Because of the vagaries of racing hard and fast systems have never worked for me. They can minimise losses but in the end I have not got richer.

Something that does provide me with some good priced winners is to look for horses that:

1. Raced within the last 7 days
2. Appeared in the stewards report in that last race recording something that affected its performance

Some good price winners bob up.

Take into account if the horse has a history of backing up and how it performed on those occasions. If it does not have a history make a judgement (yes it is subjective) based on that last run, the stewards report and is the trainer a good one who might know exactly what he/she is doing.

Having been involved in many horses with some good success horses are often backed up when the trainer is basically "spewing" over the last result whether it be because of interference or a poor ride or both. In other words he /she thinks it could have won and whilst the horse is still at that fitness level let's go back and win the race we should have.

Sometimes the horse is just useless and they are just giving it a run to see if backing up has some magic. We did it once with a horse in Northam (WA) and when the jockey got off he said he had never ridden a horse with such a slow sprint and was worried the ambulance might run him over !! Such is racing.

In the end you make a judgement yes but when you get it right you often get a good price.

Getting inside trainers heads is good advice. Stewards report and gear changes are worth keeping a close eye on too. Efficient's next run with 'blinkers first time' is worth noting!