We all dream of winning a huge amount of money on a horse race. It’s not an easy task, though, and a bit of help from a tipster is most definitely needed. Do you really think you can work out a typical devilish handicap at Sandown on a Saturday afternoon all by yourself? If you can, then perhaps a career as a horse racing tipster is on the horizon.

Often, it’s a thankless task being a horse racing tipster. All that checking of form can produce what looks like tips that make total sense. Then the selection has an off-day (it happens to all of us, even horses), gets impeded or unseats its jockey and loses all hope of winning the race.

Tipsters have been around for as long as the memory can stretch back. Newspapers print the cards for the races that are taking place that day, but that’s not enough for the readers. They want a helping hand, and over the years, race lovers have avidly followed tipsters such as ‘Templegate’ or ‘Newsboy’.

Specialist publications such as the Racing Post publish daily issues with page after page of information about horse racing. The arrival of the internet has of course seen even more information become available to horse racing fans. The Racing Post has its own website packed to the brim with statistics and racing tipsters.

Plenty of Information Online

There are a growing number of online betting sites which cover horse racing from all over the globe on a 24/7 basis. Many like 888 Horse racing betting tips provides for a reliable source for tipsters online. They continually publish blogs that take an in-depth look at future races, especially the top ones such as The Stewards Cup or a classic race such as the St Leger. These are good tipsters sources worthy of your time.

Trying to work out who is going to win a race such as the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham isn’t easy. Lots of horses taking part and many who have just had one or two races and could be the next Arkle or possibly not. Getting the help of an experienced racing tipster is definitely needed here.

Then there are complicated handicaps such as the Grand National. Every National Hunt jockey dreams of riding the winner. For gamblers, it’s something to boast about for ages if they just happen to back the winner. This and other races such as The Derby and The Cheltenham Gold Cup are difficult to predict – although Al Boum has won two Gold Cups in a row.

Will your tips cost you anything, though? A glance at the racing pages in a newspaper will see adverts from tipsters who charge for their services. There are even more online offering tips on Twitter and Facebook. They all boast about the number of winners they have had, though if that’s the case why do they need to work? Some do produce great results, but the law of averages says they won’t get a winner with every tip (that’s why they still work).  Do some research about those who offer tips and find out who is the best.

A Long Apprenticeship

What if you fancy yourself as a racing tipster? Becoming one isn’t something that is going to happen overnight; a long apprenticeship lies ahead of you. Take a look at the average formbook and gasp at how large they are, going through that is going to take you a while and form changes every day.

Learning how to become a racing tipster is a difficult job. You need to follow the sport very closely. Don’t just try to predict the results of top races such as The Coral Eclipse, because high-profile runs don’t happen every week. Low-level Class 6 handicaps at tracks such as Uttoxeter and Kelso do. As in most sports, it’s only a minority of performers that make it to the top.

Learn how to judge the form of a horse for all races and meetings, from Ascot and Cheltenham to the Grand National. Look at how they perform over certain distances and which ground they prefer to run on. The more racing that you follow, the more knowledge you will gather.

Once you feel confident enough to be a racing tipster, start small on Facebook or Twitter. Offer the occasional tip and hopefully give out a few winners at good prices. That will help build a following; then you can expand your tipping service and start charging a subscription. Marketing is essential here in a competitive industry.

Horse racing may be the Sport of Kings but becoming a tipster isn’t easy. It takes a lot of learning, and then the least expected event happens. You could become a master tipster, but then there’s a 300/1 winner at Leopardstown, how many tipped that result?