BETDAQ TRADER INTERVIEW: In the latest of our series of interviews with BETDAQ traders Stephen Maher catches up with horse racing trader WILL LATTIMORE to find out how he approaches trading on BETDAQ.

Stephen Maher: So, for anyone that doesn’t know you, can you tell us a bit about yourself?

Will Lattimore: I’m 20 years gambling on horse racing, plenty of up’s and down’s, but the last six years I have made a profit each year and my last two years have been my best years to date. I set up a betting service five yearss ago to share my views with others for a small fee and they are receiving the rewards too. I also cover Gary O’Brien on the At The Races website when he is not available and have been doing that for the last 7 years.

Stephen Maher: And how did you get into betting?

Will Lattimore: At a very young age to be honest, my Dad is to blame! He enjoyed a bet at the weekends (a yankee to be honest) and I got hooked. I didn’t know what I was doing at first and lost plenty but at the age of 20 (41 now) I stopped gambling and got trained up on speed figures, re-watching racing and understanding what you need to know about the sport to turn into profit.

Stephen Maher: I know that you have a betting service so you’re a good man to ask this – how do you cope with losing runs? Especially with the added pressure of having to answer to people who follow you too.

Will Lattimore: There are always losing runs in this job. The key is to always trust yourself, to be confident, stick to what your good at, don’t go chasing and never increase your stakes because you had a bad month or months in some cases. The form sometimes doesn’t work out for certain reasons but you need to be disciplined it can only take one or two days of winning results to get you back on track.

Subscribers do send frustrating e-mails when results are not going the way we would like, but they need to understand they signed-up to my service because they heard good reports about myself. Some don’t have the right betting bank set-up to cope with losing runs and decide to leave the service. My service is set up to make profits over the year not just for three months. In the five years I have been sending my advice to others I have never lost them money over 12 months. I’m the first person to criticise myself if results have been poor but thankfully I don’t get too many disgruntled punters.

Stephen Maher: What was your biggest loss and longest losing run? And what advice would you give on keeping discipline in general?

Will Lattimore: I stick to my points system always so I don’t have a big loss on one particular bet. My biggest losing run was two months in a row I lost 20 points in each month but the next month I made 40pts profit which balanced the books.
Discipline is the most important factor of this sport. Horses are not machines and previous form is not always repeated so you have to always expect losing runs at some stage of the year. Yes you will make bad decisions along the way but if thought it was the value bet at the time I’m sure you had valid points. Gambling is all about value, if you back horses at the wrong price throughout the year you will never win at this game. That’s very important and I always remember that.

Stephen Maher: If someone new was looking to bet more professionally on horse racing, what area would you suggest that they try and learn more about? Sectional times, sire stats on the ground, anything like that?

Will Lattimore: All of the above and much more. Personally I find re-watching previous races the most important factor when studying the form (along with Speed Figures, Pace Angle of the race, Draw, Ground, Trainers Form, Correct Distance, etc) I prefer gambling on the Flat but do enjoy the bigger festivals over the jumps.

Stephen Maher: Betdaq liquidity has really improved leading up to the off these days. However, what would you do to improve liquidity on Betdaq in the morning markets on horse racing?

Will Lattimore: The morning markets on the exchanges are very frustrating for punters who can’t get on with the firms. The exchanges are the only available source for most serious punters who what to make decent profits year in year out. To be fair the Irish markets on the exchanges have a big problem? I use the exchanges every morning and you would be lucky to see 1k matched by 10am. I’m not sure what the solution is to be honest.

Stephen Maher: Do you use ProForm? That has recently been added to the site, what advice would you give people so that they can get the best out of it?

Will Lattimore: I don’t use ProForm that much to be honest I work very hard with my own ways to make an edge. My advice to punters would be this: Listen to nobody else, get your own edge and the more races you re-watch (recording Racing UK and ATR everyday is essential because you will get to know what really happens in a race (reports can’t write everything that happened in a race). You will also get know draw bias at all tracks, riders ability in the saddle, horses attitude when push comes to shove (essential for in-running players) and you will fill up your horse tracker quite quickly and you will have a starting point when that horse is due to run.

Stephen Maher: Do you have a favourite time of the year or a favourite meeting?

Will Lattimore: Going by previous results I seem to do best between May and August this is when the racing is very busy and I have loads of horses from my notebook due to run in those months. My favourite meeting is Cheltenham, but for gambling I love The Curragh, Doncaster, Newbury and York which are very fair galloping tracks.

Stephen Maher: Lastly, any major tips for horse racing punters?

Will Lattimore: Record races from Racing UK and ATR daily. You will learn so much more about this sport races when you sit down and re-watch them at your leisure. Understand a lot happens in a race that a reporter doesn’t write about. Constantly fill your notebook, and write down the reasons you added the horse. Get to know how important Pace & Position in a race is. 65% of races are won by prominent racers. Every race track is different get to know race tracks properly and I understand there are not enough hours in the day to do everything in a day to day life, but if you can allow at least 3-4 hours a day for yourself to study you will certainly benefit in the long run.

Stephen Maher: Thanks Will! You can follow Will on Twitter @LattimoreBST

£25 IN FREE BETS