SPREADING THE SPRING WEALTH

By Nick Tedeschi

If you are a warrior of The Racing Game, it is time to lock yourself down and prepare for the wild frenzy that is Spring Carnival racing. Fasten your doors and board up your windows. Keep your ear to the ground and your lips pursed tight. Make those necessary phone calls. Bunker down with The Form and as many sources of information as you can wire together legally. Operate off a diet containing only fresh lychees and carefully selected cashews. And make sure you have your eyes checked out by an optometrist or someone of similar standing in the vision assessment community- a bad eye will mean some bad bets. That’s just science.

The Spring Carnival is the high-watermark of the Australian racing calendar. The prize money is high, the racecourses full and the best race the best. It is when champions do something extraordinary that sticks in our weathered memories as the months and years tick by. Names like Kingston Town and Sunline, Might and Power and Northerly, Saintly and Sydeston, Super Impose and Doriemus…they all evoke such wonderful memories because of the courage and brilliance they displayed at carnival time, thumping and gliding over Australia’s finest racetracks, decimating rivals in the most time-honoured of  races, winning. Nobody will forget Bonecrusher and Our Waverly Star “racing into equine immortality” nor Sunline winning Australia’s weight-for-age championship by an astonishing seven lengths. Greg Hall climbing high in his irons, thinking Doriemus had won a second Melbourne Cup, only to be shattered by the judge moments later. Damien Oliver, tears and sweat, as he pushed Media Puzzle to a heavenly Melbourne Cup victory. Kingston Town coming from the clouds, leaving a legacy for the legendary Bill Collins that he would rather not have. Iron horses like Sky Beau, Fields of Omagh, Super Impose and Sydeston giving it their spring best year after year. This is the Spring Carnival.

While it is these horses and these memories that make the Spring Carnival, that tingling in the belly and that glint in the eye are just that little bit more special if you’ve made a quid or two on these champions. It’s always great to see a champion win. It’s better to back a champion and see him win.

To a certain degree that old cowboy Will Rogers was right-“Money, horse racing and women, three things the boys just can’t figure out”. Well, I can’t help you out too much with the birds and if you’re after advice on your share portfolio, I’m probably not your man. But if the nut is racing, I may be of some assistance, as they say.

Now I can’t tell you what horses to back, nor which hoops to follow or stables to track. These are personal decisions, decisions made in the time of solitude when it’s only a man and his form guide…when the numbers jerk and bend and shine, rising up from the page and from the eyes to form The Winner…

Yes, I can’t help you with all that.

But how to bet. That is my gig.

I’m not going to tell you about win betting and exotics. They have their place and most of us are familiar with the pros and cons. But spread betting…ah, spread betting.

Spread betting on the races is for everyone. From the one dollar punter to the beamer driving high roller, spread betting is an option for one and all.

I like to think of myself as a bit of a jockey expert. I can pick the top class hoops from the monkey-like thieves. So I bet the jockey spreads. This isn’t your stock standard three-two-one fixed odds deal that offers no value and can completely screw you if your jock has a couple of scratchings or he goes for a tumble early on.

What happens with the jockey spreads is simple. A jockey is chosen for city meetings at Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne each Saturday. Along with each jockey is a quote at which you can buy if you think the jockey will have a good day or sell if you are of the opinion the hoop couldn’t ride Phar Lap to the barn door. For each win the hoop will be credited with 25 points, for each second they will receive 10 and for each third 5.

Last Saturday, Kerrin McEvoy sailed in from lands afar to ride at the Caulfield Cup meeting. He is a jockey of the highest order, but I’m never real fussed on jockeys riding out of their natural habitat. He is an international rider and while he has been jet setting around the world, it is doubtful he has kept up with the mass of form required to be at the top of his game. He was a good sell. He was a better sell when the quote was put up; 37-42. By the end of the day, he had ridden only two thirds for a final tally of ten points.

That was a 27 time stake victory. You don’t often get that kind of payoff just backing a horse straight out. Betting on the jockey spreads gives you value, an interest that lasts until the final race and a chance to win big.

Another option is to have a punt in the jockey match bet market. Two jockeys are pitted against each other with scoring the same as the jockey spread market. The result is the difference in points between the two jockeys. Last weekend, it was the up and comer Jay Ford against country champ Matty Cahill. Ford had a very good book of rides and the Ford 9-14 quote looked too good to resist. Those who bought won 26 times their stake. Another wise investment, as the bishop said to the actress…

Another market that is ripe for the picking, if you’ve got an eye for quality, is the Group One index. For all Group 1 races, a market is on offer where you can buy and sell any horse in the field, based on where you think the horse will finish. The first horse receives 50 points, second 30, third 20 and fourth 10. Last weekend, this market operated on the Caulfield Cup. Many punters out there didn’t like the hotpot El Segundo…but still lost!

That’s criminal.

When a punter dislikes the favourite and it gets beat…and the punter doesn’t collect, it is a real shame. They miss the winner yet got the race right. Well, if you didn’t like El Segundo you could have sold him at his opening quote of 21 and made 21 times your stake. You didn’t have to find someone to beat it…just back against it and you would have been in the money. This is the perfect bet type for those who can’t find a horse to win but have a big opinion on who can’t.

Spread betting is the great way to get value for your dollar, to get properly rewarded for your opinion. I can’t tip you into a winner but I can tip you into a decent bet…and spread betting is it. Make your dollar count and open up a spread betting account. And when you’re bunkered down looking for a winner, make sure you’ve got enough fresh lychees to get you through the night.

Australia’s only fully licensed and operating spread betting company is Sports Acumen. Click here for more information on all your Spring Carnival spread betting options.