The first Grand National took place in 1836. I was not around then, but I was for the first televised running of the race in 1960. I think I have only missed one live running of the race since then. In 1960 I had placed an Ante-Post bet on The Spring Double. The first leg was Mustavon which duly won with my winnings going on to Merryman in The Grand National. Great memories and I still have a picture of Merryman, with Gerry Scott on board, jumping the last fence, hanging on a wall in my home. So my love affair with the Grand National began. My interest in racing started in 1954 at the age of twelve years eleven months. I used to listen to my parents and aunts and uncles discussing the big horse races. They asked me to select a horse for the 1954 Derby. I went for the jockey not the horse and chose Lester Piggott riding Never Say Die. Extra pocket money ! While still at Grammar School I had a part time job delivering Corona door to door. I was a van boy. The drivers were having a sweepstake on the 1958 Derby. I picked Hard Ridden out of the hat and was allowed to have a bet on him. Good old Charlie Smirke booted it home. Pure luck ! I decided I needed to understand what racing was all about and was intrigued with advertisements that would appear on a Saturday afternoon by Joe Davis advertising Timeform. I purchased their Racehorses of 1959 Annual and have continued having them ever since. Nowadays the Flat Racing does not get my interest until after the Grand National. As usual this years Grand National looks very open. I will be coming up with a short list nearer the time. For all the runners and riders with the jockey's colours go to Paddy Power and click on "Horse Racing".

What a fabulous four days racing last week. Now that the dust has settled it is time to reflect on the results and performances of the feature race of each day. We now have a new kid on the block in Sublimity who won the The Cheltenham Champion Hurdle on the Tuesday. He appeared to have the race set up for him by Hardy Eustace and Brave Inca but was obviously the best horse on the day and given a confident ride by Philip Carberry. On the Wednesday Voy Por Ustedes was a worthy winner of The Cheltenham Champion Chase, but who knows what might have happened had Well Chief not fallen at the second fence. Lets hope he runs at Liverpool's Grand National meeting. Also on the Wednesday Denman was a impressive winner of the Cheltenham Royal and Sun Alliance Chase. On the Thursday Inglis Drever was a gutsy winner of The Cheltenham Ladbrokes World Hurdle, but who knows what might have happened had Black Jack Ketcham not fallen at the third flight. Lets hope he also runs at Liverpool's Grand National meeting. Blazing Bailey who finished third ran a terrific race for a five year old and is one to follow next season. Kauto Star was the star on the Friday when he won The Cheltenham Gold Cup. He was given a brillant ride by Ruby Walsh. Lets hope he keeps sound and not suffer injury problems like previous winners Kicking King and War of Attrition. The week was spoilt by the fatal injury to Nil Desperandum at Uttoxeter on Saturday. He was on my short list for this years Grand National. For racecards go to at the races For all the runners and riders with the jockey's colours go to Paddy Power and click on "Horse Racing".

The Cheltenham Gold Cup was previewed a couple of weeks ago and nothing has really altered apart from the going. Kauto Star is the best horse in the field and should win. However, as we have already seen this week the fences have to be jumped. I will be looking for a eachway bet. Beef or Salmon is a big price and so is Kingscliff. I will have a small interest in both of them and hope they can run into a place at long odds. Kingscliff is the only course and distance winner in the field. Beef or Salmon has been flown over this time rather than spend 20 hours travelling in a horse box by ferry and road. I guess this will be his last chance at trying to win The Gold Cup. It should be an interesting race. May the best horse win. For all the runners and riders with the jockey's colours go to Paddy Power and click on "Horse Racing".

If the real Our Vic turns up he should just about win The Cheltenham Ryanair Chase. The obvious dangers are Monets Garden, Taranis and Racing Demon as the betting suggests. Hi Cloy could spring a surprise for Ireland, but I am going to stay with Our Vic and hope it gives his owner David Johnson a change of Cheltenham fortune. Now that the ground has dried out The Cheltenham Ladbroke World Hurdle looks set up for Black Jack Ketchum. The dangers would appear to be Inglis Drever,Mighty Man and Blazing Bailey. The Alan King stable is having a wonderful meeting and perhaps it can continue with Blazing Bailey. He looks a good eachway bet. For all the runners and riders with the jockey's colours go to Paddy Power and click on "Horse Racing".

The first three races on Wednesday each have a very hot favourite. The feature race,The Queen Mother Champion Chase, could go to Well Chief. He is too shorter price for me. With the ground drying out Newmill makes more appeal. He broke the track record when winning this race on similar ground last year. If Well Chief has not recaptured his form of two seasons ago I think Newmill could be the one to win. The Royal and Sun Alliance Chase has another warm favourite in Denman. He again is too short for me. Ungaro makes more appeal as an eachway bet. He will be ridden by Timmy Murphy for Sir Robert Ogden. For all the runners and riders with the jockey's colours go to Paddy Power and click on "Horse Racing".

With Macs Joy a non runner the Cheltenham Champion Hurdle looks as though it will be fought out by the three market leaders. On the softish ground the winner will need to stay two and half miles. For me it is a race to watch and enjoy and not bet on. I do not think there is much between Brave Inca and Hardy Eustace and I think they will both be too strong for Detroit City. If I had to make a selection now it would be Brave Inca. However the William Hill Trophy Handicap Chase at 4.00pm although a hot race has a runner that I have been waiting for. He is Distant Thunder. He was quietly fancied by connections for the Hennessy at Newbury in November but injured himself at the 24th hour. Andrew McNamara has been booked to ride and I think he is a good eachway bet on his form of two seasons ago. I would have thought he would have been a bigger price than the 10/1 quoted , but perhaps "others" have also been waiting for him. For all the runners and riders with the jockey's colours go to Paddy Power and click on "Horse Racing".

Macs Joy has dropped out of Cheltenham Champion Hurdle with a pulled muscle so the ante-post bet has been lost. I will now wait until Monday evening to see the state of the going before making another selection. There does not seem to be a great deal of value at the moment. For all the runners and riders with the jockey's colours go to Paddy Power and click on "Horse Racing".

When using any horse racing system or horse racing tips, here are ten rules that will put more money in your pocket and keep it out of the hands of the bookies. 1) Never bet more than you can afford to lose. That should be blindingly obvious - but sadly too many amateur punters just take a risk, hoping that this one will be the big win they need. The only way to stand a chance of winning over the long term is to have a consistent plan and to use a dedicated betting bank that contains no more money than you would be prepared to lose entirely in the worst of circumstances. Once you start staking amounts you can't afford to lose your judgement will inevitably be affected. Also, there's no thrill in putting your financeal future, or even your family's financial future on the line. Decide on the maximum wager you feel comfortable with. It doesn't mean you have to be happy to lose it. Just that you can afford to lose it if the worst should happen. Otherwise your betting will go nowhere. 2) Remember there are no certainties. If you study probability you will learn that absolutely NOTHING is impossible. No matter how big a cert something looks, never bet your last penny on it. Scientists only talk in probabilities. It is regarded as highly unlikely that the moon will crash into the earth tomorrow - but it is not impossible. The odds of winning the UK national lottery are 14,000,000 to one - but almost every week someone wins it. However much you may feel you are on to "a good thing", only ever commit a small proportion of your available funds to it. When things go wrong - as sometimes they WILL then you will live to fight another day. 3) Be flexible in your approach There is more than one way to win in betting. An approach that works for one punter may not work for another. Experiment to find the approaches that work for your betting and then spend enough time with them to let them work over time. At the same time, however, do not close you mind to other possibilities. There are many approaches you can study to back, lay, trade, arbitrage, bet in running, use software to enhance trading or staking. Among the free systems we'll send you from freehorseracingsystems.com you may well find two or more methods that, when combined together, give you the magic edge. 4) Keep a record of your bets Keeping records is ESSENTIAL. You can start to build up a picture of the bets that work for you and those that don't. Without keeping records you are shooting in the dark. Of course it's tough to have to write down those painful losing bets when you'd prefer to forget them, but if you want to make a long-term success of betting you need a record of your failures as well as your successes. If you can use a spreadsheet such as Microsoft Excel or similar then that can help you to easily analyse profitable statistics. If not then at the very least a dedicated paper notebook should be there to do the job. 5) Don't bet on emotion Betting on situations when you have an emotional envolvement is to be avoided at all costs. It should be obvious, but never bet on your favourite soccer team just because you are desperate to see them win. Your bets should be guided by the VALUE that you can get from a win. Not just what you think is the likelihood of a win. The most successful punters have no emotional involvement in the outcome of a sport. If you want to watch a race or a match for the enjoyment of the game then do that without betting on it. It also means you won't have the possibility of a double disappointment if your favourite team loses and you also lose a bet. 6) Bet only in situations where you think you have an edge. If everyone else knows what you know then you can be sure the prices for your "sure bet" will be at their lowest. You may make a modest profit this time but betting this way over the longer period will never bring you a consistent profit. Look for horse races or other bets where you think the odds on offer are more than they should be for the true likelihood of winning - call these "Value Horses" - and you'll have profits to be proud of over the longer term. 7) Don't let strange results throw you. As I said in part 1, there is no such thing as a certainty. So you need to make sure you are not thrown by turnarounds you were not expecting. If you are following a really good race horse that gives you great expectations and he meets an unexpected defeat, don't let that one event put you off backing him in the future. Week in week out, favourites that have been beaten last time out come home on their next outing. It infuriates punters, but they only have themselves to blame. Take time to analyse an unexpected defeat and you may well see that a good opportunity is still just around the corner whilst the less wise majority have given up on him. 8) Look for situations where others are betting emotionally. I said in part one that you shouldn't bet with emotion. However, there are opportunities when you can see that others are doing exactly that. In times when everyone is looking for instant gratification there are plenty of times where punters are too easily deceived by a single good performance. Often the press will start writing up the chances of a two year old racehorse for the following year's Derby or Guineas after only one or two good performances. So punters will then start backing ante-post on emotion only. On race day however, you may well find better value with other runners. On soccer, London teams are often at shorter prices than the should be simply because so many of the country's fans live in the capital and will emotionally back their home sides. You can profit from the folly of others. 9) Plot a strategy Get a strategy and stick to it. Don't bet on whims. That doesn't mean you should be inflexible but do bet in a structured way. If you place small bets for fun on weekdays then at least try to take your weekend bets as a serious business with heavier wagers. Better still 'though, cut out the "fun" bets altogether. Ultimately there's far more fun in consistently winning than haphazardly losing. 10) Enjoy your betting To put it another way - just know when to STOP. Keep a check on yourself and always try to be honest if you ever feel that betting is running away with you. A long losing run tells you you should change your system. If you've followed the other rules 'though you won't gave got into a situation where you are painfully losing money. Be prepared to stop and take stock. Betting should be a pleasure - but not an adrenaline rush. If you ever feel you need councelling help to get back in control, take it sooner rather than later. About the Author: Roger Knight gives free weekly advice on profiting from horse racing. Free horse racing betting systems. How to create winning systems and avoid the scams. Free Horse Racing Pick and Betting Systems -Article Source: www.iSnare.com For all the runners and riders with the jockey's colours go to Paddy Power and click on "Horse Racing".

Kauto Star, if he stands up should win. However he fell at Cheltenham last year and has made jumping errors on his last two runs. If I have a bet I would rather be looking for an each-way bet and have a bit of value. With War of Attrition and In Compliance out of the race Ireland's hopes will rest with Beef or Salmon who has been a star again in Ireland this year. He went off favourite for the Gold Cup last year but ran a poor race. Could it be fifth time lucky for him? At 20/1 he is a huge price. Exotic Dancer has proved he loves the course and is having a wonderful season. The Listener was impressive in Ireland and goes best on the heavy ground. Will he get home? He appeared to be outstayed by Beef or Salmon on his last run in Ireland. State of Play has had just the one run this season and was impressive when he won the Hennessy at Newbury. How good is he? At one time last season Kingscliff was favourite for the Gold Cup. What a frustrating horse . Could he have his day and spring a major surprise? His trainer does not appear to have lost faith in him and like State of Play will be a fresh horse. Even if he runs into a place at 50/1 it is better value than taking the 5/4 about Kauto Star. As usual the going will be the major factor. For all the Runners and Riders go to at the races. For all the runners and riders with the jockey's colours go to Paddy Power and click on "Horse Racing".