The Racing and Sport’s library holds a treasure trove of historic racing publications.

One such gem is a collection of the weekly publication, “Racing Review”, by a doyen of Australian racing and sports journalism, CLIF CARY.

Cary commenced his journalism career in 1923, on the Manly Daily. He enjoyed high-profile success, working on various leading racing publications, wrote cricket books, and later became sports-editor-at-large on Sydney radio station 2GB.

At 2GB, he was a key member of the highly popular Saturday morning racing preview team — with Ken Howard, Bert Bryant and Vince Curry.

Clif passed away in 1986, aged 81.

In the 1960’s and 1970’s, “Racing Review” was a ‘must have’ weekly subscription publication for punters. It contained reviews and previews, coming winners, keen observations and wagering advice and systems.

These days we all enjoy the benefits of computerisation, and easy access to videos and the opinions of hundreds of form analysts of varying quality, promoted across mediums including radio, TV, and increasingly, the Internet.

But in Cary’s day, print (and later radio) was king, experts fewer, and “Racing Review” was a prince of documents.

While so much has changed in terms of racing communications — and racing generally — many of the maxims and observations articulated by Cary are still relevant today.

At Racing and Sports we remain committed to time-proven wagering strategies, such as selections staked to accurately assessed prices. This approach was popularised by the late Don Scott and Racing and Sport’s lead handicapper, Gary Crispe.

As Cary noted, over and over, there’s no magic wand to quick riches. Nothing beats the sober application of race form basics, getting the right odds, and going to the races with $100 — and being happy to win $10.

Cary would kick off the racing season publishing his —

“Don’t Repeat The Mistakes Of The Last Twelve Months”.

Quoting the late Eric Connolly, Cary wrote: “If a child puts his fingers on a hot stove and is burned, you can be certain he will never do it again.

“Yet adults will bet week after week, be seriously hurt in the pocket, and without any thought, continue to suffer the same mistakes.”

Cary continued: “In my work in radio I receive many letters from punters seeking advice and most of them tell me of the pitfalls they have suffered.

“I had my secretary collate some of these letters for me… providing a series of DON’TS for all who bet.”

Clif Cary’s DON’TS (published in 1965) were —

• DON’T lay long odds-on about any horse winning. When you do this you are risking a lot to win little. There is no such thing as a “racecourse certainty”.

• DON’T ignore the place tote when it comes to supporting short priced runners. Quite often the place return will provide better value than the risk incurred for a straight-out wager.

• DON’T under any circumstances chase your losses in an effort to get square. This is the most dangerous thing any punter — and especially those who bet on credit — can possibly do. Your judgement becomes warped… Always be prepared to call it a day in the knowledge that there is no such thing as a last race — there will always be another meeting offering better opportunities.

• DON’T ever bet with money you can’t afford to lose. This type of money rarely wins in any form of gambling because the very situation creates a doubt in your mind and must affect your thinking. It can also bring about a fear complex. No one can win in those circumstances.

• DON’T bet on every race. Most of the consistent losers are those that wager wildly in this manner… Patience is a virtue and very much so in racing.

• DON’T finish up a loser after having been a winner… If you are showing a profit at least keep some of it. You will have more winning days than losing ones.

• DON’T bet on hunches and wild guesses. You have to be lucky to win this way. Make it a rule to never have a bet without a strong logical reason… that if you bet it is because you consider you have a better chance of winning than losing.

• DON’T back bad horses with a record suggesting it will be a fluke if you happen to catch them on the right day. It is impossible to be predictive about unpredictable horses.

• Wait for improving gallopers or those who are proved or placed to advantage. This is one of the strongest rules in racing. A bad horse is a bad bet.

• DON’T back bad jockeys. Horsemanship plays a major part in racing, and you should study riders with the same thoroughness as you should study horses. The jockey who wins a race “every pancake day” is not a man on which to invest good cash.

• DON’T back young horses early in the season if they are racing against older horses with a distinct weight-for-age advantage.

• DON’T back out-of-form horses. They win occasionally but you have to be lucky to catch them... Improvement in beaten lengths is always a good sign.

• DON’T back horses at distances over which they have been NOT successful, unless there is strong evidence to indicate they will achieve what they have not done before… always be wary of backing horses coming down or going up too far in distance.

• DON’T back horses racing under conditions in which they have not proved themselves. This is an unnecessary risk.

• What you should seek at all times is the PROVED horse — the one you know can handle the track, the distance, the conditions and the class it is to meet.

• DON’T ever ignore post positions at barriers where gates are important. Horses will, on occasions, overcome the handicap of a bad gate but if you consistently bet on those drawn badly at risky starting points you will certainly back more losers than winners.

• DON’T (if you do the weights) back badly handicapped animals. They rarely win. Owners and trainers know that if a horse is at a grave disadvantage in this regard; in many cases the plan will be to run weight off his back.

• DON’T back a horse for no other reason than a good jockey is up. The jockey cannot come on without his mount.

• DON’T blindly follow jockeys. Even the best of them can suffer a “bank” breaking run of outs. As mentioned earlier — you must have a reason to make a bet a sound one. The fact that your favourite jockey is up is not sufficient.

• DON’T bet on any race without closely investigating it. Check each race for form and other factors… If there are too many real chances… treat the race with caution or skip it as too hard to pick.

• DON’T think you can win at tracing without study and thought…

• DON’T bet of favourites just because they are favourites.

Cary said his DON’TS were truthfully written and that we can learn from the mistakes of the past and from the errors of others.

You may have some key DON’TS — discovered through your punting life — that you would like to briefly share with us. Maybe there are some of Clif’s DON’TS that you disagree with? Email us at [email protected] and we’ll discuss in the next newsletter (19/09/2014).