SBC News Q Racing: The biggest challenge is keeping on top of changes

Q Racing: The biggest challenge is keeping on top of changes

bettinggodsadvert-racingSBC caught up with Chris Johns, one half of Q Racing – a professional tipster service that operates off the www.bettinggods.com site, to find out what makes a tipster tick.

SBC: How did you get into the tipping game?

CJ: I have had an interest in horse racing most of my adult life and subscribed to and bought many, many tipping services and systems.  Around 12 years ago I began devising my own systems for my own use and eventually had a lightbulb moment and thought ‘I can do this myself’ and just went from there really.  I now have about 4 (almost 5) workable systems which have enabled me to ‘retire’ from my ‘day job.’

SBC: What does a typical day entail for a professional tipster?

CJ: Up at 6-6.30, scan the racing pages and the early exchange prices.  Pick the daily selections and update the relevant websites, send out selection emails where appropriate and update spreadsheets.  Then about 8am, breakfast and 8.30, start answering the sometimes ‘mountain’ of emails and enquiries about this and that and check for any payments made etc and update records and spreadsheets accordingly.  Answer emails throughout the day and work on upcoming new systems we have in the pipeline.

In the afternoon, I watch whatever selections we may have on the various systems run their races and update spreadsheets again(!) with the results.  Then afterwards reply to more emails and do general admin tasks (of which there are many).  Early evening is spent scanning the early race cards for tomorrow in anticipation of the next day’s plunder and usually wrap up about 7 pm (evening racing notwithstanding.)

SBC: What’s the best part of being a tipster – and the worst?

CJ: The best part is the flexible hours.  If I decide to go out for a couple of hours I can do that – and even take a day off if I need to as there are two of us working together.  The worst part is dealing with the disappointment of losing runs, both for ourselves and our customers.  (Every service has them!)  You do need to be very thick-skinned to deal with the emotional aspect of it all and also to deal with complaints and sometimes downright abuse from subscribers when things are not going as well as usual.

SBC: Keeping track of horseracing form does seem to be a full on task. Can you relax while on holiday knowing that there are races that need studying?

CJ:  I am lucky in that I have a business partner with whom I work really well and this helps enormously in respect of time off.  I do not switch off easily and I am afraid I am one of those sad people who takes his laptop away on holiday and weekends out, to keep in touch with what’s going on!

SBC: What’s the biggest challenge for a tipster in these times of easily accessible data?

CJ: I believe that the biggest challenge is keeping on top of changes.  By that I mean systems / services have an annoying tendency to start to tail-off in performance if left to their own devices long enough.  Even the best will deteriorate over time and so we need to monitor constantly to maintain the maximum levels of service.  It is not an exact science either but something that is absolutely necessary.

Q Racing can be found here.

 

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