Do Horse Trainers Make Good Tipsters?

It’s an interesting question.

Now it will come as no surprise that certain horse trainers are very shrewd when it comes to tipping and betting on horses while others have no interest at all and some are just a poor judge. So the key is understanding the merit of the horse trainer.

There is a well-known tipping company called Trainer Quote who have a select number of horse trainer on their books who give their thoughts and I guess tips on horses they train. I have no idea how successful this is but I guess it they want to keep their retainer they had best detail the ‘good stuff’.

I have had little to do with horse trainers bar a Julia Feilden who I believe is one of the horse trainers with Trainer Quote. I met her a couple of times when I joined her racing syndicate Newmarket Equine Tours and a lovely lady she is too.

From my personal perspective, if I were a horse trainer and an owner was paying good money for a horse in training I would be very careful giving out information. Why? Because if you get it wrong a few times I can imagine an owner taking the huff and going elsewhere. So I can imagine most trainers (even if they strongly fancy a horse) would say: ‘I think it has a small each way chance.’ Trying to distance themselves as far from the ‘winning punt’.

Who could blame them.

As my good friend Eric Winner says: ‘They aren’t racing them for us!’

No truer word said.

I remember Clive Brittain, now retired, who trained at Newmarket. One of my favourite handlers because of his new say die attitude running horses at the highest grade when they looked to have little hope on form. He was the most optimistic trainer in the world. And it worked for him. Consider Terimon runner up in the Epsom Derby at 250/1. I have no idea if he advised the owner to have a bet but it wouldn’t have surprised me. He used to say: ‘Never be scared of one horse.’ He kept it to himself that he wasn’t scared of the whole field.

For a horse trainer to give tips it really is a thankless task. They have little to gain but much to lose.

I’ve know a few horse owners and they smart when they chatted tot he trainer the day before and didn’t say anything about a couple of winners that went in the next day. But why would they tell? Again, they have nothing to gain apart from irritating an owner who saw the odds on his or her horse shorten before they had placed their bet. The owner has no preserve over whispers or a punters view that they have seen value.

The best approach to understanding of a horse trainer doesn’t need to come from their mouth or the ‘horses mouth’ as I’ve heard from many an owner. It comes from data and what that says. If you have enough data you can learn how a trainer works and which horses have any real hope of winning. Don’t believe me, just do a bit of groundwork and you will soon appreciate the truth.

So are horse trainers good tipsters.

You can only judge each on their merits but you can tell that certain trainers are very good and know a winner when they see one.

A trainer knows his or her horses but whether they have a grasp of anyone else’s is an open question. That’s the problems with specific rather than global knowledge you can’t know everything and it only takes one or two horses in opposition to make you look a fool