After two near misses, Early Price Profits claim Toptipsters' crown

Published: 12/01/2019

Early Price Profits finished 2018 at the head of the Toptipsters’ table, deserved reward at last following the agony of second place finishes in both 2016 and ’17.  

Ahead from an early stage in the race, Early Price Profits scored heavily in the first half of the year and by August they held a 300-point advantage, which proved to be more than adequate. A final 2018 tally of 470.18 was almost 200-points more than the second placed tipster, Sprint Specialiser

In third, John’s Value Selections finished like a steam train and, on current form, must be favourites for the 2019 crown.

Sandbets finished fourth for the second consecutive year while Profit Club Official, Tip Top Tips, LMR Racing and Best Value Tipping Service also finished 2018 in the black.

Last year, despite posting nine profitable months and an overall yield of more than 650 points, Early Price Profits were denied by Under The Radar, who, living up to their moniker, vanished without trace midway through 2018.

With eight profitable months, including returns of 180.41 points in February, 232.49 points in May and 152.07 points in August, Early Price Profits built up a commanding lead which was to prove impregnable, even allowing for a couple of autumnal slip-ups.

Early in the year, Early Price Profits passed a significant milestone, becoming the first Toptipsters’ service to pass the 1000-point profit mark. By the close of the year their overall profit, after two years and seven months, was an impressive 1406 points.

Sprint Specialiser, the 2016 champion and third last year, were always going to be a threat. They started slowly, but six consecutive months of profit from April, saw their stock rise and a 274.71-point annual yield was rewarded with second position in the table. Like Early Price Profits, Sprint Specialiser passed the 1000-point barrier, ending 2018 with 1110 points after three years dedicated service.

At the end of June, John’s Value Service languished at the foot of the table with a loss of more than 760 points. That was over 540 points adrift of the second last service. In racing parlance, they were tailed off, soon to be pulled up. But what happened next was remarkable: in three of the next four months gains of more than 200 points were recorded (257 points in July, 275 points in August and 204 points in October). By the end of October that huge loss had all but disappeared. It returned briefly after a losing November, but December saw another massive yield (209.40) and the end result was an annual profit of 133.40 points.

December’s tally was accrued from just 41 selections and included some massive gambles notably: 40/1 Legend Of France (Plumpton, 3 December), 22/1 San Seb (Fakenham, 4 December), 16/1 Spark Plug (Kempton, 5 December) and 22/1 Engrossed (Wolverhampton, 10 December).

For Sandbets, 2018 was another winning year with four monthly returns of more than 50 points including April’s 81.85-point haul. In total, this consistent service has no posted yields in 14 out of 19 months with Toptipsters.

Profit Club Official marked their first month with Toptipsters with an 83-point yield in September. This was followed by smaller, but still welcome, gains in October and November. At the end of the year, the overall profit was 64.62, earning fifth position in the final listing.

Seven profitable months out of 11 marked a highly successful first year for Tip Top Tips. The overall yield was 25.77 points. This secured sixth place in the 2018 table with two other newcomers, LMR Racing and Best Value Tipping Service claiming the next two rungs in the ladder. LMR posted three profitable months out of four while Best Value’s two monthly returns where both profitable.