'Notes can become seriously valuable' - form study tips from the best

Betting on Racing is an app-exclusive daily punting guide from three of the Racing Post's most renowned experts: Tom Segal, Paul Kealy and David Jennings. A new instalment will be published every weekday for the next three weeks.

This may come as a disappointment to some, but the truth is that studying form takes time, and the more time you put into your study the more likely you are to make it pay.

It really is that simple.

That is, of course, easy enough for me to say given I'm paid to sit in front of a laptop all day and study the form, and most people do not have the spare time to take things quite as seriously.

If I had a real job I would still put plenty of study in, but wouldn't be able to do as much as I do currently, but there are ways to maximise time.

One way to do so would be to make use of the notes tab on the horse profile pages on the Racing Post website.

Let's say for instance, that you've noticed that a horse has a particularly good record given a certain set of circumstances, like small fields and soft ground etc. You can make that note, save it and tailor your settings so that your notes appear under a horse's name on the racecard every time it appears.

That will give you a shortcut and you can build these notes up over time to a point when they will be seriously valuable.

Another way to maximise time would be to specialise by focusing only on a specific division. If you're a Flat fan you might prefer sprints or mile races, while over jumps it could be 2m hurdles or staying chases.

Either way, by specialising you are reducing the pool of horses you need to study, but at the same time reducing the number of races you're likely to have a bet in.

That's no bad thing because there is no way anyone in full-time work has the ability to properly study every race every day.

Of course, if you're a recreational punter who only tends to play when there is racing on terrestrial TV, it may serve you better just to concentrate on races that are on TV, although the pool of horses will be much bigger.

Unless you're the most serious of punters – in which case you'll have no need to be reading this! – it's all about fun, so make the most of your time, bet within your means and keep it fun.

Tomorrow: David Jennings on the need to cut your cloth

Read more in our Betting on Racing series:

Tom Segal: the importance of times and why they are vastly underappreciated   

David Jennings: dispelling the myths - don't always believe what you hear   

Paul Kealy: don't be scared of big market drifters - and be prepared to go in again