Ficina,

Two out of two wins at York races this week has helped. Racing charts are so much simpler than footie ones!

How do you approach race charts? There is no home team, so do you give the favourite the Ascendant?

Hi Peter,

How do you approach race charts? There is no home team, so do you give the favourite the Ascendant?

I approach race charts completely differently. I just use symbolism - what stands out in the chart, particularly angular planets. For example

Mars conj MC (supported by Mars-ruled PoF conj Asc) - Conquest won 9/2.

Moon in Virgo conj MC - Doctor Brown (fav) won 4/1.

The Moon shows the favourite. I also take note of more general things such as a planet that's just changed sign, the aspect of the day, mutual receptions and the Moon's sign. But in my experience angular planets work best for showing winners.

I just use symbolism - what stands out in the chart, particularly angular planets.

Ah, yes, good old symbolism! Sometimes works wonders, other times not, and most of the time it is very difficult to apply I've found. For example, let's look at today's winners from Ripon (UK): Inside Story, Reebal, Macorville, Algol, Morinqua, Fair Spin. The first and the last can be assigned planetary combinations, but the rest would be impossible. Algol of course is an interesting and special case: this race was scheduled for 3:50 pm and run at 3:52 pm, and that was the time when Algol crossed the cusp of the 6th house. Why the 6th? Because MC (Libra) ruler Venus also ruled the 6th (Taurus). Can this be deduced ahead of time? I doubt it, there are so many other possibilities.

OK, Inside Story (2:20 pm) is Saturn-Mercury. With Virgo on the MC and Aquarius on the 3rd, there is connection between the name and the winner. Fair Spin (4:50 pm) is Jupiter-Saturn/Uranus. The Sagittarius Asc is ruled by Jupiter, Moon is conjunct both MC and Jupiter, and is applying to a trine with Uranus. Jupiter and Uranus are forming an almost perfect trine. This may be a bit of a stretch.

Now I'm not going to analyze these charts in detail, but my guess is that similar connections can be shown for many different planetary combinations, which makes prediction next to impossible. The MC undoubtedly has a role in pinpointing the winner, but the symbolism is not clear most of the time, or there are other combinations just as strongly pointing to another runner. That's my experience anyway.

It sounds as though you have been applying this technique with success.

It sounds as though you have been applying this technique with success.

Some success, yes, but many failures too. As you quite rightly say

good old symbolism! Sometimes works wonders, other times not,

You win some, you lose some but I still enjoy doing it. As long as it's fun, that's the main thing. And of course, I only quoted two successes. Over the weekend I lost all the money I won last week However, I'm still ahead on the footie - just!

Yeah, I went through the Ripon card yesterday evening but didn't see anything I liked so left well alone. As you pointed out, some of the names are meaningless. I used to check horses' transits in the past but it got too time-consuming. I even did a trial run as a tipster for a racing paper, but that's another story.....

I used to check horses' transits in the past but it got too time-consuming.

They are hard work but worth the effort.

I even did a trial run as a tipster for a racing paper, but that's another story.....

This thread gets more interesting every time you write. Pray tell more!

Ah, OK then, here's the sad tale. Many, many years ago a friend and I decided to set up a tipster service using a premium rate phone line and advertise it in The Sporting Life racing paper (which doesn't exist any more unfortunately). We were told we had to do a month's trial to prove our worth before they would let us advertise. We called ourselves Zodiac Racing (!) and elected a chart for the most favourable day to start. We did our best over the month but were told at the end of it that we hadn't done well enough However, we didn't do so badly because the paper did encourage us to have another try. But we didn't.

The main problem was having to make at least one selection every day and of course some days the charts showed absolutely nothing, but we still had to choose something.

Oh well, at least we tried

Ficina,

Thanks for sharing this story.

We did our best over the month but were told at the end of it that we hadn't done well enough

The main question is, did you make a profit at starting prices? What about just the selections that you would have made without the need to tip every day?

Oh well, at least we tried

I think it's great you tried! And if the basic idea was sound, then you only have to work on the business model to try again.

Unfortunately I'm unable to answer your questions, Peter, because it was such a long time ago, a whole Jupiter cycle ago in fact, that I honestly can't remember the details. I spoke about it to my "partner in crime" and she couldn't remember either. But we are both agreed that we wouldn't want to try again because it was just too much pressure. So we just do it for fun nowadays, trying to stay ahead of the bookies

Thanks for that. I can understand the pressure bit - it's a whole lot more fun to do it for fun! Especially if you can stay one step ahead of the bookies.