Horse Racing stats man, Andy has contributed to OLBG for 18 years - An Ipswich fan and F1 fanatic, he also contributes EFL football and Motor Sport opinion.
1st-Time Blinkers
All the results are only taken from data from the start of this year's turf season and don't include any AW races.
This is a relatively small sample but one that could be followed throughout the remainder of the turf season, to see if the early results follow the same patterns.
Most results services indicate whether blinkers were worn and whether it was the first time they have been worn.
Would you have made a profit this year betting on all horse's running in the 1st time Blinkers?
The answer is yes you would have.
So far in this turf season, there have been 366 runners, wearing the 1st time blinkers.
Those runners have produced 32 winners, resulting in a winning a strike rate of just under 9%.
For a £1 stake on each of those runners, a profit of just under £60 would be the net result, using the Betfair Exchange would have produced even bigger profits.
The data set used has produced some surprising results and also some you would expect to see, from horse's running in 1st-time blinkers.
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Avoid Younger and Older Runners
The age groups to steer clear of are 2yo's and any runner aged 5yo or above. Between them, they only managed to account for 3 of the 32 wins from 96 of the 366 runs.
Of the two age groups left to concentrate on, the 3yo's and the 4yo's, there were some variables between the two groups that could further increase profits.
Just looking at the 3yo age group results in 1st-time blinkers, they accounted for 23 of the total winners, for just over a 12% strike rate.
Ignoring the seller & claimer races, increased the 3yo strike rate to around 14%.
The 3yo's were also most productive in both strike rate & profit return, over sprint trips, especially over 6f & 7f ( no wins from 15 runs over 5f )
The 4yo age group wasn't particularly profitable overall, just about breaking even, with 6 wins from 85 runs.
They were more effective over the longer trips, with 4 wins from 18 runs over distances between 10f to 12f.
Avoid Selling and Claiming Races
These runners have failed to deliver a winner from 36 attempts.
Looking back at those results, it could well be that the 1st time Blinkers applied in sellers or claimers, were used as a last resort for an underperforming runner.
Blinkers - The Conclusion
Based on the results from the first part of this turf season, it would appear that betting on those horses running in the 1st time blinkers can be profitable.
It also looks like profits can be further increased by being more selective of those runners and sticking with the following rules.
- Don't back any runner in a Seller or Claiming race.
Don't back any 2yo's or 5yo and over. - Only back 3yo's running over 6f & 7f.
Only back 4yo's running over 10f or longer.
As always please check the current blinkers data before placing any bets, we shall revisit this in seasons to come and update the results.
If you are interested in more betting guidance for horse racing please visit how to find winners -101 ways to choose a winning horse racing bet.
