By Brian James
A lot of nonsense has been written on the subject of betting on horse racing for a living, in particular backing favorites.
The common misconception amongst punters is it cannot be done if one wishes to show a profit in the long term.
How wrong this line of thought is. It is quite true that if one simply backs any old favorite or every favorite one will end up losing money but there is most certainly a way to be successful if one is smart and follows a set plan.
It's common knowledge that favorites win approximately 30% of all races. This figure applies to racing across the board, whether it be in the USA, UK, Australia or elsewhere.
Backing every favorite will end up in loss but being selective and choosing your favorite carefully, and then placing your bet in the appropriate manner, suddenly you can be in the money.
Two of the main players worldwide when it comes to backing favorites for a living and betting for a show otherwise know as a place bet are Mohammed Ali and Malcolm MacLean. These two lads really know their game inside and out. I used to work for Malcolm up until 2005 and have first hand knowledge of his methodology. Quite unique and very impressive.
I witnessed this guy make small fortunes by turning low priced favorites into a real paying proposition and accumulating quite large sums of winning money, time and time again. All these horses had to do was come 1st, 2nd or 3rd - quite remarkable and so easy too. I learnt many lessons during that time.
All from the simplest of simple principals that anyone could implement. All he did, and as far as I am aware, still does, is check the papers, look for races with less than twelve runners and more than eight, check the previous form for the last two or three weeks. If there is a favorite horse with little opposition, he would back that horse to come either first, second or third. Simple as that
Of course there were other filters and rules applied, but really, it is as simple as that. This translates into a very high strike rate and a consistency at almost all courses - everywhere.
Next time you read an article or comment on some forum that says 'you can't back favorites and win' - think again,
because you can and I've seen it all happen first hand.
Brian James
About the Author
Brian James is the former General Manager for the Australian arm of MacLean - International Publishers. Brian now runs his own marketing and promotions company in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah but still has his passion for horse racing How To Successfully Bet On Favorites