| The trainers in horse racing can offer a valuable insight | | | | of riding; some work very well together and some just |
| into any race but with so many statistics and different | | | | don't (The free Adrian Massey website - Google it - is |
| people talking about different things how do you go | | | | great for doing this quickly as it allows you to search |
| about sorting the useless trivia from the profitable | | | | past results by combo) and a trainer's superb record |
| information? Here are some vital pointers that will allow | | | | at a course suddenly does not look so great if the |
| you to sort the junk from the gems. | | | | Jockey is has a 2% strike rate on his runners. Again |
| DON'T place too much importance on the trainers | | | | when checking this you should also keep in mind the |
| overall strike rate for a particular course. The | | | | overall prices and the size of the data sample |
| difference between a trainer with a 10% strike rate | | | | available. |
| and a 12% strike rate is of no use at all when it comes | | | | DON'T pay a massive amount of attention to older |
| to comparing one runner to another. Don't pay | | | | records; a horse isn't just trained by the trainer but the |
| attention to strike rates based on a 4 or 5 runs - | | | | various staff and assistants at his stable, many of |
| finding any sort of pattern in such small samples is | | | | which have a high turnover. Because of this - and the |
| deceptive and won't help you make an informed | | | | fact that with time trainers and their staff will refine |
| decision. | | | | and change their methods as they gain more |
| DO look for extreme statistics. If after 30+ runners at | | | | experience - form from 5 years ago is nowhere near |
| a track a trainer has a very low/very high strike rate | | | | as relevant as form from the past year. |
| it's a good indicator that he trains horses in a way that | | | | DO check the racing post signposts to see how far a |
| is/is not conductive to success at this course. Pay | | | | trainer has travelled, how many runners he has |
| attention to the shape and difficulty of the course, | | | | entered into the meeting and the value of the races in |
| training style will have little influence over a straight | | | | which they are entered. Moving a horse hundreds of |
| sprint but around the tight bends of Chester for | | | | miles will involve a lot of expense and effort such as |
| example it becomes a far more significant factor | | | | paying the various staff members, the jockey, |
| DON'T take a good strike rate on face value; anyone | | | | arranging overnight accommodation etc. If a trainer is |
| can maintain a high percentage of winners if they | | | | going to all this trouble for a low grade race with a |
| enter large amounts of horses with very short odds. | | | | small prize then it's always a good indicator that they |
| Look at the race history to see the prices that this | | | | know something you don't and a gamble is being |
| trainer's runners win at; look for an even mix of prices | | | | placed on their runner. Whilst I wouldn't base my entire |
| around the 1/1 to 10/1 range. This indicates consistently | | | | selection method around this (or the trainer alone for |
| strong performance at the track and this is something | | | | that matter) it has helped me land some winners at |
| that you should always look for. The reverse can be | | | | prices up to 150/1 (which looks more like 500.0 - 1000.0 |
| applied to lay bets, look for a decent amount of losers | | | | on the exchanges) |
| in the same price bracket to find flaws in a trainer's | | | | Whilst all of these things should be taken into |
| record. | | | | consideration it's important to study multiple aspects of |
| DO look at which jockeys the trainer works with and | | | | each race. Combined with form study and ratings - |
| their performance as a team. Just as each trainer has | | | | applying these principles will see a healthy rise in |
| his own style of training each jockey has his own style | | | | winners and profit! |