My interest in horse racing started as a teenager. I do not remember how, when or why but I happened to buy a second hand book by Phil Bull. One of his Best Horses of 1940s annuals. It struck me that this was the clearest, most logical and interesting sports writer I had come across. He never held back in his opinions. He took on allcomers, including the Establishment, and was invariably proved right.

If a man of his ability could find horse racing so vividly interesting then I thought there must be more to it than at first met the eye. Perhaps it was also the statistics which appealed to me, The idea that this colourful occupation was susceptible to numerical analysis. Later I found out that Phil Bull had won the modern equivalent of £millions gambling on racehorses and had set up a racing publishing business that had a worldwide reputation.

Well the initial interest did not develop into anything else for another 20 years.

In 1985 I decided to try out the germ of an idea that I could make money betting on horse racing. For a year this was only a paper exercise. However it developed into the real thing when a success at Nottingham Racecourse hooked me. I understood from the beginning that to succeed long term you had to know a great deal about the particular races you are betting on and have the right personality to bet objectively all of the time. Analysing form suited me. I came across form data which was produced entirely by computer algorithms which assessed a horse more accurately than any human handicapper could. It did this by continually recalculating all form going back years. I chose to bet only on sprinters and gradually reduced the grades of race I bet on. At the peak of this venture in the 1990s I had an encyclopedic knowledge of sprinters and their performances.

Anyway time passes and now I do not have the motivation to put in all that work. My interest in betting has reduced and the interest in the horses themselves has grown. Having tested out horse race ownership with the Racegoers Club, and later a poor performer called Cultured King, I took a share in a horse called Tribal Prince, trained by Peter Harris. Prince taught me a lot about racehorses and racing. We had him for five seasons until he broke a fetlock preparing for his last race of the 2003 season.

I currently have a small interest in two racehorses Pinpoint and Something. There are pages devoted to them. Those looking for up to the minute information about their prospects may be disappointed. I have to respect the other owners interests too. However I shall regularly provide update information on their well being, entries and particularly thoughts on their performances.

During 20 years of betting and as a keen watcher of racing I have reached many conclusions which differ from conventional opinion and particularly the way the media present racing and racehorses. I see a different sport from that shown on
TV. That is why I will be including pages about Racing, Betting and Racehorses. Whether you agree or disagree with me I am very happy to debate racing with you and add your own opinions to the website. I find racing message boards mainly a disappointment. Those interested in debate and sharing knowledge usually stay away and leave the boards to the attention seekers.

The Betting Blog is back, after OK 2007 and 2008 seasons. Judge for yourself with the archive pages. Again I will attempt to make some money betting on sprinters. There will be an analysis of the races which interest me, selections when I think there may be a value betting opportunity, and a post mortem explaining what has been learned from the race. The target in 2009 (I know I am going to regret this) is a 50 point profit.