Hi Westwinners,

It was interesting reading your general rules. I think if you were to go into your local TAB and ask the punters for some of their "general rules," you would probably get at least 100 different rules. There's just so many different ideas for filtering fields and finding one's final selections.

1. No group races? Also, many punters prefer to just stick with metro Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide races.

2. I think the placed in last race rule is a good one as it helps to find horses in good form. I haven't looked at the beaten by a certain distance rule much in the past, but I'd guess it has some merit.

3. I don't think the weight carried has too much bearing on the races nowadays. I think it did in the past when the weights seemed to be more extreme. A good horse can win at almost weight nowadays.

4. I don't really care if my horse has a senior or apprentice jockey on board. Jockeys haven't had any influence on my selections and results thus far, though a lot of punters here do seem to have their favourite jockeys.

5. In general, I ignore the barrier draw. A good horse can win from any barrier, so just make sure your selections have good form.

6. Personally, I've never liked rules that focus on the first x number of favourites, because it seems you risk filtering out a good horse just because the other punters haven't backed it. In my mind, who cares what the totes' prices suggest. That said, I understand the majority of winners are found in the first 4 favourites, so I can see some logic in it, but then again what's the point if there's no value?

6a. If there's 2 selections in one race, wouldn't it be better to back the one at longer odds, instead of shorter? Again, this comes back to my stance of who cares what the other punters have backed. If there's better value on offer on one of your selections than another, I'd back for value anyday. Maybe you could establish a minimum price to qualify rule in order to get some value. Just a suggestion.

Anyway, that's just my 2 cents worth. Good luck in your punting adventures, and I hope you find a winner or two.

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...time held me green and dying, though I sang in my chains like the sea. - Dylan Thomas