Desi

Most of the information I obtained from results was from spending several months in the library checking through newspapers armed with exercise books, pens, pencils a calculator and a lot of spare time! It was something I had wanted to do for a long time so I took long service leave specifically to do this. I concentrated only on Metropolitan results from Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane - the places where I wanted to bet and, not coincidentally, the meetings covered in detail by the "Sportsman"

My working background included in depth analytical study of statistics and pattern identification so I was fairly well organised and was able to approach the daunting task with some confidence in what I was doing AND what I was looking for.

The list of stats isn't endless but included some that I reckon haven't been considered before.

I don't want to list them obviously as I put a hell of a lot of work into them and without wanting to sound unreasonable, they are all there available to the public and for everyone to access. What I will do is tell you about a few that in the overall scheme of things don't play a major part in identifying winning selections but a lot of punters consider "Gospel"

* Distance from the winner last start

* Unlucky last start

* Gear changes i.e Blinkers first time

* Won over the distance (except in races of 2200 or more)

* Up in class but down in weight (Down in class but UP in weight is much
better) Weight changes do NOT have significance that they had before
weights were compressed.

* Short priced favourites ie, "it's 5/4 so it MUST win"

* Winning strike rates (place strike rate is a much better guide to a horses
chances)

Now I'm not telling you to ignore all of the above, I'm simply saying that over a two year period in Melb, Syd, Adel & Bris that the above mentioned stats did NOT significantly contribute to the winning of money. There are many more important factors that DID contribute.

Cheers

Privateer