GETTING STARTED: Whether you are new to horse race betting or have experience, it is always a good idea to get your preparations right.

Here are a few basic pointers...

 

1. STAKES

The stake is how much money you will bet. Not everyone will bet the same amount. The size of stake is up to you.

 

- All Steve's bets are clearly staked in a range of 1 point up to a maximum stake of 10 points.

- The most used stakes are 1 and 2 points.

 

- For example: You decide that your starting stake will be £25 per point advised. Therefore a 2 point bet will £50. That being 2 points x £25.

 

- Steve's advised stakes act as a guide. You may decide when starting to keep it simple and just use the same stake on every bet. This is known as level stakes and is how the profit figures carried in The Observer have been calculated.

 

2. BETTING BANK

The betting bank is the amount that you put aside for your betting. Having a structured bank is a great asset in taking the disciplined long term approach essential in true professional backing.

-As the stakes are calculated in points, so is the betting bank. The ideal betting bank would be at least 50 points.

- The bank works with both advised stakes and level stakes betting.

 

3. PLACING THE BET

There are a number of ways of putting your bet on. The most popular being:-

 

- In person at a bookmakers shop

 

- By telephone using a credit or debit card, which are accepted by most bookmakers.

 

- On line at the bookmakers website

 

We recommend that you have access to a number of different bookmakers. As I will cover later, the leading bookmakers can all be found in the odds comparison websites, amongst other places. There may be smaller independent bookmakers with shops in your local area, they are worth investigating. If you are going into the shop to ask any questions, avoid the busy afternoon periods as the manager will have more time to spend with you.

 

To use a comparison with the major supermarkets; the bookmakers are also very competitive. In the same way the supermarkets try to outdo each other on prices, so do the bookmakers.

- For example, a look at the prices being offered by different bookmakers for a recent winner advised by Steve, with the total returns for a £25 win bet.

 

Bookmakers	Price	Return (£)
Ladbrokes	10/1	275
Hills	12/1	325
Coral	14/1	375

 

As you can see the best price was being offered by Corals. A lot of our members put in that little bit of extra effort to get good prices. In this case it was worth an additional £100. Over the long term such extras add up to quite a large amount.

 

- Bookmakers prices are displayed on Teletext, in newspapers and most notably on a website called 'Oddschecker'. This site displays prices from a wide range of leading bookmakers in an easy to compare format. It can be found on the Sporting Life website, the Racing Post also have a similar odds comparison table on their website.

 

- Betting in the shop is mainly conducted in cash. Betting by telephone is mainly by debit or credit card. Debit card usage does not attract any additional fee but credit card use can do so.

 

- When using your card for the first time a lot of bookmakers can offer incentives. These range from free bets worth around £25 to such things as golf umbrellas, prize draws etc. When they are doing such promotions, they are generally advertised in the national press and the Racing Post.

 

4. TYPES OF BETS

Steve does not advise you to have complicated bets. Bookmakers want you to have bets with lots of horses. Just like the lottery, the more numbers you have to get right, the less likely your chance of winning.

 

Bets advised are:-

- Win only. Just as it suggests the horse involved has to win.

 

- Each Way. This means you are having two bets in one. The first part of the bet is for the horse to win. The second is for the horse to finish generally second or third. A bet advised as 1 point each way is a total stakes of £50 if using £25 per point. £25 to win and £25 to finish in the 'places'.

 

- Very occasionally Steve will advise a bet known as a double. This involves two horses which must both either win or get placed to give a return.

 

5. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

As part of the wholly professional service provided, Steve also briefs members about selected additional races of interest.

 

- This extra part of the service does not go on the overall profit account as it is for members discretionary use. A lot of members use the additional information in their own betting to good effect.

 

- As a new member you may wish to just listen to the additional information as it will aid your general racing knowledge. Once comfortable, you can then use this part of Steve's work.

 

The whole essence of Steve's service is to put the members interests first. Everyone has to start somewhere and Steve tries to keep everything straightforward. He wants all members to benefit from his dedication and expertise.

 

If you ever need assistance, the Racing Office is always just a phone call away and are pleased to help.