Recommendations Please

[Tor Ekman]

I've always been a casual throughbred racing fan, but as the kids get older and the financial obligations diminish, I've decided to become a more serious student of handicapping for the purpose of "investing" some of my discretionary income. In this regard, I would appreciate any thoughts on the books that you have found most helpful in refining your handicapping skills. Thanks in advance.

[BillW]

Tor Ekman,

There have been a few "best handicapping book" threads in the past few years, most of which would be relevant today and are on-line. Check out the search function, there is probably enough reading to keep you busy for a weekend. Good luck and welcome to the site.

Bill

[JustRalph]

PA...........add this to my list please.........;)

[kitts]

I have read many, many books on handicapping but the one that turned me around from a consistent loser to a winner is "Winning Thoroughbred Strategies" by Dick Mitchell.

[peppy1993]

A weekly newsletter available at http://www.sportsreporter.com always has an excellent ''mindset'' article in front of a zillion live horses. Worth it just to read that once a week, whether you follow their horses or not.

[keilan]

Tor Ekman meet peppy1993 -- peppy1993 meet Tor Ekman :)

[Overlay]

If you're of a quantitative frame of mind with regard to handicapping, I would recommend titles by Dick Mitchell (particularly Commonsense Betting), William Quirin (especially Winning at the Races), and Michael Nunamaker (Modern Impact Values).

[BIG RED]

:lol: :lol: :lol: (keith)

[Tor Ekman]

Thanks to all. For amusement I am presently reading Ted McClelland's Horseplayers - Life at the Track, which is very entertaining. In the book he mentions having gone to school some with the Mitchell and Quirin books. It's nice to hear other endorsements of them and I will definitely give them a read through. I find it curious that no one has mentioned any of Beyer's books, like Picking Winner's - is this because they are for more advanced students or because his original speed angles have become somewhat less useful due to the broad dissemination of his and other's speed figures? Any thoughts regarding Beyer?

BTW, I learned a valuable lesson this past Sunday at Belmont when I saw things I liked in a horse named Medieval Salute running a turf race. He went off at 61-1. I bet him to win and coupled him in the exacta with the favorite. Down the stretch he was running a strong second to the favorite, when an 11-1 shot ran past both of them, with my longshot placing and the favorite finishing third. Clearly I should have covered my horse across the board since it paid $49 to place and $12 to show. Live and learn, but I am encouraged to have put some of my handicapping strategies to use in finding a real gem but need to learn alot more about betting strategies.

[hurrikane]

Best book of original, in use, up to date handicapping info.

PA message board.

Best place for PolicReligious outta this place bs.. :eek:

PS off topic.

[headhawg]

...Clearly I should have covered my horse across the board since it paid $49 to place and $12 to show. Live and learn, but I am encouraged to have put some of my handicapping strategies to use in finding a real gem but need to learn alot more about betting strategies...
Get a good book on money management. In this case it might have made sense to bet ATB because it's an after the fact "coulda shoulda woulda" bet, but, in general, longshots are underlays in the place/show slots.

The Dick Mitchell books and Barry Meadow's Money Secrets at the Racetrack would be good to read.

[kenwoodallpromos]

" Clearly I should have covered my horse across the board since it paid $49 to place and $12 to show."
There are a couple of good books that tell you not to bet across the board; I do not knopw of any way to bet longt longshots by looking that them. Go find Ray Taulbut's books.

[PaceAdvantage]

Tor Ekman meet peppy1993 -- peppy1993 meet Tor Ekman :)

Not by a mile....

[rrbauer]

BTW, I learned a valuable lesson this past Sunday at Belmont when I saw things I liked in a horse named Medieval Salute running a turf race. He went off at 61-1. I bet him to win and coupled him in the exacta with the favorite. Down the stretch he was running a strong second to the favorite, when an 11-1 shot ran past both of them, with my longshot placing and the favorite finishing third. Clearly I should have covered my horse across the board since it paid $49 to place and $12 to show. Live and learn, but I am encouraged to have put some of my handicapping strategies to use in finding a real gem but need to learn alot more about betting strategies.

Comment:
The number of opportunities to cash a big number in this game are limited. When you like a big number and it hits the board you need to take home the money. Bet it to win, wheel it in the 2-hole in exactas with a couple extras from the favs. I'm less enthused about doing the 3-hole in Tri's because the longshots are overplayed there, but depending on field size you can do "all"-"some" and "some"-"all" over it there.

The essence of this game is to make money. Most of the handicapping books miss that point!

[shanta]

Tor Ekman meet peppy1993 -- peppy1993 meet Tor Ekman :)

LMAO Good one!

:D

[keilan]

Not by a mile....


hmmmm I'm usually closer than that :eek:

[PaceAdvantage]

I took your post to mean that they were the same poster or something to that effect.

I didn't get that at all from Peppy's post. Peppy's post reminded me of the exploits of trainer Alfredo Callejas and owner Robert Perez in NY. Remember those guys? Senor Speedy?

They used to enter what the press termed "hopeless" horses into graded stakes races in NY, like clockwork....

[Tor Ekman]

By way of introduction, I am not Peppy1993 nor am I anybody else posting under a pseudonym. I am a legit newbie who is interested in stepping up my heretofore casual fan interest in horseracing to a more educated approach to handicapping the races. I hope I have found the right place.

[keilan]

My apologizes Tor

This is a great board and you will enjoy it here :)

[NoDayJob]

:lol: :lol: :lol: (keith)

:D You forgot the Hardy, Har, Har! :D

NDJ

[Dick Schmidt]

To get back on topic, the single best book on racing ever written is:

Modern Pace Handicapping
By Tom Brohamer.

If you haven't read it, you aren't well educated as a handicapper.


Dick


When I want your opinion, I'll beat it out of you.

[cj]

To get back on topic, the single best book on racing ever written is:

Modern Pace Handicapping
By Tom Brohamer.

If you haven't read it, you aren't well educated as a handicapper.


Dick


I've read it several times. I might argue for William Quirin's Thoroughbred Handicapping: State of the Art, but both were vital for me.

[Niko]

I've got to agree with Dick and CJ and add Handicapping Magic by Pizzolla for my top 3. I strongly disagree with his statement about only needing numbers that are good enough but the rest of the book is great.

[Light]

Best Book:

"Pace Makes the Race" by Howard Sartin/Micheal Pizzolla/Tom Hambleton and Dick Schmidt.

[cnollfan]

Picking Winners was the book that turned me from a loser into a winner. Those were the days when the top figure horse was often a longshot. With the Beyer numbers now in bold in the DRF they have become the primary determinant of odds and are basically useless unless viewed from a contrarian approach (horse earns a big number that is unlikely to be repeated, e.g. Bellamy Road in the Derby vs. an abundance of other speed horses). Plus, I am skeptical of the "projection" method, which is how they are now composed.

Don't know if it's in print, but I've always liked Horse Racing Logic by Glendon Jones as a good overview.

Joe Colville's 1998 pamphlet "The Big Races" is short but makes several excellent points.

[First_Place]

"To get back on topic, the single best book on racing ever written is:

Modern Pace Handicapping
By Tom Brohamer.

If you haven't read it, you aren't well educated as a handicapper."

Dick,

Very true. However, you left one out. I don't expect you to toot your own horn, so I will. Dick's and Tom Hambleton's Pace Makes The Race book also ranks up there as a must have. Very enjoyable and informative read--typos and all.

Regards,

FP

p.s. Hey Dick, just wondering, did ya ever finally clear your garage of the remaining copies of PMTR?

[oddswizard]

Call the gamblers book shop in Las Vegas. They have several books on money management. You might also check out horse-races.net on the computer for their ratings on handicapping books.

[highnote]

Just curious... a lot of people like Handicapping Magic. I read it and got nothing from it. What is it about the book that people find useful?

To be fair, before I read HM, I read Beyer's books, Quinn's books, Mitchell's books, Cramer's books, Ziemba's books, Sartin and protoges books and Huey Mahl + plus others I can't think of. So maybe I knew enough that by the time I finally got HM there wasn't a lot new there? Or maybe I just skimmed it too quickly.

Would appreciate your comments. Maybe I'll go back and re-read it.

John

[NoDayJob]

PA...........add this to my list please.........;)

:jump: :jump: :jump: :jump: :jump: :jump: :jump: :jump: :jump:

Living LARGE, eh?

NDJ

[Niko]

Using his PPF concept really helped my game in looking for longshots. I had used total pace and late pace but for some reason wasn't profitting from it. With HM it sank in, maybe it was just a timing issue with my handicapping. Best thing I took out of the book. Also recommended because he talked about the myths of handicapping, an approach for using races other than last and how to incorporate it with speed. Maybe you were too well versed but I thought it was put together very well and very helpful for a broad spectrum of players.
I must admit I don't like his speed ratings, it put me on a lot of bad bets (my personal experience only), but the pace ratings with PPF seemed to hold up well. I think people are succesful because of his PPF. I did a study on S. California tracks using Brohamar pars after attending a seminar with him and Quinn. Looking at class levels in sprints there were differences in energy at all three tracks but the correlation in late pace ratings was extremely high using raw ratings. I believe that's the reason Pizzolla gravitated towards them and why people on this board seem to use PPF as their main focus. Adjust for running style and make sure they're not real slow on overall raw speed and there's less room for error. That's my theory at least? Overall I've done better using his concepts with Bris.

[highnote]

Using his PPF concept really helped my game in looking for longshots. I had used total pace and late pace but for some reason wasn't profitting from it. With HM it sank in, maybe it was just a timing issue with my handicapping. Best thing I took out of the book. Also recommended because he talked about the myths of handicapping, an approach for using races other than last and how to incorporate it with speed. Maybe you were too well versed but I thought it was put together very well and very helpful for a broad spectrum of players.
I must admit I don't like his speed ratings, it put me on a lot of bad bets (my personal experience only), but the pace ratings with PPF seemed to hold up well. I think people are succesful because of his PPF. I did a study on S. California tracks using Brohamar pars after attending a seminar with him and Quinn. Looking at class levels in sprints there were differences in energy at all three tracks but the correlation in late pace ratings was extremely high using raw ratings. I believe that's the reason Pizzolla gravitated towards them and why people on this board seem to use PPF as their main focus. Adjust for running style and make sure they're not real slow on overall raw speed and there's less room for error. That's my theory at least? Overall I've done better using his concepts with Bris.

NIKO,
Thanks. I'll see if I can dig out HM from my attic and re-read it. I must've read it too quickly. I can't even remember what PPF is.
John

[Niko]

Side note, using a modified PPF was one of the biggest reasons I used Closing Argument in the Derby. Won't happen a lot but if you look at posts by BlackGold and others you'll see the PPF can put you on some nice longshots