I usually look at the odds available after acceptances come through on Thursdays. I only bet on Good tracks though, so sometimes I have to wait until Saturday to place my bets if I'm uncertain the track's conditions will be Good.

The past 2 Saturdays at Melbourne have been frustrating for me because in both cases the tracks started out as Dead tracks and were upgraded later in the day, which meant I was only able to place my bets Saturday afternoon after the odds available had really shrunk. This last Saturday was especially frustrating, considering they had already put 32mm (half of Melbourne's normal October rainfall) of water on the track during the week, and then added another 10mm on Friday! I wasn't sure the track would ever get upgraded to a Good track, so I missed out on some of the better odds that were available on Thursday. I still ended up with a healthy profit on Saturday, but it could have been oh so much better had I had the confidence that the track would have been rated Good, and placed my bets Thursday, or even Friday. Nature of the game I guess.