Steamers & Drifters
Horse racing like any other sport is all about opinions. The odds compilers do all the form study which forms the basis of the betting forecast. Punters look at these betting forecasts and make an opinion on which horses to bet on. Eventually as the day progresses the market is formed, and horses will either steam or drift in price.
Steamer> Is a horse whose odds shorten considerably
Traditional bookies reduce the odds on the most backed horses of the day. Basically they want to payout as little as possible on winners to keep their books balanced. On Betfair the odds are reduced in exactly the same why, e.g weight of money coming in to back a horse, but the difference is there is virtually no over round and the market is much more transparent as punters can check the weight of money via the graphs of each horse. Therefore any horse whose odds drop considerably throught the day can considered a steamer.
Drifter > Is a horse whose odds lengthen considerably
Prices that are getting bigger or longer suggest the market believes the likelihood of that result is worse than the odds on offer. Betfair again shows great transparency in the sense that punters can use the price graph to evaluate historical data of each horse through out the day.
Little known fact:
Believe it or not Steamers and Drifters win equally, with both winning approximately 50% of the time. This is no fantasy either, but rather based around accurate data compiled by Betfair over many thousands of races. Backing drifters and laying steamers potentially could make a tidy profit. Betfair`s research of 5644 races over an entire season came up with the following figures:
Drifters 2233 bets +231 points profit (backing
Steamers 3131 bets -349 points loss (backing)
However we are not endorsing this as a method but rather something to consider researching. A much more balanced approach would be to create low risk Trade bets Using Betfair. In order to do that you need to understand how to take advantage of… Market Analysis and consider that…
“Opinions really do move markets”
With out the right information you would struggle to assess market movement accurately. However we live in the age of information, therefore punters who are prepared to put in some effort have never had it so good. The following Market watch resources are currently available to everyone, even better still they are ALL totally free.
To use Oddschecker`s Market Watch resource Click here
You could use Oddschecker’s market reports to highlight odds moves and prices differences to find the best value bets and trades
The site generates accurate list for the following:
STEAMERS> STEAMERS BY TIME> TOP MOVER> ANTE POSTTOP MOVERS> BEST BOOKS
DRIFTERS> STEAMERS BY TIME> TOP MOVER> ANTE POSTTOP MOVERS> BEST BOOKS
Another Market anaysis resource can be found here>
And finally the Racingpost.com`s own Market watch tool can be accessed here>
Learn how to become a profitable punter right NOW with our FREE guides
