The Secret of Successful Horse Racing Handicapping is Finding a Good Bet December 18th, 2009
The problem with trying to make money horse racing handicapping is that a lot of people are doing the same thing and some of them are quite sharp, others have inside information, and a few are both sharp and have that information. Beating the crowd with your bets isn’t easy. Whatever past performances, speed ratings, handicapping angles you have are available to the rest of the betting public.
Some people think the secret is to pick winners and that if he or she can just pick enough winners then he or she will make a profit. That just isn’t the case. It takes more than good horse picking to win money consistently. You have to pick winners that pay more than the public thinks they are worth. In other words, if the public, the people you are trying to beat, think a horse will win one third of its races and therefore bet it down to 2-1, it is only a good bet if it will actually win more than a third of the time. Otherwise, at best, it is a break even bet.
While you may like horses and racing and the whole challenge of handicapping races, what you are really doing is mathematics. If you are serious about making money betting on horses then you have to be able to do the math to know when the probability of a horse winning justifies the odds and payout. In the example above of the horse at 2-1, if you know that type of horse wins 45% of its races, it is a good bet.
Obviously, the next question is, “How do I know the probability of a horse winning a race?”
That is the key to making money betting horses. Just that one factor or secret or statistic, call it what you will, is the whole game. So now that you know what you are looking for, here are some tips on how to figure it out. First of all, all races are not alike. Some are won by front runners, others are won by closers, and still others by tactical speed. You need to know how each horses many factors, speed, style, connections, form, all contribute to its chances of beating the others.
In order to do that you need to concentrate on one or two tracks at the most and learn those tracks and what makes a winner. You do that by keeping records of which horses won and how they won. Yes, you can buy track models and other information, and that will help to shorten the time it takes to start winning, but you still need to learn how each factor is weighted.
In the end, it is practice and note keeping that will make you successful at finding good bets. The only good bet is one with a profitable outcome, all others are sucker bets. If you are serious about wining, learn the art and practice keeping notes so you know what wins a $10,000 claimer for older horses at your track, or what wins a 3 year old fillies race over the 6 furlong course. Then, when the right bet comes along, you’ll know it and make money on it. You will also have to learn to sit races out. Good bets do come along, but they don’t happen in every race.
The most consistent horse racing systems have to have the basics and a handicapper must understand the basics. I have been around horse racing for 50 years including as an owner. Without the basics the rest is not going to do any good. If you want to learn how a horse owner and insider handicaps just go to http://williewins.homestead.com/truecb.html and get the truth. Bill Peterson is a former race horse owner and professional handicapper. He comes from a horserace handicapping family and as he puts it, “Horse Racing is in my blood.” To see all Bill’s horse racing material go to http://williewins.homestead.com/handicappingstore.html , Bill’s handicapping store. Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/horse-racing-articles/the-secret-of-successful-horse-racing-handicapping-is-finding-a-good-bet-1593961.html