Hi Radish,

Following is the reply I gave to a visitor to my website who had a similar question:

If you live in Sydney or Melbourne there is a place called The Horsemans bookshop which carry a great range. The shop in Sydney is in Kensington near Randwick race course and the Melbourne one is in Armidale which is about 20 mins out of the city. If you don't live in either of these areas then they do have a very good mail order service. Details of each shop are below:
Horsemans Bookshop & Gallery The
89 Anzac Pde Kensington 2033 (02) 9662 2633

Horseman's Bookshop & Gallery
857 High St Armadale 3143 (03) 9509 4743
Email hbookshop@bigpond.com

The books I can recommend you get a hold of are:
„h Gallopers and Gamblers by Pat Craven (an excellent resource that will teach you nearly all there is to know about punting and non punting aspects of racing) You can order this book online through the Tuxedo Bookshop at http://www.tuxedo.com.au/products/p...&resellerid=trb
„h The Australian Horse Racing and Punters Guide by Rem Plante is a racing bible and definitely worth picking up. It was written in the 70's so much of the class structures etc. are not relevant but the advice about racing and how to win is outstanding. This book is long out of print and The Horsemans Bookshop is probably the only place you can get a copy.
„h Winning More by Don Scott. Don was a legendary punter in his day and this book will teach you alot of the fundamentals about racing, particularly class. Make sure though you do get Winning More and not his last book, Winning in the 90's, which would not be as relevant to you.
„h Hats in the Ring by Allan Aitken - an excellent book which you will learn alot from.
„h Horse Racing Theory and Practice by Paul Seager. Also an excellent information source to learn about punting.

These are the pick of the books available on the Australian market for someone who wants to learn how to actually study form, assess chances and determine value bets with confidence. Each will set you back about $45 with the exception of Hats in the Ring which is about $25 and Rem Plante's book which goes for about $75, primarily because its out of print, but secondly because it's a racing bible and so hard to get.

Hope this helps.