Below is a summary of our most successful year ever based on results and member feedback.

For 2016 we posted a 267.14 unit profit at 14.1% POT.

This was a record breaking year for Data Spy, the first year recording a profit of over 200u. As far as we're aware it is the largest calendar year profit recorded ever for a racing tips service on a 100u bank.

Monthly Breakdown

Month....P/L....POT%

Jan.....31.8...14.8%
Feb.....20.0...13.1%
Mar......8.3....6.0%
Apr.....10.0....5.4%
May......2.3....2.0%
Aug.....95.3...65.5%
Sep.....77.0...37.6%
Oct......1.6....0.6%
Nov.....40.2...18.2%
Dec....-19.5...-8.1%
2016...267.1...14.1%

After 6 winning months in a row for the 2nd half of 2015, we continued that with 9 winning months in a row in 2016, for 15 straight winning months (noting the service took a break in June & July).

Indeed the only lowlight of the 2016 year was our first losing month in 16 months in December.

Most Profitable Tracks - Top 10

Track............P/L....POT%
Kalgoorlie......87.6...101.7%
Mt Barker.......35.8....63.2%
Sunshine Coast..31.4....54.7%
Kyneton.........25.7...210.4%
Echuca..........25.1...128.1%
Toowoomba.......22.2....61.0%
Devonport.......22.0....72.0%
Balaklava.......21.6...208.5%
Gawler..........20.5...100.4%
Ascot...........20.4....43.5%

A reasonably even spread of most profitable tracks, with 3 in WA, 2 in QLD, 2 in VIC, 2 in ADL and 1 in TAS.

Big Priced Winners

We had a lot of big priced winners throughout the year, including our 3rd year in a row tipping a 100/1 winner.

I looked through the records and we have backed 81 horses at 100/1+ over the past 3 years. That's 27 backed per year, with a winner each year. 1 in 27 is an excellent strikerate given they on average win far less than 1 in 100 races.

In fact 3 have also run 2nd, including 2 in 2016, Nothin Like Cash at 100/1 and Giant's Daughter at 150/1. Corruption ran 2nd for us at 100/1 in 2015.

While on the topic of 2nds, would you believe we had 1,385u worth of 2nd placings in 2016! That includes 16 horses who ran 2nd with a near miss of between 10u and 30u each.

The 100/1 winners have been:

Carn at $149 in 2014 (advised at $201)
Stage Girl at $126 in 2015 (advised at $151)
Emmadee at $101 in 2016 (Betfair SP $260)

Emmadee won at $101 officially, though a number of members reported getting the $260 Betfair SP price, and incredibly the horse traded between $400 and $560 for most of the last 4 minutes of betting.

Horse.........Official...Available

Emmadee........$101.00..$560.00
Gold Fields.....$41.00...$41.00
Havana Cigar....$41.00...$80.00
Blue Star.......$36.90...$42.10
Chantego Star...$34.90...$70.00
Exilia Miss.....$34.00...$35.00
Flamberge.......$32.60...$34.00
Our Rocky.......$31.00...$34.00
Shinady.........$31.00...$31.00
Silverstream....$31.00...$55.00
Rylaho..........$31.00...$34.00
Courts Star.....$26.70...$28.20
Mishani Stealth.$26.00...$41.00
Nouvelle Charm..$26.00...$26.00
Esprit Hero.....$26.00...$26.00
Benito..........$25.00...$26.00
Swiggin.........$23.00...$28.00
Balrov..........$23.00..$120.00
The Principal...$21.00...$21.00
Boiling.........$21.00...$21.00
Our Playdough...$21.00...$21.00
Viotti..........$19.50...$32.00
Awesome Rock... $19.30...$27.00
Right Advice... $18.60...$44.00
Jopa........... $18.10...$38.00
Shazzas Bubbles.$18.10...$18.90
Ariake Fire.... $18.00...$18.00
Kensington Abbey$17.00...$19.50
Chakana........ $17.00...$17.00
Tommi Toocan....$17.00...$17.00
Rallier.........$16.90...$28.00
Our Mate Al.....$16.40...$26.00

In terms of results, we have to mention the $20,477 Kalgoorlie quaddie on Sep 11 which collected a mammoth 68.26u. We ended up winning 79.6u on the day with winners at $34, $26 & $6. Amazingly if Festive Excess had won at $24 (ran 2nd beaten 0.5L) we would have had the quaddie for 100%, a minimum 204.77 unit collect (in fact the quaddie would have paid a lot more).

Bet Type

In terms of bet types, Win and Place betting dominated, with Quaddies also chiming in with a healthy profit thanks to the Kalgoorlie whale.

Bet Type........P/L......POT%

Win............129.0.....11.7%
Place..........117.7.....16.7%
Quadrella.......25.4.....43.3%
Other Exotics...-4.9.....-5.9%

Betting Day

Betting day profitability was also interesting to review:

Day.......P/L.......POT%

Sun......215.5......50.2%
Wed.......51.6......27.8%
Tue.......34.4......23.4%
Fri........3.3.......2.0%
Mon.......-3.0......-2.6%
Thu......-13.1......-7.3%
Sat......-21.4......-2.9%

Looking at this on face value, one would assume we should simply bet Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, make 300u profit at 39.6% POT and be done with it! Of course there's a lot more that needs to be assessed in detail which I will do in the coming days, particularly around our success at various tracks, race classes, meeting classes (e.g. metro, provincial, country) etc.

Over the year we had 5 huge days where we made over 20u profit in the day, and 3 shocker days where we lost over 20u. They were Boxing Day, Day 2 of the Championships on April 9, and Derby Day on October 29.

One theory I had was that our biggest losing days have been on the days with the most number of meetings (big racedays), where we have invested the most units. I believe on those days I have spread myself too thin trying to assess too many meetings in a short space of time.

My analysis confirmed this. In fact, our 3 biggest losing days were within the 5 biggest days in terms of units invested.

More startling was that of all days where we invested over 18u on the day (23 occasions), we lost a total of 64.7 units. It's clear I need to take action to reduce investment on those huge days.

To resolve this I will analyse to identify where our biggest edges are and ensure I only focus on those tracks & race classes, to cut down the number of races assessed on big days.

As mentioned I will be spending plenty of January analysing the past 18 months worth of results to determine what worked well, and what to avoid to improve things even further.

Annual Profit

Below is a summary of Data Spy results since inception:

Year.....P/L......POT%
2013.....189.55...29.8%
2014......75.60....8.1%
2015.....141.29....7.9%
2016.....267.14...14.1%

The last 18 months since the database analysis and new selection & staking methodology were introduced have certainly been enormous with 459.29u profit at 15.3% POT.

Finally, a big thank you to all for your continued, unwavering, loyal support. It's a great community we are building here as we take on the bookies, and the analysts and Steve Watson are enjoying interacting with members through Twitter.

We certainly intend to announce some big initiatives over the coming year.

Here's to an even bigger 2017!

All the best

Dean