when it comes to opening odds ,I suspect that bookies are pretty much the same as they ever were. Some (very few in the 90's) do the form properly and thoroughly and convert their ratings to price..some use ratings services to do it for them..but most just copy what the others are doing.
yes bookies also work together..they use each other to lay off big bets to spread the risk, and they conspire in the ring to create false shorteners etc...It's them and us..always has been...

I also agree that the opening odds are just a test of the punters..often shorter odds are put up than what the bookies were actually prepared to offer...no point in putting up a higher price if the punters are freely taking a shorter than rated price...

In a perfect world, for a bookie, a bookie shortens and lengthens the odds to ensure that every runner is backed and the book is set to profit no matter which horse gets up. Bookies have been long complaining that with the "smarter" punters out there that it is more and more difficult to lay every horse in a race... Of course the Bookies dont complain when a race is a "skinner" for them..i.e the fave loses and the bookie did not manage to take a single wager on the horse that won...

One of the reasons why I admired Mark Read so much is that he was never afraid to set his own book early and never waited to see what everyone else was doing first. That is not to say he didnt watch the others during the course of betting..Mark did his own form and stood by it. When he returned to Melb from Sydney some Melb bookmakers were not happy about it. I dont think it phased Read one bit and, as a punter, I was elated..he brought back flair and life into the ring.

The one disadvantage that bookmakers have compared with the punter is that the bookmaker is compelled to stand up for every race at a meeting. (well at least he is supposed to). The punter, on the other hand has the advantage of choosing the good betting races and ignoring the bad. Melb rails bookmaker Michael Faulkner gave this reason for giving up bookmaking and going on the punt... non paying punters may also have been a factor....I dont know whatever happened to him..can someone enlighten me?