Priscilla Looker: experience and hard work gets results

It's been a long-established fact that former jockeys are good judges of a horse. But do they make the best tipsters?

We spoke to Priscilla Looker, one of Australia's best performing form analysts, to find out. 

 

SKY Racing analyst  Priscilla Looker has been tipping winners for fun over the past 6-months.

For the past 180-days Priscilla has seen them like beach balls, tipping winners at a rate of 32% with average winning odds of $3.43 (using starting prices). 

What makes that feat even more impressive is that Looker is tipping in every race of every meeting she covers, unlike other analysts who have the opportunity to stop at just a few of their best bets for the meeting. 

Go back and look at the horse racing leaderboard over the past 180 days, punters who backed each of Looker's 404-tips generated a very tidy 9% Profit on Turnover (POT).

Of the long list of media experts that have tipped in 100 races or more, Looker sits well in the Top 10 for all racing media experts in Australia.

Priscilla Looker's seeing the results from experience and hard work

 

What does all this mean? It's quite simple really!

This young lady from the Northern Rivers is a rising star and we have the numbers to back that up. 

 

Priscilla Looker at the Grafton Cup  

 

So what gives Looker the edge to deliver punters consistent profit?

There is no doubt this former jockey has acquired a unique set of skills along her way, but what is it that separates her from the rest of the pack? 

We learned that there's much more to picking a winner than studying a form guide back to front!

 

Background

A former gun jockey, Priscilla rode 285 winners, the majority of those came in Northern NSW and South East Queensland. 

Looker has her father Dwayne Schmidt to thank for getting her into racing. "My most admired person in racing is my dad, because he taught me everything I know about horses and racing".  "If I wasn't born into the industry I don't think I would be in it today" 

In early 2016 Looker was sidelined from race riding due to ongoing injuries and took the time off as an opportunity to pursue a career in the racing media. 

"I was pretty lucky… well I guess you could say I was unlucky, but lucky in another aspect, because a couple of times when I was riding, I was off injured and I was able to do a little bit of work in the media."

Looker was given the opportunity to work side by side with Sky Racing's Gary Kleise at Taree and it didn't take long for those within SKY Racing to take note of Looker's talent behind the camera.

"I just thought that it was a good opportunity for me to take the next step in my career and when I decided to retire I was able to take up a role with SKY Racing." 

"It was a quick transition, I finished riding on a Sunday and I was working straight away with them on the Tuesday, so riding was still very fresh in my mind"

"I was just happy to take the next step and  I’ve been working for SKY for about four years now."

 

Form Analysis

There is little doubt that all punters go on winning streaks, but what separates the best from the best?  

"I do a lot of homework and I think any form analyst is in the same boat, obviously watching a lot of replays and speed maps and how the track was playing on the day… whether it was a rain-affected track, a dry track"

Looker attributes her success to the home work and her strict work ethic, but there is one part of her form analysis that separates her from the pack, speed maps. 

Mapping races is part of a jockey's daily routine, so it's second nature for Looker who is aware of her edge when it comes to predicting how a race will be run. 

"I may look at a race differently to somebody else. I obviously rode a lot in the mid-north coast and northern rivers… so certain riders might sit a little bit closer even if they’re on a horse where a speed map has them midfield… you know they may settle a pair or two closer which could inject a little bit more speed into the race."

"But I try to look at a lot of different aspects of how the race is going to be run and what I feel the best horse is in the race and the run it’s going to get throughout."

"A lot of times those leaders are getting along with cheap sectionals and it just makes it impossible for the back-markers to run them down. And that’s just something, over time that you just make a note of."

Another key element to doing the form is the ability to identify and predict potential track bias. 

"A lot of people can get pretty caught up in track bias. A lot of the time it can be pace-related… you know if they walked in front it’s obviously going to be impossible for the back-markers to get home over the top of them"

Looker suggests punters take notice of the rail position, field size and track condition before jumping to a conclusion on track bias. 

"If you go to that certain track and the rail is out you’re probably looking for horses that are going to settle in the first four or five, and horses that have drawn good barriers on those days."

"A lot of the time I feel that track bias probably only comes into to play on a rain-affected track, where there seems to be a part that favours, [because it's] dryer than another section, and everyone’s obviously determined to get to that part. And sometimes in those cases it can be whoever gets there first will win the race."

 

 

Routine Routine Routine

If there is a theme of Looker's success, it would be hard work!

"I spend so many hours looking at races, looking at replays, looking at certain horses. It’s not just a matter of getting to the races and tipping whatever horse you thought ran well last start."

Looker suggests she doesn't get stuck in to the form until the acceptances come out for the meeting she is covering.  

"Generally I start doing my form when the acceptances come out" "Because a lot of the times we can have 40 nominations in each race and there’ll be dual-acceptors and what-not". 

"I start to look at the weather, the rail position, the stewards report to see if there was any hard-luck stories or any horses pulling up lame" 

"I then look at replays and speed-maps, and that’s how I work out what my top five or six numbers are going to be, and then just juggle them around, weather pending and where they’ve drawn and what-not."

When asked for advice she had for an up and coming form analyst, Looker said,

"Do your homework. Honestly, because there could be a horse going around in the race that was extremely unlucky, that got beat by ten lengths, and you’ve just automatically got to put a line through it. But if you watch the replay there could be contributing factors and therefore you may favour that horse over something that you initially had thought had run well the start before."

 

Tipping Strategies

Life on the tip is an interesting beast. As a punter you want winners, but as a tipster you want want those that follow your tips to achieve long-term success. 

So the key to a good tipster is finding one who understands the importance of rating a horse's chances and finding true value. 

"A lot of the time I can see horses go around in the same race and one may finish half a length in front of the other but the other horse has had things go wrong in transit, and you’ll see the prices and one will be quite short in the market and the other one could be $15. So if that’s the case, I’m more inclined to tip the one that’s $15 because I just feel that it should’ve finished closer had things gone its way."

"Sometimes we could have a race where there’s a $1.80 favourite and you simply can’t find anything to beat it, well then in that case of course I’m going to tip the favourite."

"I won’t not take a short priced favourite if I feel it’s going to win, however if I’m debating over two horses and I feel that one is over the odds I’m likely to tip it as oppose to the shorter priced runner."

 

Home Life

Priscilla married jockey Ben Looker in late 2018. Ben is a very successful jockey in his own right racking up 746-career wins to date. 

Obviously being married to a successful form analyst has it's upsides for Ben.

When questioned on what the dinner table chat with Ben is like Priscilla wasn't shy in sharing her thoughts. 

 "...it can be a little hostile conversation sometimes, depending on whether he’s had a good day or a bad day."

" But he’ll generally come to me for advice" 

"Obviously if he’s had a bad day I try not to tip in too much, because if you’ve had a bad day you don’t need a reminder of it. But we do definitely bounce off each other, and it just works."

"Sometimes I can see a race… or something happening in a race from a different side of things and he’ll have his opinion on it and I’ll have mine."

 

Quick Fire Q&A

 

Favourite Race Track as a jockey and why?

Eagle Farm. I rode my first city winner there and because most horses get their chance.

 

Favourite Race Track as a form analyst?

Grafton.

 

Favourite racing carnival to attend?

Definitely the Grafton Carnival it's the biggest country carnival that I cover and I always look forward to it.  

 

Funniest thing you have seen at a race track – where/when/what happened?

A few years ago my sister who was a jokey at the time, legged up another jockey and she fell off the other side.   

 

Favourite horse off all time?

Winx. I was there to witness Winx and I've been on track when she's won. I think the fact that the public really got behind her and what she did for our industry was fantastic. 

 

Who do you admire most in the racing industry?

My father.

 

You are doing an amazing job with Sky, where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time?

Hopefully still doing the same thing, covering the mid-north coast and Northern rivers. I love country racing and I love working for Sky. 

 

Who is/are the biggest larrikin (s) at Sky Racing ?

Gary Harley.

 

Any Sky form analysts you hold in high esteem and why?

Hard to pin point one. Paul Joice is very good at his job, likewise is Ron Dufficy. 

I think anyone who does the form for a living earns my respect because they have to do a lot of work behind the scenes. 

And of course Tony Brassel who covers a lot of meetings when we works on weekends and I honestly don't know how he does it.