The former champion of the Racing Post NAP’s table tipping competition can now be referred to as the ‘current champ’ after scooping a hat-trick of titles this April – maybe sponsors Coral will let him keep the match ball this time!

Paul, landed the prize for Sport Firts back in the 2000/01 season and then followed that up when tipping for the Daily Star Sunday in 2004/05, but is back on top of the tipping tree – this time giving his daily selections for the Morning Star paper.

You can regularly hear Paul’s expert views on Timeform Radio each week, while if you want to follow his more in-depth daily racing tips then head over to easyodds.com where you’ll find the 3 times champion tipster’s views on the days main meetings as well as an array of ante post picks for the big races on the horizon.

The Racing Post competition, sponsored by leading bookmakers Coral, is a collection of horse racing’s tipping elite as industry hacks put their reputations on the line by giving their readers just one horse to follow each day. This selection is called their NAP – a term derived from the popular old school card game Napoleon – meaning NAP hand, or best bet.

So how does it work? It’s simple - each day the leading horse racing tipsters from all the national newspapers will give their readers a main tip. This horse is then entered into the Racing Post NAP’s table with winnings (or losses) recorded based on a £1 stake at the industry SP odds.

It might sound easy to the untrained punter – just pick out the best looking favourite of the day I hear you say! Wrong, you simply won’t win giving out tips this way, the odds will generally be too low to see you profit over the six month period, while not only will a lot of the other tipsters have the same idea, but it only takes a few to go against you and you are fighting an uphill battle.

The key to Paul’s success is going against the grain. Yes, you might have to throw in the odd fancied runner, but to get to the top of the tipping tree you need to find an angle, or a source of information that sets your selection apart from the crowd – generally meaning that you’ll be the only one picking that horse and hopefully then returning at decent odds.

Yes, of course you need a bit of luck too, but with two wins already under his belt, once Paul hit the top of the table back in December, rather like Alex Ferguson’s Man Utd, he had the experience to stay in the top two for the next four months and eventually winning the title on April 21st, being just over 4 points clear of his nearest rival.

For his efforts Paul walks away with the £4,000 first prize, but he’ll tell you more importantly the title of ‘Champion Tipster’ for the next 6 months as well as the Racing Post Challenge Cup.

However, although the champagne corks might still be popping in the Jacobs household there’s no rest for the champion as from Saturday 23rd April it all begins again – as the starting gun for the flat season competition fires.

1st Morning Star Farringdon +36.41

2nd Racing Post Postdata +32.38

3rd Sunday Express Chris Goulding +22.14

The Star Peter Thickett +18.00

Western Morning News West Tip +17.10

Blackpool Gazette Steve Simpson +15.11

The People Larry Lynx +13.39

Western Daily Press Bob Watts +11.72

Oldham Evening Chronicle Keith McHugh +8.89

Irish Post Kevin Walsh +8.46

The Express Computerman +3.52

Western Mail Alan Keyte +1.88