Betfair Trading,  Gambling News,  In-Running

Carry On Racing

It takes more than Coronavirus to stop the Irish racing industry!

Fantastic news that Irish Racing will continue, albeit with stricter guidelines in place, though that decision will be under daily review. No public allowed to watch, which we already knew about but the main new rules state the following.

No horses allowed from overseas, which is sensible. Though due to the travel restrictions in place from most countries worldwide currently they’d have had a job getting there in any case.

Zero owners allowed at the track at all. I think when behind closed doors was first discussed for the UK they were looking at just one owner. So syndicates would have to decide who would be there.

So no owners at all is a tigher restriction.

There will be no evening or double fixtures. For me personally I prefer the no evening races rule!

I like to trade the afternoon meetings and rarely do Dundalk or other evening meetings in Ireland or the UK.

I do though get a bit bored with 30 mins between races!

Having just one meeting per day means the medical side of things (having ambulances and medical staff in attendance) will not put too much of a strain on resources.

So I 100% agree with that.

For the jockeys benefit all weights will be raised 2lbs.

Irish Racing Great News!

The fact that the board of “Horse Racing Ireland” has taken this step is great news for punters like me, but more importantly is the fact that it will enable a lot of those connected with the sport can keep their jobs.

The new schedule for the coming days can be seen here.

To people like me who like to trade in-running and for punters horse racing can be viewed as a sport but for thousands of people in Ireland it’s seen as an industry. So many people rely on racing for their income.

Trading Irish Racing In-Running

For me Irish racing has had some positives and some negatives. First positive is they are all shown on Racing TV (RTV) which is great for me as the pictures are so much better than the Betfair Video.

A sweeping generalisation from me but on average the liquidity is lower. You wouldn’t think that makes too much difference to an in-running trader, but it does.

I trade now using the *Bet Angel Professional “One-Click” screen and the idea is I place a Lay bet into the market when I pick up on certain signals and that should enable me to get a “Lay” bet taken at as low a price as possible and then get my “Back” bet taken as fast as possible so I’m safely out of the trade.

I’m not greedy like some. I go for 33% return on stake (which isn’t all that many ticks above).

The only time any of my bank is at risk is when my Lay bet has been taken but my back bet hasn’t.

The greater the liquidity the less time I spend at risk. (assuming I’ve read the signals right)

On a positive the liquidity will be more now there is no UK racing. Probably not just a bit more liquidity but an awful lot more. Come Saturday afternoon with no football on etc all the mug punters down the pub will be desperate to punt on something.

I don’t trade football anymore (I’ve probably only tried it 3 or 4 times) but I saw this tweet from The Football Trader (@TheFootbllTrder) the other day which made me laugh. Just shows what degens most “Traders” are.

Football Trading on Betfair

I know there are some very successful football traders for example Ersen Guven, known as Psychoff, who is an absolute beast winning chunks week in week out (See his website here psychoff.co.uk)

But I suspect that an awful lot of the people “trading” football, and I use the term loosely, are just degenerate gamblers.

The fact that a Tanznian football game got £108k matched, when according to The Football Trader it would normally get just £5k – £10k matched, just shows that people will bet on two flies on a wall if they have to.

No Face Timers

Another big advantage with the new Irish racing COVID-19 rules for me is the fact there are no spectators allowed onto the track.

The playing field will be evened out as the “Face Timers” won’t be able to operate. This will give more traders a level playing field which should be good for the vast majority.

Again, a sweeping generalisation but I’m guessing that most people who benefit from faster pictures via quicker feeds or track-siders are not as good at race-reading as most of the successful in-running traders who trade just using RTV or Betfair video. (RTV and BF video is about 1.6 secs behind live).

I know a few people who have in the past or still do benefit from faster pictures and one of them is making an absolute fortune. One though was paying £200 per day to be set up in a box at the racecourse and he gave it up because still went bust!

There are those in racing that feel more should be done to level the playing field on a permanent basis as face timers are seen to be fleecing racing for millions. It doesn’t really bother me too much.

OK so they can lay fallers and I can’t but if my race reading skills keep improving and my mentor’s safety-first strategy becomes habit for me, then I can still make good money so that’s all I worry about.

The mentor I’m working with now has put me straight on a few things and I’m progressing nicely.

Irish Racing Going Forward

There have already been 5 meetings in Ireland that have taken place since the “behind closed doors” came into place. They have obviously looked at how it has worked so far with social distancing and sanitisation.

The Horse Racing Ireland board will continue to monitor the Corona Virus developments and if it gets worse and worse then it still may have to stop.

I love trading horse racing and I’m pleased this decision has been taken but if ultimately it has to stop to ensure the safety of those concerned then so be it.

The BHA decided to totally stop all UK racing when Boris Johnson said on Tuesday 17th March. “The Government will not support mass gatherings, such as sporting events, which rely on the presence of emergency services.

That was the clincher for UK racing. We’ll see if Irish racing will continue for any length of time.

Safety First Trading

With my new safety-first approach to trading, I will have to be extra vigilant now there will only be one meeting per day in Ireland. It’s easy to let races go with 20+ races a day to find the 3 or 4 good ones I’m looking for.

With just one meeting and therefore less opportunities I’ll need to be aware that I may watch all 6 or 7 races of the day and not get one really good opportunity.

Being strong willed enough to say I traded all day and have zero trades will be “character building” that’s for sure.

As The Football trader says I’ll need to “learn to sit on my hands”.

Buy Bet Angel Professional

*I use Bet Angel professional because it offers more help with automating my bets. I have simple “”servants” set up to place my lay bets and trade out automatically for me. (Offset with Greening)

Buy Now!

Horse Racing Ireland

For more information about the new protocols see the Irish Racing website here.

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