In a conversation in the pub one night the subject of interest rates was raised. I was asked if I could come up with a minimal risk plan that could better my acquaintances miserable return of 5% p.a. return from his Building Soc Investment Account. Some days later when betting on Betfair a possible solution struck me. I was tracking a horse in an eight runner race that in the morning was priced at 13/10 (2.30) that before the off had shorted to 10/11 (1.91). I was worried by a stalking horse and wondered if a place bet (i.e. The bet wins if the horse is placed in the first three) would yield a safer return. When I checked the “To be Placed” price the horse price was at 1.25, this meant that I would have receive 25P in the £ if the horse came in as distinct from 91P for a win bet. This of course represents 25% profit on a single race in a single day. Somewhat of an improvement on 5%p.a.

I set out to measure the performance of to be placed favourites at odds of around evens over 100 races in the 2004 flat season. An unbelievable Ninety percent came in, at an average price of 1.24 (a 24% return on the stake). A strike rate of this level obviously does away with the need for a conventional large betting bank I also used this trial to see what I could turn a £100 bank into using £100 flat stakes. I generated £2090 in 10 weeks with a positive cash flow from day one. A Rolling Bank would have added 40% to this figure. Hindsight has shown that the summer of 2004 produced reasonable weather patterns.

Due to pressure of work and introduction of the new Harvester Plan I did not follow this through in the 2005 season but reintroduced it in June 2006. In Aug 2006 I came across a remarkably simple superior staking system that plugged into Moneytree perfectly.

This was the 80/20 plan. With Moneytree we placed a bet that returned an equal sum for a place (1st, 2nd or 3rd). With 80/20 we place 20% of the stake on a win bet and 80% on a place bet. When we get a first place we get two win bets. With a 2nd or third the 80% bet kicks in and still shows a profit. The benefits will be clearly seen when looking at our results page.