Do speed figures really work for National Hunt racing?

Published: Fri, 11/06/15

Speed figures are always something that have sat in my peripheral vision, lurking in the background trying to catch my attention...but failing miserably!


I have tried to dabble on rare occasions but truth be told I don’t have the time to create my own speed figures, my own analysis already takes up enough of my time.


I was also a tad dubious. Do they really work for National Hunt racing? It's not like the flat tracks of America where they are all, generally, flat left-handed ovals. Our tracks are so much more diverse I always remained sceptical about speed figures chances of working over here.


But their presence always niggled away at me and after recently re-reading a couple of Andrew Beyer's books (American speed figures guru) I decided it was time to investigate properly. 


So I put the feelers out to see if anyone could point in the direction of some trustworthy, and, ideally, profitable speed figures.  


That's when I was pointed in the direction of Andy Holding, via a couple of my Proform contacts. 


Andy is a Speed Figures expert, a William Hill Radio pundit and also a one of the tipsters at Oddschecker (so a good chance some of you may have heard of him).


From what I've seen so far I've been impressed with his Speed Figures.


Andy is currently trying to expand his Speed Figures service so I've persuaded him to allow you completely free access to all of his speed figures for today's racing.


You can grab that file from the following page (it's in excel format)...




This is what Andy himself says about his figures...

"In an era when speed figures are becoming ever more popular with the general betting public, there are still plenty of grey areas and a lack of information when it comes to National Hunt racing. Although still in its infancy, punters can draw upon data used at some of the big Flat meetings to ascertain which horses have run the best overall times, and in some cases, sectional splits. This sort of knowledge, however, is virtually non existent when it comes to racing over hurdles or fences. With that in mind, there has to be, therefore, a big edge to be found for those willing to put in the time and effort analysing sectional times on jump racing, and using them to establish which horses were fastest on any given card."

"We will provide you with overall speed ratings from the last 12 months, plus a column that displays at what track this performance was achieved, the going allowance and, most importantly, final circuit times and sectional splits to show you how the back end of a race developed in conjunction to the overall rating of the race. When the overall and final circuit times are the best on any given card, we highlight the performance in the final column marked TRUE (standing for a true run race). These are the races which we believe are worth following above any others.  I take the time to note all of the key performances and you will receive my personal list of horses to follow every week"

There is a hell of a lot of work that goes into this service but then again there has to be, for these times and figures to be accurate it needs maximum concentration and effort.

If Speed Figures are your thing or indeed, like myself, its something that's been of interest to you for some time but you just don't have the time to create your own figures (I can empathize with you on that one!) then make sure you grab today's free download.

Andy came recommended to me not only by the guys at Proform but also by a couple of pro-gamblers who have been using his figures for a considerable amount of time.

That's why I'm happy to point you guys towards him and indeed happy to finally dip my toes in the Speed Figures waters...




If you have any questions or queries please contact Andy Holding direct as he will be able to answers your questions in more depth than myself.

Andy can be contacted here...

aholding@aol.com 


Ben (NTF)
 


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