osulldj,

You continue to raise many valid and pertinent points (so I believe) and do so in a clear and forthright manner. However I think the greatest piece of wisdom of all is present in you last post.

Knowing how to apply the information you have to make a profit.

This is IMO the hardest part of betting on race horses. Anybody with a reasonable level of intelligence can learn how to rate horses by any number of different methods to obtain reasonable results (It does take considerable effort).

BUT it is in the betting that comes the profits (losses).

I don't think this is something you can learn by reading about how to do it or by trawling over past results. You must do it to learn it. You must learn when to keep your money in your pocket and when to strike. This must come with experience because I don't have this yet but I keep trying to learn.

I have only been doing this a couple of years but I am quickly coming to this conclusion. From personal experience I have had days when I have looked over my ratings and seen all these winners near the top and wondered how I managed to lose and other times hardly any winners near the top but I win overall. I guess the trick is to keep working at it and trying to learn as you go what works and what doesn't and try not to make the same mistake twice.

I would be interested to know what others think regarding this.