Racing Specialist is a relatively long standing tipster service which is currently being offered through Sports Betting Stars. There is a lot to discuss for this service, but it does show some potential as a decent service.
Introduction to Racing Specialist
There are some tipster services that I always enjoy reviewing more than others. This is in no small part down to transparency of results, and a numbers based approach. A part of what I do with every service that comes across my path is data extrapolation.
This means looking for trends, averages, and indicators that things may not turn out so perfectly. Sports Betting Stars are very good at providing a lot of this data, and as such, it allows you to get a much better picture of what to expect from their services.
For example, in the sales blurb for Racing Specialist, they refer to the service as “arguably one of the most consistent horse racing tipster[s] on the web, having recorder profit in all but three months since February 2016”. This is true to a degree, however there is a lot more about Racing Specialist that needs examining, so let’s get to it.
What Does Racing Specialist Offer?
Racing Specialist is something of an interesting service to me in that from the results that I have seen to date. It is not a daily tipster service, which suggests to me that the tipster who is ultimately behind the service is rather selective. This also means that there may be short gaps in between selections.
Sports Betting Stars send out selections for all of their services via email and there is also an option to receive them via SMS. Racing Specialist’s selections are typically sent out the evening before racing, usually between 8pm and 9pm.
All the bets that I have seen have been straight win bets which does mean that following Racing Specialist is a very straight forward affair. One of the things that does stand out when you look at the bets is that there is a decent range of odds that you are advised to bet at (although BOG is very much your friend here as I will explore).
In spite of this range, the proofing for Racing Specialist shows that the service never ventures into the extremes with average odds of 4/1. In terms of the volume of bets, Sports Betting Stars say that you will receive an average of 55 tips per month. This somewhat backs up my theory about this being a selective service.
There is a staking plan in place for Racing Specialist however it isn’t anything particularly complex. Sports Betting Stars recommend following a simple level staking approach. This means backing al horses to just 1 point. It is also interesting to note that a betting bank of just 75 points is recommended for the service.
This suggests that there is a high strike rate in place for Racing Specialist which is in turn in line with Sports Betting Stars’s claims.
In spite of this, the claimed strike rate in the sales material is just 25%. This isn’t terrible, however it is a pretty long way from high. With that having been said, Racing Specialist does appear to place some focus on value however this is somewhat speculative on my behalf.
How Does Racing Specialist Work?
In spite of all of the data that we are given by Sports Betting Stars about Racing Specialist, there is very little that talks about what the selection process entails. There are however a few potential indicators which offer insight. First of all, the fact that the selections are issued the evening before racing suggests that there is a value based approach.
I say this because odds that are available the evening before racing are usually far superior to the morning before. This is further backed up by the proofing from The Tipster League. This shows that the odds advised by Racing Specialist have typically shortened by the time the start price is calculated.
In spite of this, I have to reiterate that this is merely speculation. The fact of the matter is that I am slightly disappointed that Sports Betting Stars haven’t provided any information at all here.
I understand that there is likely to be a tipster behind Racing Specialist that wants to keep their selection process under wraps, but you should at least be able to make an informed decision about what you are buying into. This applies doubly so for me when you start to break down the results.
What is the Initial Investment?
There are multiple options if you want to subscribe to Racing Specialist. The first of these is a monthly subscription which is priced at £29.99 per month. The next option is to sign up for Racing Specialist on a quarterly basis. This is priced at £79.99.
Finally, Sports Betting Stars offer an annual subscription which is priced at £299.99. It is worth noting that all of these options come with a trial period whereby your first 14 days will cost you just £1. Unfortunately, Sports Betting Stars do not offer any money back guarantee on Racing Specialist, however I do feel that the trial goes a long way to mitigating this.
What is the Rate of Return?
Since launching in February 2016, Racing Specialist has supposedly made an overall profit of some 370 points at the end of August. This works out at an average monthly profit of around 12.5 points which is exactly that. Average.
Here is what they state as monthly profits:
This doesn’t mean that Racing Specialist is a terrible service, however I do think that it deserves to be looked at in detail. This brings me on to this calendar year (2018). Had you started following the service in January, you would have made at most 16.5 points. This is due to some very substantial losses and a lot of time seemingly spent trying to get out of this loss.
Conclusion on Racing Specialist
Over the longer term, there is no getting around the fact that the results for Racing Specialist are not terrible. I don’t know many bettors who wouldn’t be happy with an additional 12.5 points per month profit. Would they pay £30 per month for that?
I suppose it depends on how much you stake etc. The problem that I have with services which I feel are very average is that it is difficult to not compare them to other products in the market.
For example, this week, I have looked at a service which is almost twice as expensive, but in 8 months has made more than 4 times the profit Racing Specialist has in just 8 months.
With that in mind, does Racing Specialist represent value for money?
It is a difficult thing to weigh in on. I suppose that being realistic, all that you can say is that Racing Specialist has made a profit, and this is better than some tipster services which are on the market at the moment.
With all of this in mind, I think that it is probably more than fair to say that Racing Specialist is not a bad product.
I genuinely don’t think that anything which has produced a consistent profit can be considered to be bad. Of course there are arguably better products on the market and when Racing Specialist is placed into that kind of context, it the good and bad thing does become somewhat more subjective.
For my money, I am not certain that I would personally choose Racing Specialist. Whilst the example I gave was very much an extreme, the fact of the matter is that I can think of a number of different services with better results.
With that having been said, I can also see the appeal here. As such, I’m going to cop out of this a little here. Whether or not you think that Racing Specialist is good and right for you will ultimately depend on what you want from your service.
Whatever your thoughts, I don’t think it is fair to call Racing Specialist bad. Just use due diligence.
