thanks a heap for those very useful stats chrome prince. It confirms my sample I did as well. I grabbbed all my old newspapers and sampled 1000 races both vic metrop and country. The results I obtained were very similar. I was particularly interested in nos. 1,2,3

No.1 Strike rate 14.9% S/R place 13.3%
No.2 Strike rate 12.8% S/R place 11.6%
No.3 strike rate 13.7% S/R place 11.6%
No.4 strike rate 9.8% S/R place 9.6%
No.5.strike rate 9.6% S/R place 9.9%

Sorry, Belarine Bomber but how did u come up with number 6 as the best performed when number one is the go with2 and 3 as good backups, don't you reckon?
From these stats it boils down to at least a winner for every 7 or 8 races for each of these numbers (1,2,3) and in Chrome Prince's case slightly better.
The combined strike rate for these saddlecloths is a pretty high 40%+ for both stats. I've got the feeling that this trend has been continuing for a number of years. This leads me to the need for a system with stats like this, of which I have briefly mentioned in the betting systems forum. I'm gonna look over the past years if I can to put this idea into action.

Thanks all for your interest and keep it coming!

Cheers megamoos