Punting is all about learning.

Whether you are a novice or a pro, you can always gain something from research, forums such as this, and analysing your own mistakes.

It's easy to blame the horse, the jockey or your wife for "bad luck" etc.

The most important thing I have learnt is to analyse your own betting habits and mistakes regularly.

Prepared to admit when I am wrong, there are two decisions that I made some months ago which cost me money and if anyone learns from this it has been worthwhile.

1. I thought Northerly was not as good this time in. I thought he didn't show the same zest as last year. Boy was I wrong! I think he is better than he ever was - even if he doesn't run a place on Saturday.

What can I learn from this...

The horse is older this year. As horses get older, generally they take longer to be race fit. Northerly just wasn't fit at his first two runs this time in. He didn't look comfortable being squeezed a little mid race etc.

The moral of the story...never write off a class horse.

2. Bel Esprit
No doubt a great sprinter. When led and weakened badly over more distance in two starts, I thought they must be crazy trying to run this horse over more distance each time. I should have realised that John Symons is an extremely astute trainer with a fantastic setup at Macedon Lodge. He trains his horses for endurance / stamina by making them work on slow rising tracks. A bit like Kiwi's preparation back in New Zealand.

I never even considered that Bel Esprit could be ridden from the back of the field rather than on the pace as this was his trademark.

What a versatile horse!

The moral of the story...

Don't always look at what you know, think about what could be. Don't fantasize, rather just explore all possibilities before making judgements.

Phew...it's off my chest.

Hope this helps others in the future too.

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Treat your selection and staking methods not with optimism, nor with pessimism, but with realism.