Wiltshire Racing is a horse racing tipster service which is being offered through Tipsters Empire. It is a rather polarising affair with some very strong pros and cons to it.
Introduction to Wiltshire Racing
I have a good few hard and fast rules when it comes to looking at betting systems. Almost all of which are, of course, neither hard nor fast. Because the truth of the matter is that if you are simply going to focus on a singular measure of success when looking at value, you are going to miss out on decent services. This is something that is important to keep in mind because the service I want to look at today… Well, it’s a complex thing. And as such, I can already tell that there is going to be some contradiction here.
You see, Wiltshire Racing has some truly incredible elements. There are parts of what Tipsters Empire are doing here that are genuinely outstanding and very much in line with the “Gold Standard” of what a tipster service can do. Furthermore, this is all at a price that is arguably pretty good value. And of course, the one unshakable rule that I do have is that a service should be making money. Which this is. And honestly you would hope so. Frankly, if it isn’t, then it should be a no go from the get go (despite the way that some tipsters seem to think the tipping market works).
So, you may be thinking, what exactly is the issue here? Because I know full well that I’ve made Wiltshire Racing sound good. But there are very definitely some issues here as well. And unfortunately, most of them ultimately pertain to that single most important area. Just how much profit you can make. Something that, personally, I feel like Tipsters Empire rather skip over. All of this means that making a decision here isn’t that black and white, so, let’s get into why this is.
What Does Wiltshire Racing Offer?
I opened up by saying that there is going to be some contradiction in this review, and that is in no small part driven by the fact that Wiltshire Racing is just a hugely varied tipster service in a number of different ways. Something that seems to he somewhat inherent in the DNA of the service, with Tipsters Empire leaning a lot into different approaches to wider betting.
First things first, I want to talk about the logistics of Wiltshire Racing. Honestly, this is by far and away the area that Tipsters Empire perform best here. Compared to most tipster stables that I look at; I can honestly say that they are smashing it out of the parl. It is also the area where I think that things are most different to “the norm” that you typically see when it comes to tipster services (which probably isn’t a coincidence really).
You see, when selections are issued for Wiltshire Racing, they aren’t sent out in the typical fashion, that is to say, an email with a list of bets. Instead Tipsters Empire send out selections via a text message. This can be of huge benefit to a lot of people. Because whilst it doesn’t sound like a big thing, if you are getting hundreds of emails a day (as I do), it can be easy to miss when tips go out. With a text, well, it’s just pretty hard to miss.
Now, these text messages do contain (as you would probably expect) basic details of the bets. This allows you to, if you needed to, simply place the bets as advised. Something that it is recommended that you do through a BOG bookmaker. And with selections going out around 8am to 8.30am, there is plenty of time to do this. However, Tipsters Empire also send out a link with selections.
This takes you to a member’s area where you can see a full write up on why a given horse has been selected. Something that instantly stands out as being one of those “Gold Standard” things that I believe every tipster should aspire to
With all of that out of the way, let’s talk about the bets themselves. As you might expect, Wiltshire Racing is a combination of win and each way tips. Pretty standard fare for most horse racing tipster services. What is less standard are the odds that you will be betting at. Whilst there is a decent range, the focus in my mind is clearly on backing longer shots.
For some context on this, the last week has seen shortest odds of 3/1. In the meantime, the highest odds have been all the way up to 12/1. And that is within a week. Importantly, these results seem to be very indicative of what you can actually expect from the service. As such, you can expect higher average odds from Wiltshire Racing (claimed to be around 6/1).
The final topic that I want to talk about in terms of the bets with Wiltshire Racing is the volume of them. Tipsters Empire’s proofing shows a service that isn’t necessarily the highest volume. There are however consistent runs where you might see four or more bets in a day. And this can inevitably start to add up in terms of cost.
This isn’t aided much by the staking plan. Now, I think it’s fair to say that Wiltshire Racing isn’t necessarily excessive. Generally speaking, bets are advised to be placed at no more than 2 points and potentially as low as just half a point. There can however be a good few of these high value bets being placed in the same day, and if you aren’t winning, well, that ends up producing some pretty hefty drawdown.
And whilst an average strike rate of 18.07% might seem like you’re going to win relatively often, that isn’t necessarily an accurate reflection of the results in my opinion. A simple look at Tipsters Empire’s proofing shows that there can be some pretty big losing streaks and a lot of inconsistency in terms of how the wins play out.
How Does Wiltshire Racing Work?
With something like Wiltshire Racing, the obvious thing to highlight when talking about how the service works is to point at the fact that all of the selections receive a write up. There isn’t really a better way of explaining the selection process that Tipsters Empire could offer. Because every single bet comes with a detailed look at what the selection process for that bet is.
But what about a wider philosophy? Of course, it’s all well and good getting that minutia, but I think that there is a lot to be said for understanding the broad approach. This is quite an interesting read here with Tipsters Empire saying that the tipster behind the service draws on considerable experience in the horse racing industry.
What really stands out to me though is the fact that we do actually receive a pretty detailed explanation of how the tipster behind Wiltshire Racing approaches betting. They talk about how they like to have a view on how the race is likely to run, leveraging that to look for races where horses have been priced up “too short in early prices and can be opposed”. All of which ultimately is designed to identify bets that have value.
As a final note, it is worth noting that Tipsters Empire do provide incredibly comprehensive proofing for Wiltshire Racing. This shows all bets going back to November last year, and as such, it provides you with a decent idea of what you are getting into. I’ll concede, this isn’t technically “How the service works”, but I think that it’s important information from Tipsters Empire as it allows you to make an informed decision.
What is the Initial Investment?
If you want to sign up to Wiltshire Racing, there are a huge number of options that Tipsters Empire have available. Each of these differ drastically in terms of the value and outlay. First things first, let’s talk about the “full options”. This starts with a monthly subscription which is priced at £34.99 per month. Next, there is a quarterly subscription which is priced at £87.50 every 3 months.
If you want the best value, you do have to sign up to longer subscriptions. This means a 6 month subscription at £157.50 (£26.25 per month) or a 12 month subscription which has an outlay at £279.99 (£23.33 per month).
As a final note, whilst Tipsters Empire do not offer a money back guarantee on their services, it is noteworthy that new customers can try Wiltshire Racing out for 28 days for a one time cost of £2.99. This is a rather generous offering, and in my opinion gives you more than enough time to decide if the service is something that will work for you.
What is the Rate of Return?
Since (around mid) November 2020, Wiltshire Racing has seen a profit of 121.3 points. This isn’t necessarily a huge amount. For some context, it would mean that if the average monthly profit Tipsters Empire have calculated at 16.5 points were to continue, the service would close the year on a whisker under 200 points. Also of note is that at the time of writing this, there has been 2 losing months on the trot (for a loss of about 10 points).
What does stand out as incredibly impressive though is the ROI. This sits at a little over 27%, and honestly, that is one hell of an impressive number all things considered. So once again, we’re presented with this dichotomy of mixed results with Wiltshire Racing. Very impressive ROI, less impressive points profit.
Conclusion for Wiltshire Racing
It is apparent from looking at Wiltshire Racing that there is some merit to the service. In fact, I would go as far as to say that it is probably pretty difficult to label this as a “bad” tipster service. Because in my mind, it blatantly isn’t. But that the blunt fact of the matter is that being not bad isn’t the same as being good.
Now, before I get into this, I want to start with what Tipsters Empire have done right with Wiltshire Racing. Because I do believe that there are some elements it all that are genuinely top tier. You see, where I think this excels is the management and logistics. There isn’t a foot put wrong really. Things like sending out texts rather than emails, the inclusion of write ups, and the nice early advice on selections. These are all absolute winners.
And building on that, ultimately, I think Wiltshire Racing is a pretty sensible tipster service. The way that Tipsters Empire talk about the tipsters approach and what I have seen of the reasoning for selecting tips suggests a service that has the legs for long term profit potential. Just how profitable is something that will remain to be seen, but that isn’t a bad starting point in my opinion.
The real consideration here though is just how disciplined you can be. There have been 3 losing months with Wiltshire Racing so far. Now, they aren’t huge amounts, but it does mean sinking money into this when it’s losing. For a service that often goes several days without a sniff of a win, that is quite a big ask. You can easily end up 20 points in the red before you encounter a winning tip (although they can be big wins when they do come in).
On top of this, whilst I will concede that Wiltshire Racing is very fairly priced at £34.99 per month, it still isn’t exactly cheap. Sure, it’s lower than the £40-£50 that a lot of tipsters will ask, so credit to Tipsters Empire there for being fair. But if your average monthly profit is 16.5 points, and you’re betting to £10 per point (how I usually calculate stakes on all services I look at), that means you’re taking home just 13 points of profit. It isn’t bad, but is it worth those stressful runs?
So, here’s the bottom line. Would I actively go out of my way to recommend Wiltshire Racing? The short answer to that is that unfortunately, I don’t think that I would for most punters. This is a solid looking service for those who are in a position to think entirely long term. Who don’t mind a big drawdown. But that isn’t most people. Don’t get me wrong, if that is you, it might be worth a look in. 27% as a long term ROI is pretty bloody good.
But here’s the thing. Most people do mind a big drawdown. They don’t want to spend days funding loser after loser for a middling odds bet to land. And whilst the performance of Wiltshire Racing is undoubtedly up there when the going is good, the going isn’t good quite consistently enough in my opinion. Hence why I believe this is a genuinely decent enough service that just won’t be for most people.
