I agree with Neil that this is the correct way to use ratings (betting those with a better price than the assessed rated price)BUT (and I have no knowledge of the PROPUN rating service ) with a couple of well known and respected rating services I found a long time between collects as the majority were well under their assessed odds and those that were not were up around the $30 mark which doesnt give you much confidence if price is related to chance.
In the end after fruitless days of not being able to confidently put a bet on (either too low a price or $30 - $40 jobs I looked for a better way)
Cheers.
darky.

Gday All

reading what Neil has to say about ratings makes me feel a whole lot better about the ratings I churn out.. It is Not rare to find 15/1 plus winners in the top 5.. It is difficult to do but not rare.. I agree that a lot of punters have no clue as how to use ratings properly, I don't care how well you can rate races, you will eventually go broke ONLY backing the top selection reigioulsy I have for a long time always prefaced anything I put up as look for value when it turns up.. of late I have stopped pricing my rated horses, rather just using a rating figure, which I guess can be meaningless.. I stopped pricing because a few people contacted me off forum, and said stuff like "you had Alinghi at $2, all i could get was $1.8 so i din't back it and missed a winner because of you, you bastid ".. Sure, if you use ratings properly you are going to miss those short priced things, but I don't see that as a problem.. What would have been wrong with keeping the cash you wanted to put on alinghi at $1.80 and plonking at on something that should be 6 or 7 bucks but is paying 15 or 20 or even 30? It wont be the top rated, but so what? If it wins you have achieved a huge overlay. And made some real nice money in the process.. Sometimes the overlays are few and far between but that happens..

I know some people dont agree with my ideas of how to use ratings, I have seen posted on this forum some posters saying that the measure of a rating service is its profits from their on top selection.. I think people who think along those lines obviously show no understanding of how to properly use ratings and nothing that is written or said to them will change their opinion (to which they have all the right in the world hold) .. but i feel that if they look deeper they will find that a lot of rating services, if used correctly will show you a nice profit.. It is not an easy job doing ratings, and I feel that most rating services I have seen are quite acceptable.. I do my own which I share with others, there is no gun held to people's head to use them, they are offered freely, for people to do with as they wish... I think over the period of time that I have been putting my ratings onto the forum that we have identified a lot of very very nice winners, even when they are not rated on top.. they still payed us in Australian Currency when we went to collect

__________________
Good luck and good punting

xptdriver@hotmail.com

It was suggested to me by the proprietors of both services to concentrate on the TOP RATED if
A / BETTER THAN THEIR ASSESSED PRICE

B / POINTS RATED AT 15 - 18

As I say almost all were UNDER the assessed price.

Cheers.
darky.

Xptdriver,

I cannot agree more with most of what you say. To be blunt, racing probably attracts the biggest element of gamblers who think they are experts and know it all but haven't got a clue.

The cliched "mug punter" wasn't invented for no reason. The concept of not backing the top selection but backing the second selection or fifth selection cannot even be understood by a large number of punters who still bet with a "pick the winner" in one selection mentality.

"This horse will win." Pick the winner of the race then back it. It doesn't matter what odds you get or whether you even get anywhere near the best odds available. If you get tote odds of $3.50 and miss bookmaker odds of $5.00 who cares because "a winner is a winner". Hence again the term "mug punter".

We had a punter join us last year who demanded a refund within a couple of weeks of joining because he said we cannot claim a $30 winner as it was not our top selection, despite being given clear instructions on how to bet that selection for value.

I remember some years back talking to a member who did not renew. We had a $30 winner on top - very difficult to do. I asked him if he backed it. His reply was along the lines of "No, I missed that one. At those odds I didn't expect it to win."

Why do we have some members who have been with us for many years - and yet plenty who do not renew? It can't be the information over the long haul.

To be honest we can do without punters like the above joining our service.

As the saying goes, you can take a horse to water but you cannot make it drink.

Cheers,
Neil.

XPT,

If people are contacting you off forum to abuse you about missing out on a $ 1.80 winner I know what I would be telling them . I f thats the case I wouldnt bother puting your ratings on for the world to see, I would just offer them to people who are grateful for having something done for them for nothing in return except maybe a bit of thanks. No one has to bet on any selections or tips placed on the forum, racing is full of uncertainties and yet still some people expect the impossible ( for nothing)

XPT,
Couldn't agree more with what you say about the use of ratings. Anyone who complains about missing the occasional winner because it wasn't good value just doesn't or won't understand the way ratings work. Your Alighi example was perfect.

I don't believe it's impossible to come out ahead blindly betting on your first rated choice though. Maybe if your ratings are constructed to pick out the horse with the best chance of winning (as most ratings are) - but not if they are designed to pick out the horse with the most chance of returning more money as the top rated choice. That is rating against the assessment style of the majority of punters.

KV