Cleeve Racing is a very interesting win (with the odd lay) tipping service for UK horse racing. It’s interesting because, the Cleeve Racing team confidently state: ‘It’s very simple, Cleeve Racing is the most profitable service in the UK since June 2011’. I immediately wondered how they could possibly know this, but if you go to http://www.racing-index.com/tipsters/proofed/cleeveracing.html#, you can see all of Cleeve Racing’s recent results, and results for the past three years. 2011 was a very good year for them, finishing with 69.19 points profit, and the service was indeed rating highly on The Racing Index comparison tables (which compares results from a variety of different tipsters and services).
So this is a service with some merit, and should be given your serious attention.
Cleeve Racing only deals with class 2 races and above, where form tends to be more reliable. Accordingly, their tips aren’t daily, but are sent out at the weekend, or whenever there’s a big midweek meeting. You’re sent an email containing tips and links back to the site, predominantly the evening before the relevant race. If the weather looks unsure, they may hold off until the morning of the race, to better assess going. If there are non-runners, a new email will be sent the morning of the race.
All selections (often two per race if prices are attractive enough) state value odds as well as staking advice. The value price (it is sometimes much bigger) is available on Betfair at the time when the email goes out. Following the link to the website explains further why such selections have been chosen, which is a great addition, so often missing from tipster services. The bet amounts range between 1 and 5 points of your bank, with the norm being 2 points (with 5-point and 4-point stakes being very rare).
After the race, the Cleeve Racing website posts an analysis of how the race went. This write-up, come win or loss, is a valuable part of the service and one which makes it stand head and shoulders above most of the rest.
However, of late, performance has not been great for Cleeve Racing. Recent form available on the Racing Index website shows that in September and October 2012, Cleeve Racing was down by -12.31 and -19.11 points respectively (using Betfair starting prices), and so far in November, they’re down by -6.46 points. Granted, they’re up by +29.95 points for 2012 thus far, but they no longer rank on the top ten best performers list on the Racing Index website. Despite this, the home-page for Cleeve Racing still states: ‘It’s very simple; Cleeve Racing is the most profitable tipping service in the UK since June 2011’; and also claims: ‘Since June 2011, we have now shown a profit of 480 points which equates to a 35% return on stakes invested, and has generated a profit of over £8,000 when following our staking plan.’ With recent bad form in the past few months, I cannot help but wonder if the 480 cumulative points needs addressing and amending.
Nevertheless, Cleeve Racing does purport to be a profit-producing service, but this comes with a very important caveat. The service is a very expensive one. Its costs are broken down as follows: £49 for a one-month trial, then afterwards the following prices apply: £79 for one month; £189 for three months; £329 for six months; and £559 for a year. There is no money-back guarantee in operation, except for during the trial month. If no profit is shown in the 30-day trial, you’ll get all of your £49 refunded. If you do choose to stick with the service, you really need to make sure your bank is big enough to place large enough stakes so that your winnings swallow up the subscription fee. They recommend you have a 100-point betting bank, and taking this year’s performance of +29.95 points, and the best-value subscription of £559, you’d have only made £339.50 for all of 2012 so far, based on a huge £3000 starting bank. Here, each point is worth £30 – which means stakes of at least £30, more often £60, and sometimes even more – all for a relatively paltry £339.50 after subscription costs. This bank and staking amount is beyond a lot of people’s means, and would rule out Cleeve Racing as a viable tipster service. Factor in your time spent placing each bet, and the story worsens.
So in conclusion, Cleeve Racing may result in profits more often than loss, but you need to be very well off to warrant its use. If they slashed their subscription costs, I’d be much quicker to recommend it, but as it is, I couldn’t possibly do so.
