Wolverhampton Race Track.

 Starting Points... 

Tapeta all weather racing surface came to Wolverhampton in August 2014.

This surface has been used in the US and Dubai, some people thought it controversial for one reason or another, but first reactions from trainers and jockeys in general was positive.

To read up on Tapeta surface, click here

Obviously, in the first couple of months, like any surface, it has to have time to

"bed down" and this can cause all kinds of results, and by the looks of things, it did.

Seemingly random results, and Wolverhampton becoming a bit of a betting minefield in many a punters eye.

Top rated jockeys looking not so good, and lesser rated jockeys looking better.

Trainers strike rates all over the place and even the draw bias seemed to be affected.

Were some jockeys adapting to the surface quicker than others?

Were a lot of jockeys getting the pace wrong?

Was weather conditions affecting the surface more than expected?

Even, as some have suggested, Was/is the surface being maintained properly (as it is new to all) or was it "trial and error" to start with?

Anyway, we are not here to debate such subjects (maybe another time), we are here to try and find out how things are going 15 months later, and see if any profitable angles are taking shape with the criteria we are going to look at, which will mainly be trainer and jockey based.

Because of the randomness in the first couple of months, I will start looking at data from this year 2015, but not completly disregarding 2014 where is seen fit.

It will also be interesting to see if weather conditions have a bigger contribution than is widely thought.

Will the cold and damp weather actually make it quicker?

Not a lot of data to go on, but, you have to start somewhere, and as this is an ongoing theme, information will appear on this page at regular intervals, "updated" if you like. Maybe something will start to form...Just maybe.

All that will appear here is information which will hopefully help you in your betting, it is not a system as such, and you can do what you like with it. 

If you have any comments, or an idea on what to look out for and it could help someone as a "Starting Point", please do so.

Lets keep it all simple and digestable.

First off, one thing I have noticed, is a profit has been made in non-handicap races ran at 5 furlongs since March 2015.

Actually, these figures are from March,April,May and October 2015.

The horses making the profit have been the top rated horses in the race.

There was one winner priced at 18/1 but I have taken that out as not to skew the figures.

So...

The top rated horse in a non-handicap race.

Races at 5 furlongs.

With odds between evens and 16/1.

Figures read...

Had the random results ceased as the "milder" weather approached and the going changed?

Had the surface "bedded in" come march?

Or are these still random?

Only time will tell

One to keep an eye on, eachway looks very interesting but, as we said before, it's early days.

24/11/15...

Thank you for the comments and emails.

Ratings explanations are for another time and place, ratings is a massive area to cover so, I will very quickly explain why I mentioned them above, It's an idea and an observation, a starting point, maybe you can add your own like John (cheers John).

I do use my own ratings, but, not all the time as yet, and, this is a big but, I don't follow them religiously as a massive amount of time has to be spent gathering the

"proper info", and I for one, don't have that time at the moment.

By the end of this winter, Adrian will be placing bets on the A/W...any takers?

To be continued...