In Uk Horse Racing it is often judged by punters a positive sign if a trainer sends just one horse to a meeting. The assumption made may be that if he is going to the expense and trouble to transport just one horse all the way to a course he must have good reason.
Is this just an old wives tale or is there some truth in it?
Dave Renham from PunterProfits.com trawled through about 5 years of National Hunt Horse Racing Results to try and get to the truth of things.
He made the assumption that each trainer would take a different attitude so he researched everything on a trainer by trainer basis.
For members over there he produced a downloadable spreadsheet with all the key facts and info such as strike rates and return on investment listed.
The full spreadsheet can be downloaded at the link below.
Note however you have to be a full member of punterprofits.com to get it.
http://www.punterprofits.com/profit/index.php?showtopic=10247
In respect to Dave and the members there I don’t want to detail all his research here however here are a few selected facts from his research for two of the top National Hunt Trainers
| Trainer | Runners | Wins | Strike rate (%) | Profit | ROI (%) |
| PF Nicholls | 354 | 114 | 32.2 | £24.04 | 6.8 |
| D Pipe | 268 | 62 | 23.1 | £38.51 | 14.4 |
( ROI = Return On Investment .. a measure of profitability )
As you can see if one of these two trainers sends just one horse to a meeting it can indeed be taken as a positive sign.
Word of warning however .. not all trainers think the same way.
Dave’s fuller research details where this can be taken as a positive sign and where it should be ignored.
Interestingly it is even more positive than the above with some of the mid range / not so well known trainers.
If you have been burnt by so called miracle systems and the sellers who hype them up you may start to come round to the conclusion that the only way to get ahead in your racing betting is via knowledge and hard work.
If you have reached that stage of your racing betting career yet the continual research carried out by Dave over at PunterProfits.com should be of interest to you in keeping you ahead of the field on the Exchanges.