Awesome Racing is a new horse racing tipster service managed by the Bet Kudos arm of the Betfan group and “The Sandman”. Although not obvious from the name, it focuses on All Weather racing.
What does the product offer?
It has been some time since I have looked at a proper all weather tipster service and so when Awesome Racing popped up, I was somewhat keen to have a look, especially as Bet Kudos tend to operate pretty reasonable services. I was even more interested when I read the claims that The Sandman had finished within the top 50 of attheraces.com annual all weather tipster competition as this is no mean feat (last year saw almost 7000 entrants).
In terms of what you can expect from Awesome Racing, it is something of a mixed bag as far as services go.
The Sandman issues their selections on a daily basis, however there can be 1 selection one day and then 8 the next with the highest number I have seen having 12 bets in one day. This eclectic approach of Awesome Racing doesn’t stop at the number of selections either.
The odds that you will be backing are hugely varied as well with one day (composed of 9 selections) showing odds ranging from 2.25 all the way to 29.00. What really stands out about this however is that there is a fair variety in between.
The numbers behind Awesome Racing are somewhat concerning to me with The Sandman taking the Betfan standard of staking 5 points per bet. Whilst this isn’t always inherently a problem, over the 3 months of proofing that Awesome Racing has completed, the average strike rate has been around 22%.
With a losing streak of 16 races in September, this would also mean that Awesome Racing could have lost you 80 points in just a few days. I will however concede that this does somewhat overlook other aspects of Awesome Racing.
How does the product work?
As is often the case with a product from Betfan, there is very little information provided about what the selection process for Awesome Racing actually entails.
We are told by The Sandman that he is a firm believer in the bloodline of horses and that good sires will seemingly have inherently brilliant offspring.
Outside of this it seems apparent to me that there is some sort of value based aspect to Awesome Racing however this is only based on the favouring of longer odds.
The fact remains that without any real insight into how selections are identified (outside of the vague notion of sireship), one can only speculate in this regard.
What is the initial investment?
At the time of writing there are two options available if you want to buy into Awesome Racing. The first of these is a monthly subscription (which actually runs for 28 days) at a cost of £40. Alternatively, you can opt for the relatively much better value quarterly options (which actually runs for 90 days) at a cost of £65.
As Bet Kudos is a part of the Betfan group, their standard response stands in terms of a money back guarantee.
This says that they will review any refund requests that are received, however unfortunately, refunds are not typically something that are on offer.
What is the rate of return?
The income potential of Awesome Racing is actually one of the standout things and this is down to the value that appears to be key to selections. Whilst I have voiced my displeasure with the risk that Awesome Racing carries (and I stand by this) when The Sandman wins, they win big.
Notable examples include a day that saw three horses come in producing a returns of 71.13 points. One bet came in to produce a return of 125 points. These both show how Awesome Racing can maintain a profit.
On the subject of profit, Awesome Racing has made 294.19 points in just 10 weeks since launching with the best month making 109.63 points. This represents an ROI of around 25% which is a very respectable figure indeed, especially if close to this can be maintained.
Conclusion
As is often the case with products from the Betfan group, Awesome Racing is a very polarising option. First and foremost, the fact that it is all weather racing only is a definite benefit as this allows for a year round profit.
This is a massive boon for some people who would rather not see their betting drop with the seasons.
The staking plan is arguably my biggest problem with Awesome Racing. The fact that The Sandman looks at horses with longer odds means that long losing streaks are part and parcel of the service.
This does mean however that a 100 point betting bank (which I think is a more than acceptable starting point) can be wiped out with just a few bad days. This does close down the types of user that Awesome Racing will appeal to.
All of the talk about risk balance aside, when Awesome Racing wins it wins gloriously and there is no denying that this will provide a thrill for even seasoned bettors.
There is also the fact to consider that so far, Awesome Racing has ended up profitable like clockwork on a month by month basis which means that if you maintain a long term view of betting, the daily outgoings should not be too much of a problem.
So is Awesome Racing worth buying? After all, it is pretty far from cheap. Personally, I feel that right now it isn’t. The Sandman has demonstrated that he can make money from all weather racing, and although I can see how Awesome Racing could be anxiety inducing from time to time, if the results can be maintained it is a definite winner.
The main question for me is how Awesome Racing will fare over the slightly longer term. As it stands, the best 3 months of Awesome Racing could well be behind the service and I have watched Betfan tipsters lose their edge once proofing stops too many times to count.
In 3 months, this will definitely be one to come back to I think, but as it is now, I would recommend caution if you are going to buy into Awesome Racing.
I subscribed for a three month period in March 2017. For the first few days there was a reasonable strike rate, but the predictions were then consistently losers, with a few odds on winners thrown in presumeably to keep their statistics up. I quickly stopped using the tips and just followed on paper and they continued to lose. For over a week now there have been no selections at all. Over the years I have subscribed to quite a few tipping services, some better than others, but all seemed pretty genuine. This is the worst.
I don’t do reviews normally, but hopefully this will prevent somebody else being caught.