Put your smarty cap on to read this
I found this somewhere years ago and saved it. It was written by Gregory M. Ellis, with the Department of Economics at the University of Washington. If your highest level of reading, like mine, is the Daily Racing Form and Jack Reacher novels, then find a phd. somewhere and have him/her explain it to you. Buried in all this arcane writing, however, are a few nuggets. I won’t show them to you; you’ll have to find them yourself, like I did.
A tongue in cheek betting primer
I wrote this when I put together a special episode of The Fat Cowboy for a client. You might enjoy it. Heck, you might even learn something from it. Uh, well — probably not. On the plus side, it will give you some information on what your lucky numbers and colors are.
Ecclesiastes Advice to the handicapper
A few thousand years ago, some smart guy (or gal) came up with a life philosophy that every handicapper should know by heart, for those moments when you have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that your horse will win the race and it doesn’t. Here it is:
I have seen this under the sun: the race is not always to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.
The most important part is the last seven words. It happens to everyone, bud. So take a deep breath, throw those torn up bits of red and white away, and move on.
A handy betting form
I developed this simple form in an effort to insure I didn’t overlook any bets. Its best feature is that it makes you put your horses in a specific category: longshots, favorites, and other. Try it; you’ll like it.
The Daily Racing Form’s handicapping tips
Looking through my handicapping box, I found several articles, which I will share with you. I’m not vouching for their accuracy, although they’re from impeccable sources — just passing them on. This one’s from a series published by The Daily Racing Form a long time ago. But then, horse racing hasn’t changed that much in the last two or three decades.
Handicapping tips from Today’s Racing Digest
Looking through my handicapping box, I found several articles, which I will share with you. I’m not vouching for their accuracy, although they’re from impeccable sources — just passing them on. This one’s the first article from Today’s Racing Digest, a “tip sheet” I was introduced to in Southern California and liked immediately. Now it’s available just about everywhere, and covers all the important tracks. You’ll find a continuation of this article at “More handicapping tips from TRD.”
