Evening racing all year round?

[iambic_pentameter]

Hello

Very simple question - is there evening racing all year round?

Many thanks

Iambic_Pentameter

[Euler]

The flat turf season ends in September and is replaced by the AW season. But there is a lot less and it's run only at a limited number of courses.

[Euler]

Here is a video on it: -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FMDHNB3IHQ

[iambic_pentameter]

Thanks, Euler.

[iambic_pentameter]

Just watched the video, Euler, and another bit of knowledge acquired about horse racing!

Whilst it's impossible to give concrete figures, would it be sensible to assume that, in the winter (Nov - Feb) you might only make 50% of what you are making for the rest of the year?

[xitian]

Interestingly enough, I've found that winter months aren't necessarily a write-off, in fact my profits are pretty consistent throughout the year.

According to my records (spanning 4 complete years, net after PC), September is the slowest month but then things pick up again in Oct. I've pasted my profits below, normalised to a base of average September profits. The profits do include some from football, but is mostly from racing.

Every year I'm concerned there's going to be a downturn as winter approaches, but then I'm pleasantly surprised. Fingers crossed for this year too.

I think the reasonably stable levels could be due to the fact that more races during summer season don't necessarily mean more liquidity or opportunities in total for my type of strategies.

Code: Select all

Jan  1.10
Feb  1.21
Mar  1.29
Apr  1.10
May  1.33
Jun  1.23
Jul  1.06
Aug  1.09
Sep  1.00
Oct  1.35
Nov  1.36
Dec  1.11

I'd be interested to hear how other people's profits vary across the year too!

[iambic_pentameter]

Hello Xitian

I can't work out what the profits are there?

Unless 1.10 in January is £1,100,000.

In which case, I seriously need to raise my game!

[xitian]

I haven't included any absolute profits there. They are relative to the lowest value of 1 which is in Sept.

Hope that helps.

[iambic_pentameter]

Gotcha, cheers.

Iambic Pentameter

[andyfuller]

I wonder if your dip in September could be due to people taking a rest for a few weeks after the hectic previous summer months and then they get behind their desks again in October full force.

I always remember September being the month I caught back up with things I had let slip during the summer be it social, fitness, diy etc.

[xitian]

Could well be, Andy. I'm also not sure how statistically significant the difference is. Will have to see if this Sept repeats the trend or not! This was kinda why I was curious how other people's P&L varies through the year too.

[spreadbetting]

I find the same thing xitian, always think they'll be a big drop in profits for the winter but never seems to be the case. I've put it down to the fact I pick up the pace in the winter and even though there's less races and hours I just work that little bit more efficiently and harder.

I've been doing this for quite a long time and my pnl in almost wagelike on a monthly basis. I think I've kind of got jaded by it all and become a bit like some long term employee who puts in just enough effort when it's need to avoid being sacked

[iambic_pentameter]

As a newcomer to trading on horses, this is really interesting stuff to read.

Slightly off topic, but before I joined this forum, I'd wrongly believed that the holy grail of racing was making £10 per race on every race per day so, to read about what is possible with experience and application, is very inspiring.

[xitian]

Well you're already doing pretty well if you can consistently make £10 per race averaged over every single race. With around 11,000 races a year, you'd be grossing over £100k a year.

It's an achievable target, but don't expect it to be easy. As many experienced traders advise - attempting to trade every single race isn't necessarily the best strategy.

Having said the above, there's definitely quite a high ceiling on what a good trader can achieve. And if you're into automation then you can also disconnect your profits from the amount of time you spend working on it.

Personally, I've been quite pleased that I've managed to keep scaling up over the years. Often this isn't down to me learning or finding new strategies, but tweaking existing ones and taking advantage of changes/updates to the technical limits of Betfair (such as introducing new APIs, unlimited data limits, transaction limits, streaming, etc..). At the same time, like spreadbetting, I've become a bit stuck in the rut recently and not had much drive. I think maybe because I'm not really learning much anymore. I never forget how extremely lucky I am to have gotten where I am though.

[jimibt]

Well you're already doing pretty well if you can consistently make £10 per race averaged over every single race. With around 11,000 races a year, you'd be grossing over £100k a year.

It's an achievable target, but don't expect it to be easy. As many experienced traders advise - attempting to trade every single race isn't necessarily the best strategy.

Having said the above, there's definitely quite a high ceiling on what a good trader can achieve. And if you're into automation then you can also disconnect your profits from the amount of time you spend working on it.

Personally, I've been quite pleased that I've managed to keep scaling up over the years. Often this isn't down to me learning or finding new strategies, but tweaking existing ones and taking advantage of changes/updates to the technical limits of Betfair (such as introducing new APIs, unlimited data limits, transaction limits, streaming, etc..). At the same time, like spreadbetting, I've become a bit stuck in the rut recently and not had much drive. I think maybe because I'm not really learning much anymore. I never forget how extremely lucky I am to have gotten where I am though.

of course, the rut is (in a cartoon way) a perfect 3D view on where you are, where you came from, and if you're brave and have the experience, where you can go. i know it all sounds disney like (given the 3D reference) but i think that we all choose to accept our comfort zone (or not) and play within those parameters. i often bang on about how i have no baggage from the past to prevent me looking fwd, but i'm still very engaged with the notion that being a zero sum game, we're all clawing at the edges. nerve, determination and a willingness to step outside my comfort zone seems to have kept me plugging away at this. i also acknowledge that there's no way in h3ll to play every market. i content myself with possibly 12-15 markets a day - with varying success.

now just need some mind blowing profits to glue sanity and it's lesser appreciated cousin, *frustration*, together and we're set

tho that said, nice finish (btw -my muse was Many Dreams ):

nice race.PNG