By Brett Craig

As regulars may know, I have been subscribing to the Winform Ratings for some time. Over the last year I have been on a vast learning curve. I did learn that watching the top rated Winform selections when they were available at 8/1 or better was a very worthwhile pursuit and I have backed many long priced winners at odds of better than 30/1 and many , many winners at odds around 15/1 and 20/1 including last Wednesday when the last three top rated selections in Sydney all won at $14.70, then $26.80 and finally Royal Rockette $8.30 (after it came in from around $14) .

I realised recently, when I was analysing the statistics for Winform (I have been meticulously recording the selections and dividends for the whole year) that I had overlooked the potential of betting the Winform selections just for the place. It came to me recently when I noticed a selection that was a top rated selection paid $19.70 for running second. In that race the second rated horse won and the third rated horse placed third for a trifecta of over $15,000, a rare occurrence certainly, but the possibility of a rated horse placing and paying good odds is not so rare.

It is obviously much easier to land a horse into a placing than to get a win and although the dividends are obviously not as good as winning  they can be very worthwhile.

I only began recording top rated horses late last year and after recording over 10,000 selections there were more than 4,000 horses that paid dividends. There is an important distinction between horses that placed and horses that paid dividends. Many selections ran third but paid nothing, so they were eliminated. Altogether 42% of top rated horses paid a dividend at an average of better than $2 and this represented a small loss. Probably if we were able to get on at bookmaker odds we would have done better but that’s not practical.

My thoughts are to look closely at the selections and eliminate those horses that are obviously hopeless. By doing this we should be able to get our placings, particularly the top rated horses, up to better than the 50% we need to make a profit. If we can do this, we will make a good profit

I have asked the editor to research Winform’s database to see just whether or not I am on the right track and he has promised to follow up within the next week.

How has your experience been with place betting? The editor would like to hear your comments so send here..