Kenchar, problem is that no-one wants to temp fate, as the profit is very meagre (in terms of %) and just a slight shift will it turn into a loss situation. It requires constant monitoring, to up-date, change things , add rules etc. etc. so as not actually get into that loss situation in the first place.
eg.
One of my golden rules was never to bet if the set weight this time is more /less than 3.5 k'gs than the set weight last run (ignoring claims)
This had always served me well, but I ran a query on the last 1000 bets recently and where selection was deleted because of this rule the deleted horse showed nearly 40% profit on the win and 23 % on the place (a hell of a lot more than the actual qualifiers) So now am having to take a real close look at this one.

The honest answer is that I have made a profit overall going into my 3rd year of betting now (controlled betting that is) but I DARE not say that I will definitly make a similar profit in the next 3 years, I think/hope I will but that's as far as I am prepared to stick my neck out.

As far as making a living from the punt, well I have aspirations but not yet. The next stage is very serious stuff, and so far haven't taken the plunge so to speak.