The Whisperer has always based his selections more of his own form analysis. As we mentioned above, Matthew learnt his trade from one of the best in the game, Matthew Lips, as understanding the handicapping system is probably the most important aspect of analyzing form. Matthew uses this knowledge of handicapping and combines it with detailed video analysis, spending no less than five hours on each race meeting and watching up to 100 re-runs for each race meeting. Watching re-runs is essential in form study, as a form book never tells the full truth of how a race was run.

There are so many factors that can influence the outcome of a race and any horse’s individual performance, and the only way to pick this up is by watching re-runs and reading Stipes reports and doing your homework thoroughly. The pace of a race for example can influence the result of a race dramatically, tactical riding, poor riding, and Matthew has learnt so much more about this from multiple SA Champion Jockey Anton Marcus, someone who he built up a very good friendship with in the last few years of his riding career, before he sadly retired. They got on really well and had a mutual respect for one another’s knowledge, so much so that they ended up picking his rides together for a number of years. Anton was one of the cleverest riders Matthew had the pleasure of working with and what he taught him helps daily. 3x SA Champion jockey Lyle Hewitson, now based in Hong Kong, was another jockey he really got close to before he left, they would chat for ages about tactics and racing in general. Matthew misses chatting to Anton and Lyle, there is nothing better than picking the brain of a world class jockey and just chatting in general about the game. Matthew actually now spends more time chatting to 3x UK Champion jockey Oisin Murphy, his post-race feedback is brilliant and he has taught him so much about the UK tracks etc, and our success with the UK tips is largely down to what he has learnt from Oisin.