New names to the fore, but Early Price Profits remain well clear of the field

Published: 04/12/2018

There was an unfamiliar look to the top of the November Toptipsters table with new talents claiming the first three positions.

The list was headed by St@Man with a 77.41-point yield. Slybets Tipping Services finished second with Best Value Tipping Service third. In all three cases, November’s returns were personal bests.

Profit Club Official posted a third successive profit to claim fourth, ahead of Trade The Prices, LMR Racing, while overall race leader, Early Price Profits, also secured a November gain.

St@Man joined Toptipsters back in January. February saw a 77.05-point profit, but after two losing months, this service disappeared, returning only towards the end of November. St@Man’s first day back with us (27 November) was sensational with five selections yielding three winners, including 22/1 Shantung (Lingfield). The winners continued to roll in during the next three days and the final tally read seven winners, three seconds and three thirds from just 18 selections.

Slybet’s fourth month with Toptipsters was their most productive with a 20% strike-rate generating a decent 31.53-point return. The bulk of the winners came during the first couple of weeks, but the later successes, though less frequent were well worth the wait as the prices were eye-catching. Examples include 14/1 Moonlight Spirit (Newcastle, 22 November), 12/1 Cry Wolf (Wolverhampton, 28 November) as well as two 11/1 shots, Midnight Chill (Sedgefield, 27 November) and Miss Spent (Southwell, 20 November).

From a lowly 11% strike-rate, Best Value Tipping Services posted a debut-month profit of 15.50 points thanks to eight decent priced winners, most notably Silca Mistress (16/1, Lingfield, 20 November) and Peterborough (14/1, Exeter, 25 November). The other six successful advices were priced between 7/1 and 10/1.

Of the more established services, Profit Club Official continued to make money. November’s 14.68-point yield followed a debut month gain of 83 points in September, and a more modest 3-point yield in October. In truth it was a mixed month, but thanks to Royal Prospect’s last day win at Newcastle, November ended with a more than acceptable 14.68-point profit. That Gosforth Park winner was returned at 16/1 but the highlight was the success of Free Range, a 20/1 shot, at the same course on 16 November. Jimmy Rabbitte (10/1, Thurles, 12 November) helped swell the coffers.

A debut month return of 59 points in April promised great things from Trade The Prices, but the following six months yielded just two further profitable months. A more selective approach was adopted in November and this paid off in the shape of a 12.40-point profit. Twenty-one selections generated four winners and two returns from each-way selections. The pick of the crop was the Kempton win of 13/2 selection No Hiding Place (26 November).

A 36% strike-rate helped to steer LMR Racing to a 6.90-point November gain. Pulling Power (6/1, Uttoxeter, 2 November) was the best result during a second month of profit out of three for this promising service.

There was also a small, but important, 5.05-point profit for Early Price Profits, which followed two uncharacteristically heavy losses. However, the overall 2018 profit remains massive – 476-points and with a cushion of nearly two-hundred points over second placed Sprint Specialiser, success in the Toptipsters Challenge looks an Arkle-like certainty. After finishing second in 2016 and again last year, few would begrudge this outstanding tipping service glory this time around.