FINAL REVIEW
Over the course of the last month I have been recording results for the Prize Lay system and am now ready to give the end of test results.
There was a certain amount of confusion at the start of the test due to a new version being released as the Racing Post had introduced new features that slightly changed the way you found the stats required to make selections for this system. Once that had been sorted out everything became much quicker and easier to do.
The system targets Racing Post favourites and has only a few quick checks to go through to see if a horse qualifies or not. The whole process takes less than 15 minutes even on a busy day. The best thing is that this simplicity does not stop the system from being very effective and I have found this to be one of the best systems I have reviewed for quite a while.
Now to the vital part, the figures.
I tried the system out with two staking methods and have found that a simple level stakes approach works better than a percentage of bank liability plan. This is due to the fact that although the selected horses are tissue favourites they nearly always drift out to slightly higher prices, so a percentage liability bank is going to take time to build back up after a loss.
A profit of £191 on £25 level stakes was made during the 4 week test. This came with a strike rate of around 83%. I had an email from the author saying that he was disappointed that we had not had a winning run of the length that he is used to achieving. When you consider that we ended the test on a winning streak of 10 in a row, this is quite a statement to make. He also stated that he had never had a day as bad as the one we hit near the beginning of the test. On the 12th of February we had a really torrid day. In 5 selections we had 3 losing bets with 2 of them being layed at the maximum price allowed. In all the bank was hit for around 16 points on the day. So to recover the losses and end up with a profit of nearly 8 points within a month is very good indeed.
There are no firm instructions given in the book about staking method, but the author explains how he places his bets clearly. There is a cut-off price of 7/1 S.P. Anything above this price becomes a No Bet. You are also advised not to lay above a certain point on the exchanges, but to place an in running bet at the level of 8.0. I found this advice to be very useful and it works very well indeed with the selections made.
I did wonder about the inclusion of Irish races and raised the issue with the author. We all know that there is less liquidity in the Irish races and this fact can make them slightly more risky to bet in. Over the course of the test they produced a loss of around 2 points overall, but the author has provided me with his stats from the last 7 months and his records show that a profit of around 30 points has been made since August last year from just the Irish selections. I have no doubt that his figures are correct as he has always been 100% accurate and honest in his dealing with me.
Since ending the test the system has had another 2 winning lays. This brings the most recent run to 12 and counting. Infact, 14 of the last 15 qualifying selections have been profitable.
I would be happy to recommend this system to anyone and will be adding it to my portfolio of systems for daily use. It is also ideal for people who work during the day as selections can be made the night before and S.P. lay bets placed with a maximum price stipulation.
Update:
Sorry readers but on the 20th May 2009 the Prize Lay system was withdrawn from sale!
