Horse racing handicapping | Horse race handicapping

Are you looking for an easy way to pick winners without a lot of difficult and time consuming handicapping? This method will help you to locate some good winners. The game of horse racing handicapping is an intellectual sport and you and everyone else who makes a wager, and therefore puts your money in the mutuel pools, is a player. If you like to bet on every race and demand a lot of action, you are probably going to lose in the long run, simply because some races are harder than others to handicap.

So the question is, is it better to bet on races that are hard to handicap, because the other bettors will have difficulty assigning fair odds to each runner and an overlay may be found, or is it better to bet on the easy races because a horse really lays over the field? The answer is, handicap all the races and see which ones you have a strong opinion about.

Your opinion should take one of two forms, either you like a horse (bet) because you think it is superior to the others and therefore will almost surely win, or you like a bet (horse) because you think it will be under valued by the crowd and therefore offers a chance at a real nice payoff. Therefore, when you handicap a race, look for a good bet because a horse is really good or a good bet because a horse is better than it appears at first glance.

Horses that lay over the rest of the field are usually in races where they are working up through their conditions, races for non-winners of two, or non-winners of three are the most likely places to find these types. Even though they are a real fast horse, the owners can run them in an optional race with conditions because it is just starting its career and has won many races.

Don't expect a big payoff in these races, but definitely look in them for horses that have superior speed figures and breeding. The horse will almost always be a lightly raced two year old or three year old. While trying to make money on them in the win pools is tough, you may be surprised to find some overlays in the place or show pool. Superior speed figures and other horses scratching out of the race to avoid running against the superior horse are good clues that this one is a live runner.

It really doesn't matter who you talk to many people have their own way of handicapping horse racing. One person may look at the speed of the horses in the race and see how he closes at the end or stops dead in his tracks. Others may look at track position trying to find the secret spot where a particular house shines. It could be along the rail, which is the shortest distance around the track or in the middle of the pack liking to be close to his competitors.

We could go on and on about the various scenarios that would give handicappers an edge. For instance, many people look at the jockey in the race and compare it to the thoroughbred's last five races or so races. If it's evident that the horse does well on let's say Garrett Gomez, then it should be there at the end of the race. Granted, it doesn't always work out that way, but most individuals believe they are good at handicapping the races.

Another important factor at times is the track itself and its location. Many times, you will find that certain horses don't do well at a specific location Why? Well, there are a variable of reasons, but the point is it just doesn't work out for them very well. Then of course, there are those horses on the European circuit that make their way over to the states feeling the lag from an extremely long trip.

So with all these different ways that are geared towards handicapping the best option is to look at all of them Personally, we like to look at a jockey's history at a specific track, their winning percentage, and the horse that they are riding last three-five races. If someone like Russell A. Baze is on his home turf then we look to see if the horses he's riding throughout the day are ones he is used to working with on that particular course.

One thing to note about the last three-five races when handicapping a race is the type of competition a thoroughbred took on. There are many ways to do this but our own personal preference is if the race is a grade race or if there were just a couple no name competition horses in the field. Why? It's a real indication as to whether or not the horse you're looking at can hang with the big boys or if they are just minuscule wins.

In the end, you'll want to try out different variations and get as much information as possible regarding the field. We aren't saying that doing all the tips above will guarantee you wins, but it will give you an advantage. The only question is whether it will be enough for you to win some money. We say the more you look into the better off you'll be It really just depends if you're going there to have a good time or actually come home a winner.