How often do we hear something like, "This horse is a moral. Nothing else can win," or "This race is a match race," or "There are only three horses that can win this race."

Unfortunately, too often.

Don't fall for it. Looking at races like that will make you take poor odds about those horses you back and guarantee you are a long term loser. The only race that has just two winning chances is a two horse race. The only race that has three winning chances is a three horse race. And there aren't too many of them around!

I recall listening to a radio horse racing tipping show. The tipster panel was discussing the horses' chances in a 1000 metres Open Handicap held at Moonee Valley. Six of the 13 runners were resuming from a spell. The race in my opinion was an absolute raffle.

Yet that morning one of the tipping panel, said something along the lines of, "There are only three winning chances. I can't see anything else winning," and then went on to name those "three winning chances."

Where did those three horses finish? First, second and third? Wrong. One of them won though? Wrong again. Then two of them ran second and third? Wrong, yet again. They finished seventh, ninth and tenth!

You would really think the media horse racing tipster should have realised that more than just three horses had a chance of winning that race.