't know what the ******** is going on. They're not trained that way and have never raced that way.
In the UK the obsession is with breeding, gear and popular trainers and jockeys. While Timeform and Racing Post ratings do play a part, most UK punters never handicap a race per se.
Breeding is something that just completely escapes me, why there is so much emphasis on it. It is basically a free lunch for breeders.
A couple of years ago I went to Aquanita Lodge and they were spruiking the most expensive horse in the stable, on breeding it was worth upwards of 5 million. Did very little since. The name even escapes me, it was so poor.
I do know it started odds on a couple of times and ran third and unplaced in the city.
A very small percentage of very well bred horses do well.
Think of the Betfair forum like any tote or bookie forum, it's going to attract it's fair percentage of mugs. Now and then there is a thread that's brilliant, but it's probably one in a hundred. And any brilliance fades with the derision and in fighting that persists with the topic.
As AP says, I'd suggest looking elsewhere for UK banter and ideas, there are a couple of decent UK forums about, and some of the guys are quite helpful and welcoming to Aussies.
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