I'm a systems person. Prior to that I did like most punters - took a guess. If you hunt around this forum you will find a wealth of ideas for constructing your own system. My advice for what its worth is to work like this:

*Find a method - any method - that yields a profit over 200 past races.
*Test it on paper on live races - without betting - for 100 races.
*If you're still in front test it on 100 live races with small 1 unit bets.
*If you're still in front raise the bet to 2 units for another 100 races.
*After that keep raising the stake as long as you keep winning, reassessing every 100 races.

I've tested lots of systems now. Very few of them yield long term profit - its much harder than it looks - but its still better than taking a guess.

I also advise having a couple of systems running concurrently. Every system has its bad days. Run several quite different systems; if one goes bad the other might shine. Three systems of $2 bets is better than one with $6 bets - its a matter of not putting all eggs in one basket.

Other points:

*There are many free or cheap ratings around such as the QTAB ratings or the Zip ratings in the Sportsman. These are calculated by knowledgable people with big computers. I find them very useful elements to add to punting systems. Unless you can keep up with the form of every horse in a race, why not use the ratings provided by people who do?

*Systems that involve a market element are inherently more succesful than set-and-forget systems. Its hard to win without being involved.

*Its best to develop your own unique system. Find your own corner of the market and milk it. If you do what everyone else does you'll lose unless you do it better than everyone else.

Hope this helps in some way. My thoughts...

Hermes