Hi, I'm pretty new to racing but am learning quite fast. After reading both Dr Turfs guide to better punting (John Rothfield 1987) and Punting to Win (Rod Buttery, 2001) I have come to the conclusion that barrier does count, but it varies from track to track and also depending on the distance of the race, so an added factor is looking at notes for each track you are betting on and taking that into account. While a bad barrier won't stop an excellent horse I have found my place strike rate has gone up considerably from 40-50% to about 70% by taking into account the barrier position depending on the individual track. I also believe that one of the reasons many systems fail is because they automatically assume that the inside barriers are the better barriers, but as has already been pointed out here, that's not always the case.So what I'm currently doing is working on a set of guidelines for each track and race distance that I can just keep in a folder and pull out whenever I encounter those particular conditions. Anyone got any ideas on this?