Four experts on the art of being selective when it comes to betting

It is increasingly common, even among ostensibly time-rich professional punters, to specialise on a certain group or division of horses. The main reason for this is the workload involved.

The amount of racing in Britain and Ireland alone means there are simply not enough hours in the day to gain the sort of familiarity serious punters want with the horses they are covering.

There are few more reassuring feelings than being thoroughly across the form of a group of horses. Speaking personally, I know that being up on 'my' horses makes losing runs easier to take. You can rationalise nearly everything that goes on and can confidently spot and file away the freak results when they crop up. Anecdotally, others have reported similar.