Wednesday, 1st October 2025
In ATC today….
I’m not frustrated…. disappointed…. or fretful….
…. I’ve rediscovered a zen-like calm that represents my ideal state….
…. and my perspective is right where it should be….
Oh…. and I wonder if you missed all these extra winners….
Read on….
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Long-time friend of the ATC column RR contacts my publisher to say this….
“Pass on my best to Nick, he must be feeling frustrated with results at the moment….”
I’m blessed with a hard-core readership who’ve been with me for a long time….
…. good people who appreciate that I must stick my neck out week-on-week – with no place to hide….
…. and who understand that there are times when things go against you in this game – and that such periods can mess with your head a bit….
RR is one of those people….
…. and I really appreciate them all – because they stay in touch and help keep me balanced….
But – as it happens – right now I don’t feel frustrated at all….
Perhaps I should – because winners are a little thin on the ground….
…. and maybe at other points in the past I’d have been a bit flat after the same sequence of recent outcomes….
But sometimes my perspective is in a better place than at other times….
…. and – for whatever reason – I’m at my Zen-like best at the moment….
Nothing can touch me, and I know the wheel will turn – because it always does….
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Hugh Taylor – the tipster of At The Races fame – once said something that resonated with me….
…. so much so, I made a note of it….
“[There is] an important lesson for newcomers to punting to learn – winning punters don’t win all the time. Indeed, in many years the profit has largely stemmed from around two or three golden months – most serious punters will tell you this is by no means unusual.”
That’s definitely always been the case for me….
…. famine…. followed by feast…. followed by another lean spell…. , before another purple patch comes along….
I don’t know why it works out that way. I really don’t understand it….
…. you’d think the winners and losers would be a bit more randomly spaced – rather than each coming in big clumps….
…. but there you go….
And I read something else just this week that struck a chord with me….
…. a quote from an unnamed bookmaker – who said this….
“No one betting or tipping should be ashamed of losers – that’s part of the game.”
It’s a good thing to remember – even if the advice does come from the enemy camp….
I don’t think I’ve ever been ashamed of putting up losers….
…. but I’ve certainly been angry with myself…. down on myself…. and a lot more introspective and internalized about things than is probably healthy….
But dealing with all the psychological – and emotional – ups and downs of tipping/betting is part of the game….
…. and I’m not whining about it….
…. just making the point that there are times when we all deal with things better than at other times….
…. and right now I’m in a calm and level-headed good place….
I’m not fretting – and that’s the key thing because fretting never helps….
…. it’s a big distraction and a big drain on your energy and mental resources – which are best applied to the actual job at hand….
It has often seemed to me that letting go of all the angst….
…. and tuning out all the noise….
…. is the fastest route back to where you want to get to…
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Perhaps I’m not fretting about things much because on a level I know I’ve not been too far away from better outcomes….
Hopewell Rock, Theory Of Tides and – on Saturday at Haydock – All Ways Glamorous….
…. are all very recent examples of picks that found just one horse too good on the day….
Granted – at advised prices of 6s,10s, & 13/2 – we were never going to light the bonfires and call for the bunting….
…. but every little bit helps the bottom line – and none of them lost by much….
Had things turned out just a little differently I might have been chalking up three winners….
…. and it’s important to remember that not every losing bet is necessarily a bad bet….
When you come within a length or two of getting it right in a big-field handicap up a straight mile, for example….
…. it’s not much use for the bottom-line calculations….
…. but you weren’t a million miles away either….
…. and – in many respects – those close shaves have to be looked at in a positive light….
…. because you are seeing it well – in spite of the result….
Here’s an interesting stat for you….
…. I’ve put up 31 horses that have finished 2nd since the start of September last year – at prices all over the board….
…. 31 horses!! – that’s more than one a fortnight!!
Perhaps I’ve just been lucky – or unlucky – depending on how you choose to look at it….
…. but what it tells me is that when you dig a bit deeper than just the surface winners (25 at 9.46% over the same period before anybody asks)….
…. I can’t be doing too bad a job of finding ‘live’ contenders in the toughest races on the programme….
Just to tidy up the metrics….
…. my total place strike rate from the start of September last year amounts to 36.6% – which I can definitely live with….
…. and the betting profit banked – 1pt e/w to advised stakes – amounts to 112.9 points….
I’d like more – probably five times more than that – but I’ll take it as it is….
Wherever that bottom-line outcome sits on your scale of expectation….
…. you’d have to concede that it’s slightly better than being poked in the eye with the dirty end of a stick….
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On another note, I also like to remind readers from time to time that ATC is not just about tips….
…. I also publish bits of post-race analysis (and pre-race pointers)….
…. which – like the big-race selections – is sometimes remarkably accurate, sometimes dead wrong, or often somewhere in-between….
But – for those of you who don’t pay any attention to that stuff (and I know you’re out there) – you did miss one or two recent gems that proved mighty profitable….
Jagged Edge, for instance. I highlighted him back at the start of August – see here – and next time out he won the Irish Cambridgeshire sent off at 22s….
Witch Hunter was flagged up as a well-handicapped type toward the end of August – see here – and three runs down the line he obliged at Newcastle sent off at 9s….
I know quite a few of you were on Lord Melbourne at Epsom earlier this week – he won at 9s. I flagged him up after his performance at the same track last June – see here. He also won at Doncaster in November sent off at 14s….
Run Boy Run got the thumbs up from me in May – see here. He placed in a few big handicaps before running out the winner of the Gold Cup at Ayr a fortnight back – sent off at 12s….
…. unbacked by yours truly….
…. but then it’s not unusual for readers to make much better use of the information I provide in ATC than I do myself….
Of course, other horses I’ve flagged-up as well-handicapped – Blue For You springs to mind – has gone off a cliff….
…. but that’s race-betting, isn’t it?
You get ups and downs…. rough and smooth…. winners and losers…. feast and famine…. times when you can’t go wrong…. and other times when you can’t hit a cow’s backside with a banjo….
It’s always been that way….
…. it always will be….
The trick is to enjoy the game wherever you are on the curving at any one point in time….
…. always confident in the knowledge that the good times will come rolling around again….
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That’s all for today….
Back tomorrow….
Meantime – contact me at – nick.pullen@spapublishinggroup.co.uk
Stay tuned….
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