We have reached the time of year when Monday and Tuesday racing drops to two cards in the afternoon in the UK.
The impact of just two race meetings
This is an important time of year, as we drop to two race meetings in the UK. That means that the characteristic of meetings on Mondays and Tuesdays may change from what you have been familiar with recently. Earlier in the week, Racing tends to be lower quality, and that combined with the 15-minute gaps in-between the cards leads to changing market conditions overall.
Lower-quality racing tends to be more volatile, for starters.
You have horses running that maybe didn’t perform well in their prior race, which then win this time around. When money comes for something, people follow. Ultimately, lower-quality racing is tricky to predict. Throw in more significant gaps between races, which means lower liquidity. Lower liquidity also means markets are more volatile. It’s a double whammy on the volatility front.
My angle
I know everybody is different, but I often find the cards on a Monday and Tuesday afternoon unappealing. This is primarily due to the long gaps between races, particularly when there is no Irish racing on.
The long run in between races means it’s much harder for me to build a decent position in the market. If that position goes wrong, then it’s much harder for me to exit. I prefer races to start on time and ten minutes gaps between races. This is the norm and the thing I’ve got familiar with over the years.
When you get large gaps, there is often not enough money getting matched to go for it.
It’s hard enough on a Monday as it is, but open up a gap to the next race, and the per-second volume declines to the point where it becomes much harder for me. Low liquidity is a danger sign for me; a small mistake can cost a lot in this market type for me.
Curiously, Windsor on a Monday evening always trades well, but the afternoon card and Tuesday, in general, can be poor. I really dislike Tuesday evenings in the summer if it’s predominately low-quality jumps racing.
Of course, everybody trades differently, and this change may aid your trading. But over many years, I’ve settled on the pattern of easing back a bit when there is less on to focus on better opportunities. It’s worked really well for me. Besides, you need some balance in the summer so you don’t burn out, so this is an opportunity to address that.
Save your gunpowder
You also have this characteristic in the summer that the better quality stuff appears at the weekend or in multi-day meetings, so that’s my focus. On Saturdays, I often chuckle as I can often get more on a feature race in one shot than in an afternoon on a Monday or Tuesday.
When expectations are lower, and the quality stuff produces such good results, like the Derby, it’s better to focus your energy and effort on the quality opportunities.
Get some balance back
So during this time of the year, I try to use the time to relax and do other things generally. I’ll keep an eye on the racing, but I’ll experiment with other things. Looking at data. Exploring new ideas, sanitising existing data, Sneaking in a round of golf, you get the picture.
I really enjoy going out on my mountain bike at this time of year. It clears my mind; I get a bit fitter and probably lose a pound or two. That’s the only time I deliberately try to lose a few pounds!
But when you are trading so intensively in the summer, I treasure these moments when trading is far from my immediate mind.
