HorseRacingPeople

One of the most common misconceptions surrounding horse race wagering is that you are playing against the other players, not against the house as it is with casino games such as blackjack or slot machines.

Betting on horses is actually quite challenging, even more so than the stock market, the reason being that the takeout, that is the percentage that the track takes off the top of every pool of money wagered on a given race. This can vary from about 15-20% depending on the track, which is much higher than the approximately 1.5% edge that the casinos have in say blackjack.

But if the horse player looks sharply and attentively, he will from time to time see favorable opportunities that can pay off. The key is to find horses whose odds are much higher than their true probability of winning would suggest they ought to be.

The modern handicapper must also keep pace with increasingly innovative computer programs that are designed to find value and submit bets moments before the last bets are taken.  How often has the handicapper seen a nice priced horse seem to close at 3-1 but thirty seconds after they leave the starting gate, the odds mysteriously drop to 8/5? That’s the late money coming in via the sophisticated computer bettors.

However, the existence of such programs does not mean that value is impossible to find. On the contrary, long shots come in the top three finishers every single racing day at a given track. Sometimes in these cases it is better to play an “exotic” bet such as an exacta or trifecta instead of the straight win bet. For example, if the handicapper thinks that a 12-1 shot has a great shot to come in second but perhaps isn’t quite good enough to beat the favorite, play an exacta with the favorite over the 12-1 shot. In these cases, the winner may have been an obvious pick and offered little value if played as a win bet alone, but if the bettor feels that the 12-1 shot will outrun his odds and get up for second, placing a bet in the form of an exacta is the better play.

One of the best betting opportunities for horse players is when there is an over hyped horse. Usually in its next race, it is over bet because the name brand value of the horse carries over into the minds of the betting public. Bettors like consumers like brand familiarity but when a horse’s reputation precedes him, the smart handicapper will look elsewhere as he knows the horse is likely to be overbet. Often the Kentucky Derby winner or Breeders Cup Classic winner will be over bet in its next start because it had just won a high profile, nationally televised race.  Sometimes the horse racing press simply latches on to an exciting two or three year old prospect and exaggerates the potential of the horse, and more often than not, the marketing tactic is successful and the racing public “buys” (places a bet on it). The smart horse player goes against the flow.

We feature a huge library of articles on how to bet, horse racing tips, and the mistakes to avoid in order to help you be successful in your horse racing betting!