South Downs Racing Review Luke Cooper

South Downs Racing is a (number of) horse racing tipster service which is operated by Luke Cooper. It provides a number of different betting options all whilst claiming a strong result.

Introduction to South Downs Racing

I have seen a lot of different claims made by a lot of different tipsters, some of which carry more weight than others. South Downs Racing says that it has been voted the UK’s number one tipster. This is a very impressive claim.

However, it should be noted that this is based off a survey carried out on 140 members and free trialists so I am inclined to treat this with a pinch of salt. What is significantly more interesting to me is Luke Cooper’s claim that South Downs Racing is “one of the most informed and knowledgeable racing services around”. 

Whether this is true is something that I want to get to the bottom of, but it is very clear to me that South Downs Racing is not your typical tipster service. There is a lot to cover if I am honest, so let’s dive straight in and see whether Luke Cooper’s claims can be substantiated.

What Does South Downs Racing Offer?

Put very crudely, South Downs Racing offers 4 different services to potential bettors. Each of these is quite different despite all being seemingly offered by the same team, under the same banner. The first service that I want to look at is the Hotline Service.

This is the daily side of South Downs Racing and operates in the rather old school fashion of calling a telephone number. Luke Cooper says that this will allow you to “get the edge”.

When you call the number you are given details on the horse, track, time, and which bookies offer the best odds. Those on the mailing list for South Downs Racing will receive an email each morning when the hotline is updated.

The next aspect of South Downs Racing is called Main Meetings, and not surprisingly, it covers… Well, main meetings. With this, you receive tips and analysis for an entire card from Luke Cooper and the team.

This is usually for the weeks biggest meeting (the South Downs Racing website helpfully notifies us that this is usually a Saturday) as well as major meetings and festival throughout the year. Main Meetings subscribers receive their tips directly via email.

Elite Bets is a very different beast and is based on information that Luke Cooper and the South Downs Racing team get from their industry contacts. Combined with analysis, they say that they will be able to provide you with 8-12 “very strong insider tips”.

Due to the nature of this aspect of South Downs Racing, they can arrive any time and as such, there is not a lot of traditional structure to the service. To ensure that you don’t miss bets however, Luke Cooper offers emails as well as SMS messages when there are bets available.

Platinum Bets is the crème de la crème of South Downs Racing and provides you with the ultimate in bespoke betting advice. The website says that Luke Cooper members receive betting advice personally over the phone with Luke Cooper, and that you will be advised when they are “as confident as [they] can be that a horse is nailed on to win”.

It is worth noting that this is an invitation only service and also requires an interview with Luke Cooper.

How Does South Downs Racing Work?

It should be pretty clear from what I have said so far that the inner workings of South Downs Racing are a combination of different things. There is plenty of talk about analysis and the like and I can see no reason not to believe this.

After all, Luke Cooper says that he has studied law and maths, as well as getting a job in The City. This suggests to me that the mind behind South Downs Racing has a firm stance in analytical approach.

As well as this there are numerous allusions to having a large network of insider contacts. In fact, if I may quote quite extensively from the South Downs Racing website “We have people up and down the country watching horses both in training and in action.

I’m constantly going back and forth on the phone with out network of contacts”. It is quite clear to me that presuming Luke Cooper isn’t simply trying to push out some marketing BS (which I don’t believe to be the case), then South Downs Racing being built on a balance of the two aspects is definitely something that could work.

What is the Initial Investment?

There are a large number of different ways of using South Downs Racing. The first of these is a hotline which you can call as and when you wish to receive tips. This is priced at £1.50 per call and is available from 11.30am each day.

The next option is to sign up for the Main Meetings service. This is rather pricey at £60 per month. Alternatively, you can sign up for the Elite Bets package of South Downs Racing which is priced at £120 per month.

Finally, there is Platinum Bets which is priced based off a discussion with Luke Cooper about what you are looking for.

What is the Rate of Return?

One of the things which isn’t really discussed in terms of South Downs Racing is the income potential. It is quite clear looking through the results that there is a lot of potential for profit, however I do feel that there are a few things that need to be discussed.

First of all, Luke Cooper doesn’t ever provide an actual figure in terms of the income of South Downs Racing. Secondly, whilst we are shown a stream of high value winners in the results, there are no details of losers either.

Here is the results claimed:

Conclusion on South Downs Racing

Looking into South Downs Racing there is a lot that has to be considered. First things first, as I have said before now I don’t doubt that Luke Cooper is genuine and by extension, the wider service.

This may seem like a relatively simple start, but in this line of work, you see a lot of questionable or disingenuous  services that simply seem to exist to line the creators pocket.

Whilst I can appreciate that this is the ultimate goal of any product or service, if you are getting what you are paying for then it is fair for everybody involved.

Now, with that out of the way, I want to address the second thing that jumps out at me, namely the price. If you were to call the South Downs Racing Hotline every day, you would end up spending £46.50.

This is a lot of money, however it doesn’t make it that far removed from a slightly expensive tipster service. £60 per month takes you well into that expensive price range and I think that it probably goes without saying that Elite and Platinum bets go well into a super premium price range.

This pricing leads me into the concept of value for money, something that becomes difficult to gauge with products like South Downs Racing. They demand a high price because they are not typically aimed at the market for your average punter.

It probably goes without saying, but if you can afford to consider spending £120 on a single tipster service, then you can invest enough that you don’t necessarily need to have significant points profits to do well.

The truth of the matter however is that I don’t see how I can realistically sit here and say that South Downs Racing represents significant value for money without information on the income.

With all of this in mind, I can only surmise that South Downs Racing isn’t really something that would work for me.

Some people might want to pay £120 per month for 12 top quality tips, but I know for a fact that you could put together a very decent little betting portfolio for that kind of money. What is clear to me however is that Luke Cooper knows what his target audience is and I don’t think that by and large it is 99% of bettors out there.

I think it is fair to say that this is backed up by the fact that the top tier comes with an interview. The fact of the matter however is that none of this makes South Downs Racing a bad product.

It just isn’t something that would ever realistically work for me.