>>>> I can help you….
My name is Nick Pullen….
I’ve been betting the horses for 30+ years – and since 2007 I’ve written the Against The Crowd (ATC) service….
My column goes out up to five times per week – 52 weeks of the year – and caters to racing punters who bet the big-field handicaps on the flat and over the jumps – the toughest betting puzzles on the racing programme….
My simple objective is to provide readers with high-quality information, insights, advice, and opinions they can put to profitable use in the big-field handicap markets. No more. No less….
I reckon I do a pretty good job of it. My track record says as much. And I reckon plenty of readers would agree….
But that doesn’t mean I’m an infallible genius who knows everything and always gets everything right. Not at all. I’m far from that….
I don’t mind telling you straight off the bat that I’m wrong a hell of a lot more times than I’m right….
That’s always been the case and it always will be….
I don’t pick the winner of every race I target for bets at the weekend or at the big midweek Festivals….
I don’t get it right with every observation I make….
I don’t get it right with every opinion I share….
I don’t get it right with all the advice and recommendations I give....
I get plenty wrong. But I don’t worry about it. And I certainly don’t apologise for it….
Getting things wrong is part and parcel of playing the race-betting game. It’s par for the course. To be expected….
After all, we’re talking about horse racing – a sport that revolves around largely unpredictable half-ton animals made of flesh, blood, muscle, and bone running around a field….
Nobody gets everything right. Nobody could hope to….
The important thing is to get enough right at sufficiently good prices to make the game pay across the long term….
And I most certainly get that job done. I've been doing it for getting on 20-years. And I can tell you for sure that my readers – past & present would happily confirm that….
But, at the end of the day, they don’t need to. Because it’s all a matter of incontrovertible record….
Make your betting pay more across the long-term….
>>>> Take I Am Maximus in the Irish Grand National, for instance….
A race like the Irish Grand National – run at Fairyhouse on Easter Monday – is never going to be an easy race to call….
Indeed for most punters having a bet in the race it’s something of a ‘pin-sticking’ exercise – a race to have a ‘guess’ at….
For a start you only have to look at the sheer number of horses going to post each year….
Across the last two decades the field-size in the Irish Grand National averages out at 27 runners. The race is basically a cavalry charge conducted over 24-fences….
And when you consider that more than 50% of the horses going to post in the race since 2002 had raced 8 times or fewer over fences….
…. meaning that there’s not much form in the book for punters to work from….
…. and that Ireland’s official handicapping team are working in similar darkness and uncertainty….
…. you can appreciate just what a complex puzzle this race represents….
But the key – as with any handicap race – lies in digging out potentially well-handicapped horses….
You need to be able to spot them ahead of the race – and not be afraid to back your judgment (preferably at a decent price)….
Spotting well-handicapped horses is a central plank of the game on my ATC service – and I certainly had my spotting spectacles on for last season’s edition of the big Fairyhouse race….
Picking out I Am Maximum 24-hours ahead of time – advised at 14s and sent off at 8s – proved to be a very smart piece of work (if I do say so myself)….
There is no great mystery to the pick – at least not with the benefit of hindsight….
On the Sunday morning ahead of racing, I said this to my readers….
It proved to be a good call – I Am Maximus raced a little lazily at points in the race but found loads at the death and ran on to lead towards the finish….
Reader CT wrote into say this….
ATC reader DW said this….
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>>> Or consider Bill Baxter in the Topham at Aintree....
Warren Greatrex had endured a poor time of it and was patently out of form heading into Aintree’s Grand National meeting in April 2023….
His 7yo Bill Baxter was roundly unfancied for the Topham Chase – in which 29 horses went to post….
But – as you’ll find when you sign up to my ATC service – I don’t give a monkeys what anybody else thinks about a race, a horse, or a bet….
I make a point of going my own way. I do my own watching. I conduct my own analysis. I do my own thinking. And I come to my own conclusions….
The bottom line is that I tune out any other opinion. I talk to nobody. I don’t read other columnists. I don’t listen to talking heads. I don’t subscribe to anybody’s advisory service. And I don’t pay any attention to what other pickers might think. I’m not interested in anybody else’s viewpoint….
If that sounds arrogant or pig-headed, it’s not intended that way. I just don’t want my own thoughts polluted by the opinions of other people. I find other people’s opinions a distraction – and I prefer to keep things as pure as possible by keeping my own counsel….
And that approach can pay dividends – just like it did at Aintree. I put Bill Baxter up as my bet – despite market negativity….
24-hours ahead of the race, I told my readers this….
…. and the 7yo duly obliged – putting in a fantastic display of jumping from tapes to post and running out a decent winner….
I don’t think any other single soul put him up ahead of the race – and the result goes to show that ignoring market sentiment – and working towards your own judgments – can pay real dividends….
Naturally, ATC readers were delighted….
GN contacted me to say this….
GC said this….
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>>>> I highlighted Kitty’s Light BEFORE he won three big handicaps on the bounce….
People get the wrong idea about my ATC service.
They tend to think that all I do is produce tips ahead of big races. But the truth is that there’s more to ATC than that – a lot more….
It is correct to say that I do produce tips for handicaps run at weekend Premier meetings – and at all the big midweek Festivals. Of course, I do. It wouldn’t be much of a handicap advisory service that didn’t….
But the rest of the time….
…. and don’t forget I go out with my ATC column up to five times per week across 52-weeks of the year….
…. I’m doing the advanced spadework required to give my readers a steer on all the big handicap races to come….
…. and I’m equally focused on a forensic analysis and deep-dive read of all the latest big handicap action we’ve just witnessed out on the track….
…. a process which includes drawing the attention of my readers to any horse that I believe is handicapped – right now – to win big pots….
For example, here’s what I told my readers about Kitty’s Light on a wet and windy morning back in January 2023….
I couldn’t have got it more right about Kitty’s Light if I’d tried….
Next time out he won the Eider Chase up at Newcastle off a mark of 132….
Then in the April – on his next track appearance – he went up to Ayr and won the Scottish Grand National off a mark of 140….
…. and he wasn’t finished yet…
Just seven days later he was down at Sandown winning the bet365 Gold Cup – also off a mark of 140….
…. after which Kitty’s Light was rated 147 – more than a stone higher on the official scale than when I’d flagged him up to ATC readers….
Only a well-handicapped horse could put together a sequence of that quality – his three wins in those big races (surely a feat that will never be replicated) won connections £245k in prize money….
Of course, the trick is to spot these well-handicapped horses BEFORE they start putting the wins together….
…. so that we’re positioned to back them at the right time….
That’s a BIG part of my job here at ATC….
…. and I’ve got a long track record – stretching back almost 20-years – of getting that job done for readers season-on-season over jumps and on the flat….
Reader TM wrote in to say this….
Reader RK said this….
Be better-informed than the punters you bet against….
>>>> My readers were on to Corach Rambler WAY ahead of his two big wins….
Corach Rambler is another horse ATC readers were onto well ahead of time….
Here’s what I said about Lucinda Russell’s charge back in December 2022 – just after he’d ran-on late to finish 4th in the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury….
On the day of the 2023 Grand National at Aintree – running off a mark of 146 – Corach Rambler was sent off race favourite at 8s….
…. having won the Ultima for the second time in succession at the Cheltenham Festival the time before….
…. and he certainly didn’t disappoint….
…. making steady headway under Derek Fox from the 25th fence, taking the lead at the final obstacle, and always doing enough to hold off the fast-finishing Vanillier….
Reader AS got in touch to say this….
Reader GL write in to tell me this….
>>>> Bear this in mind - not all great bets win….
The ATC objective – whether it’s via tips or high-quality insight – is to provide information that leads to winning bets….
But – because we focus on the most competitive races on the programme – we are always up against it….
Just as a horse can run the race of its life in a valuable big-field handicap – and still not win – a handicap punter can dig out a top-drawer bet and still not find a winner….
That happened to me a few times last season over the jumps. I dug out fantastic selections (even if I say so myself) that ran massive races at big prices – but still managed to find just one horse in the field too good on the day….
It hurts, but it’s part and parcel of the big handicap game – and it’s something that has to be dealt with….
Take Moroder, for instance. He ran in the bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown on Saturday 29th April 2023
Ahead of the race, I told my readers this….
In the race Moroder ran an absolute cracker – more than justifying the bet. But he found race favourite Kitty’s Light – in a purple patch of form and just too well-handicapped on the day – too good….
Hill Sixteen was an even tougher result to take at Aintree in the Becher Chase on Saturday 4th December 2021….
I also told them this….
It turns out the change of scene and the Thomson regime had reignited him. He ran a blinder at Aintree – an absolute blinder – but got nailed on the line and beaten a nose by Snow Leopardess….
I can tell you hand on heart that Hill Sixteen in the 2021 Becher Chase is one of the best bets I’ve ever struck in my life. Nobody fancied that horse that afternoon. Nobody. I stood alone on that horse – completely against the crowd – and my opinion was right. Even though Hill Sixteen got beaten, my out-of-step opinion was right. I only collected place money – but I reckon it still ranks as a classic high-quality ATC handicap bet….
Reader NF got in touch to say this….
Reader VM had this to say….
Smarter thinking – smarter info – smarter betting….
>>>> How we cashed in on Frankel progeny….
And ATC is not just about highlighting individual horses….
I also dig out little-known betting angles you can exploit and make profits from….
Just like the one I shared ahead of the 2021 Royal Ascot meeting – one that revolved around Frankel progeny….
Here’s what I told my ATC readers….
That was high-quality information – a pre-meeting steer that led ATC readers to profitable bets at the meeting….
Here’s what ATC reader NH had to say….
Terry weighed in too….
Angles that deliver profit….
