Want to know which horse will win a race? The best one! As my uncle used to say, ‘The best horse wins the day.’ The problem is of course knowing which horse is the best one. Now for the good news. In some races it’s very easy to identify the best one. You can read pages of form guides and views of ‘experts’ to find these, or you can just look at the betting markets. Just as in the stock market, betting markets reflect true value. But even the best horses lose, of course. There are surprises on the day, the ground and weather may not suit them, they may get a bad draw or not suit the course or distance. Other factors also come into play – a horse could get crowded in, the jockey may hold back and not make his move in time to get to the front …

These views are the basis of the betting system I’ll describe in this guide. I hope you aren’t disappointed with the simplicity of it. Like many things in life, the simple things are often the best. A betting strategy doesn’t have to be complex to deliver profits. I could have padded it out with extra rules and selection criteria, but it really doesn’t need them. As I describe it here, there are good profits to be made. It’s a slow and steady system – you won’t see spectacular returns over a few days. But over weeks, months, and years you’ll see your betting bank grow.

One of the earliest lessons I learnt in betting was the need for discipline. I’ve seen so many people follow a system and then throw their money away on the last race of the day to try and win back their losses. You’ll have losing days with this system, and they’ll be disappointing. They won’t hurt so much as losing days with other systems, as everything is well controlled. If you can stick with this system and not be tempted to take big risks, your betting bank will creep upwards.