My Father worked at the racecourse for the Press Association and that led me into the horse racing game from an early age .
I remember playing truant from school to watch Shergar win the 1981 Derby, but my first trip to the racecourse was for the Ebor in 1984. I had managed to bet the favourite for that years Greyhound Derby, Smokey Pete at 50/1 anti post. On finals night he started at odds on, then got beaten . I have never bet greyhounds since .
I bet Western Dancer in the Ebor at 20/1 to a £1 stake which as an 18 year old student was a big touch ! After that I was hooked. I then started betting properly in 1985 at the Cheltenham festival and See You Then became the horse that won me my first real money from the game .
I drifted into Betting Office work which I did for years. I was fortunute to befriend a fellow manager of an office who won at betting regularly. He carved a real profit from the game and went on to become a professional gambler. He still does that now and is a known "face " on Midlands and Yorkshire tracks.
He taught me all the bad habits to avoid, he saved me
thousands of pounds, hundreds of losers and fast tracked me to how
to win at the game. The lessons were invaluable . The
myths and cliches were exposed through a few years of
racing with him on track, and through further time spent
working on the racecourse clerking for an on course
bookmaker.
With the knowledge I picked up I managed to stay ahead of the game and stay afloat.
At that time I was also working part time in betting offices and then went to work for a prominent Tipster as a researcher. I learnt at that point how the seedy side of the game worked and how the innocent punters were promised miracles but were delivered losses and disappointments .
My knowledge base grew through study, reading betting books, learning through my own and other peoples mistakes. I became a regular winner. As a committed player I moved on to more advanced topics like formulating my own speed figures, statistics and betting style that allowed me to leave work full to concentrate on betting professionally.
I had been winning money regularly for 5 years when I decided to start "Mathematician Betting." That was 20 odd years ago and I am proud to say that some of my very early clients are still with me today.
I soon learnt that there was no relationship between making money at racing, and making other people money at racing. The former is not hard. The latter is the hardest profession and one that 95% of tipsters fail to achieve to. They don't have the stomach, or the commitment to study 14 hours a day everyday . They want the revenue, but don't want to do the graft . That's my edge, the graft. I put the time in that nobody else does or can. I do it for myself and my clients who both see it daily, and appreciate it.
The internet has developed in recent years into a tremendous resource for betting, I used that to gain an even greater edge.
I seriously believe that with the advent of the internet in conjunction with tax free betting and betting exchanges such as Betfair, it has never been easier to make money as a punter.