TAB: Racing tips - follow the late money

Opie Bosson riding Avantage wins the Karaka Million 2YO, race 6; Karaka Million, Ellerslie Racecourse, Auckland. 27 January 2018. Copyright Image: Marc Shannon / Photosport

Betting On Gallops, Trots or Dogs? Follow The Late Money

TAB Bookmaker Stephen Hunt shares his thoughts on the importance of late money when placing bets on racing.

Betting trends (price movements) in the last 30 minutes are still as significant as they have ever been.

With the introduction of earlier opening times for fixed odds markets, sometimes days out, the betting activity 30 minutes before a race has somewhat been ignored by punters - often at their peril.

Early betting can be fraught with danger on a number of fronts.

To be competitive against rivals, we release our Saturday markets 2-3 days out from race day, this results in the first market assessment being done after only a few hours of study.

But the same scenario applies to the punter so it's a fairly swift opinion versus a fairly swift opinion.

Percentages can be high on occasions, and scratchings are nil.

It's fair to say over the next 48 to 72 hours the marketplace doesn't change a lot.

But the fluctuations prices in the last 30 minutes cannot be ignored. In fact, it should be given the highest priority.

Prices don't rise or fall for no reason. It's based on investment or lack of it.

Factors controlling this landscape are such that they can't be assessed before race day, track bias and horse presentation fit well into this category.

The facts don't lie. Most horses who drift in the market don't win. Conversely, many horses who firm in the market, from whatever price, either win or run well.

Punters often feel they are missing the boat if they allow the flurry of fixed odds activity to pass them by on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.

Yes, the ball game has changed but one thing hasn't:

Betting trends in the final 30 minutes before a race are just as significant as early betting trends.

You can follow betting trends here.