Graham Cunningham / 12 February 2010 Free Bet View Market

"The message for punters is simple: don't expect trainers to hold your hand and lead you to the winners just by picking up a newspaper."

Nowadays, trainers serve up reams of pre-race quotes about the wellbeing of their horses. Now I'm all for open government and as much information as possible, but anyone who takes what trainers say as gospel when it comes to whether a horse is ready to win or not is cruising for a bruising based on recent evidence.

Remember Taranis two weeks ago? Paul Nicholls reported that he had detected little sign of his old fire prior to his fluent Grade 2 success at Cheltenham, while Ferdy Murphy insisted that Kalahari King was short of his best before his commanding success in a high-class handicap at Donny last week.

Cooldine came within an ace of completing a famous treble for horses who were supposedly short of their peak in the Hennessy at Leopardstown last Sunday, while the folly of relying too heavily on quotes which are often designed to give the handler in question a safety net in case things don't go to plan was rammed home again in Dubai on Thursday when James' Eustace's War Artist belied his handler's concerns about fitness by bolting up in a Group 3 sprint.

Cynics might suggest I am talking out of my pocket on this subject and I freely admit that I was mad keen on War Artist until hearing Eustace suggest he was using the race as a springboard for the rest of the Carnival.

However, instead of blaming others for supposedly "putting us all away," I feel mildly embarrassed at my lack of self confidence and slightly less well off than I ought to. The message for punters is simple: don't expect trainers to hold your hand and lead you to the winners just by picking up a newspaper.

But do use your eyes rather than your ears if you feel a horse is over priced. It tends to work rather well for yours truly. And at least there is no-one else to blame if things do go pear shaped.