Introduction to Horseracing

Horseracing is a very exciting and lucrative sport. Anyone who hasn’t been to a good horserace track is missing out. Winning lots of money at horseracing is very possible. In fact, it tends to get overlooked in the sports betting world. Think about this. If you were going to wager on a baseball team that was far better than the team it was facing, you might have to lay down $2.50 to $3.00 to win $1. In horse racing, you can often wager on a horse that’s superior to the rest of the field (even a small field) and receive a much better line.

Since this is an introduction, let’s talk about the basics of horseracing itself. A horserace can consist of two or more horses. The field, as it is called, varies from race to race. There are three main finishing points in any horserace—Win, Place and Show. Win is of course first place. Second place is called Place and Show is third. These three spots are known as “in the money.” A horse that doesn’t finish in the money is referred to as “also ran.”

Horseracing offers a plethora of wagering options. For instance, one can wager on a horse to win, place and show—also called “across the board”—or any mixture of the three. There are also other wagers, which are called “exotics”. One example of an exotic wager is a Trifecta. A Trifecta wager consists of three horses that will finish in the exact listed order. For example, if a bettor placed a 5-8-1 Trifecta, the 5 horse must finish first, the 8 horse second and the 1 horse third.

Another example of an exotic wager in horseracing, and a popular one, is the Pick 4. Horseracing bettors play Pick 4’s constantly. When a bettor makes a pick 4 wager, he or she is picking the winner in four consecutive races. Winners of the Pick 4 are paid from a pool of wagered money. There’s also a Daily Double, Pick 3 and Pick 6. In the event that there’s no winner, the money is carried over to the next day. This happens often with the Pick 6.

One of the best things I like about horseracing is the quickness of the races. Unlike a baseball game, I don’t have to wait three hours to find out if I won or not. Additionally, unlike other sports, there can be up to hundreds of races on a single day. A typicalhorserace track will run eight races or more per day. There are many horserace tracks around the country. There’s a lot more to horseracing, but this introduction will start you on the right path.

Horse Racing Handicapping Tips

Horse racing handicapping should include analyzing the human element, especially in claiming races when a horse makes his first start for a new trainer. It’s quite common among novices simply glance at a horse’s speed indexes and final times when making their selections, but wise handicappers compare the records of the current and previous trainer. The several questions may arise: when is the right time to wager on a horse in a new barn, why does a horse suddenly improve or regress for a new trainer, what rules should we understand about a newly claimed horse?

We must first analyze the record of the former conditioner before we judge whether a trainer can improve his recently claimed horse, for instance, if high-percentage trainer claims a horse from a trainer with a poor winning percentage, we can assume the horse will improve in his new surroundings, and if a low-percentage trainer claims a horse from the track’s leading trainer, we can conclude the animal won’t improve – more than likely, he will regress.

Quite often, we are able to eliminate from consideration a betting underlay when the horse goes from a high- to a low-percentage barn. Indexes of a high recent speed horse for a leading trainer often has declining figures for a new outfit. This may result in betting overlay when a horse with dismal recent form for a low-percentage trainer hooks up with leading trainer in wins.

On the one hand, a claimed horse returned at or below its last claimed price used to be considered a negative but with higher purses nationally, a claimed horse can earn a sizable pot even if he is returned at the level he was purchased. More trainers are willing to risk possibly losing their newly claimed horse for the same or even a slightly lesser price because they would still earn a profit from the purse winnings.

It’s easy to understand why some trainers are willing to run their newly claimed horses at or below their claimed price – they place their horses where they are most likely to win, and even if another trainer claims one of their horses, they will show a return on their investment if the horse wins or hits the board.

Always consider jockey and equipment changes – a horse claimed from a low percentage stable is likely to have a top rider for his new barn, and a leading jockey on a newly claimed horse would be a big improvement over his previous riders who might have a low win percentage.

For a successful analysis of a newly claimed horse, we must know as much about the new trainer as we do the horse. Remember, handicapping the horse and trainer separates the novice from the veteran.

Betting The Horses

Among the oldest spectator sports in the U.S., horse racing originated with the British who introduced the sport to Colonial America a century prior to the Revolutionary War. Proving hugely popular with the colonists, horse racing has remained so, that is until recent years. While still attracting a considerable number of fans, there has been a noticeable and continuing decline in live track attendance.. This can be directly attributed to competition from other forms of gambling, and most certainly due to the convenience of betting at off-track facilities and more emphatically via the internet.

There are still plenty of die hard handicappers out there, but with gambling sites offering streaming audio/video, etc. the horse player can experience the excitement of the race and place bets with the on-line casino without leaving home. In fact there are literally billions of dollars still being waged on horse racing, but it is estimated that no more than 15% of those wagers are placed at the race track betting windows.

When bets are made off-track, the tracks end up with a lower percentage . However, all of that aside, internet wagering is continuing to grow by leaps and bounds, and there are apt to be more novice bettors playing the ponies through the web than there are novices attending the race tracks. Many bettors new to track betting don’t realize that a player needs to at least know something of the basics of betting on a horse and the reason that particular animal was chosen as a would-be winner.

To begin with, there are two types of horse racing competition. There is harness racing in which a driver rides a two-wheel cart and is pulled by a “trotter”, a horse specially bred and trained for this form of racing. Then there is thoroughbred racing in which a jockey sits astride a saddled racehorse.

There are various ways to bet on a horse race, and would-be handicappers must familiarize themselves with all of them:

Win – Place – Show : Win is to bet on which horse will win the race, and pays higher than place or show. Place is to bet that a horse will place first or second, and pays less than Win. Show is betting that a chosen horse will finish in third place or higher and pays less than Win or Place.

Perfecta: Two winners must be chosen and must finish in the exact order as wagered.

Quinella: Similar to the Perfecta, but winners can finish in any order.

Trifecta: Bettor must choose the first three winners of a race in the exact order as wagered.

Daily Double: A track wager in which the bettor must select the winners in two consecutive races. Usually the first two races of the day.

Pick Three: The bettor must pick the winner in each of three consecutive races.

Interactive race wagering was introduced in the U.S. in 1991, when Television Games Network  introduced a television racing network available through cable and satellite programming services.