thanks Bhagwan & Becareful for those stats on last minute money.I know you gave figures for money 2 minutes prior to the jump,but would it make a difference if it were seconds?(as the marketers of the product have told me)

Northern Lad
I have a personal program that tracks the price movements on the 3 TAB's and as a matter of interest the best indicators are not what happens in the last 2 minutes or seconds before jump time, but what happens 5, 10 or 15 minutes earlier.

Just somethings to be aware of..

1. Usually the tote fluctuations are corrections to the odds of some runners compared to bookies odds. In other words, people see that 10/1 is offered by the bookies but 15/1 available on the tote. They start putting cash on the tote and it's price firms from 15/1 to 10/1.

Guess what happens next?

Tote punters see the price firm from 15/1 into 10/1 and think someone knows something and start backing it until it ends up 7/1 or worse.
All value is lost.

2. Any true plunges normally do not happen on the tote - if someone wants to have a real go at something it happens with the bookies or IASBET etc.

3. Nobody knows when the difference in price between the bookies and tote is a plunge or merely a wrong price assessment by the tote punters. Often bookies will lay a horse (usually favourite) and firm in the price of something else they think has a better chance of upsetting. So it's not really a plunge at all.

4. Plunges come off probably one in five. Even the best information can't be right all the time or the bookies would go broke.

Just some ideas that may not have been factored in. Hope it helps.

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Treat your selection and staking methods not with optimism, nor with pessimism, but with realism.

Northern Lad,

Despite what the marketers of products will tell you it is NOT possible to track the money on the tote in the last few seconds before a race. All 3 totes over here issue approximate updates at around 30 second intervals (Tabcorp was 1 minute intervals but have improved that recently). This means even if you have a live data feed you will only get an update every 30 seconds so if a bet is placed on tote with say 15 seconds to go it is likely you will not see that until after the race has jumped (and even if you do the chances of you being able to lodge your bet in response are very slim).

I would also have to agree with Equine Investor that the majority of big bets are not placed with the tote at all or if they are it is only indirectly. Most of the "big punters" on the tote are doing quinella/trifecta betting only - their win bets are placed with bookies. The exception to this is those chasing longshots where tote prices are better than bookies. Also some bookies sometimes lay part of their bets with tote if they have taken large bets on longshots.

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"Computers can do that????" - Homer Simpson