How much time do you put into racing?

[twindouble]

To me this is a very important question because the amount of time you put in is relevent to so many things, ESP to become or continue to be successful playing the horses. Myself I would say I put in half the time I used to in my prime and mid 50's. What I'm saying is at this point I'm not living the horses, just relying on my experience to stay involved and make a buck were I can just reading the DRF getting some enjoyment out of it.

When this question came up on another forum even those that said they were in the black pointed out it they wouldn't want to think about or put some value on their time because that would be one scarry bottom line. Others were quick to point out the recreation comes with sport and it's well worth the time and enjoyment. If not the races the money would be spent somewhere else.

So, for those of you that like to crunch numbers is your time figured in? Some here talk of money management, keeping records, ROI, bottom lines, equating racing with the stock market, investing in handicapping tools like sheets and software, fixed wagering strategies, factoring in overhead and so on like running a business. Or are you a true horse player that loves to gamble and lives it at every opertunity you can muster up, time is no factor and you'll never be seen in the club house?


T.D.

[cj]

How much time? According to me, not nearly enough. According to my wife, way too much. :)

[oddswizard]

The items you have listed are all valid. I play 2 tracks daily. It takes about one hour handicapping time per track. I spend another 30 minutes preparation time. I print out my top 3 horses per playable race, list the races I am not going to play & print this out prior to the races. So I know exactly which races I am going to pass and which ones I will try to play. I have the numbers of the races on the bottom of my printed list. I cross out the non-playable races. Then I review the playable races and I know in advance whether I can play the pick 3. Pick 4 or the pick 6. So I know in advance what my play will be in exotic races and all I have to do is play my selections according to the odds on my top 3 horses. At the end of the day I will spend another 30 minutes recapping the profits or losses and record them on a daily profit planner I use to tell me where I am at on a daily, weekly & monthly basis. So I spend about 3 hours daily on handicapping, preparation & record keeping. Remember the boy scout motto:
"Be Prepared!"

[twindouble]

How much time? According to me, not nearly enough. According to my wife, way too much. :)

How about it, I can tell so many wife stories when it comes to my buddies and the extent they woud go to covering their tracks it's unbeliveable!

I was joking around in the war room with (how cliche), I told him I had a big advantage over him when came to playing the horses, he left the room before I could type the punch line. The answer was, my wife loves playing the horses as much as I do.

[kenwoodallpromos]

I do not really spend much time on each race; my time is all spent preparing by research like on here. I'd be doing genealogy or doing crossword puzzles otherwise and be more frustrated!

[toetoe]

Way too much. My friends say they lose money but chalk it up to entertainment. I say, what about the time, in my case 35 years of way too many hours per week? Money we may win back with a 6-figure score. How do we recoup the time? Great thread.

[Niko]

My income is about $.10 an hour over my lifetime I would guess. Thank god for computers crunching numbers. I spend about 1/2 handicapping a track but it would take 1 1/2 to do justice to it and 3-4 more to do justice to that.
But, you've got to learn to handicap within the limitations of your environment.

[NormanTD]

Craig's response reminds me that I always bet the wrong amount on a horse. When it loses, I've bet too much and when it wins, I've bet too little. :cool:

[thelyingthief]

if a player is in the black, and his success statistically verifiable, and he wants to make more money, it follows that the next hurdle he must jump has to do with bet size--bet size, to make a distinction, has less to do with profitability (profitability is expectation) than it does with maximizing gain, or extracting the greatest return from one's profitability.

however, increasing bet size fuels the intensity of those twin bastards of the devil, fear and greed, so bet size is really a function of one's character, since emotional balance is an aspect of character.

it's simple: if you want more money, bet more money. but if you can't bet more money, then you have to learn to bet more money, which is not about handicapping but about the flaws in your character. and that, really, behind all the numbers and distinctions and statistics, is what this game is really about.

[The Judge]

Well let me think out loud. First get the form and digest 30 minutes, down load all the races at the track 30 minutes, hanidcapp from the form,digest and TMM and TMH 2 hours, drive to the track and back 1 hour (will hit traffic going and coming back ) day at the track 6 hours, reading books etc. adverage 1 hour a day, on line paceadvantage 30 min- 1 hour a day. Thinking about horse racing when not doing anything 30 minutes a day.

Total about 12 hours a day ,if I go to the track. This is without keeping models etc. which I use to do plus I've cut down on my reading about horses and handicapping.

[twindouble]

if a player is in the black, and his success statistically verifiable, and he wants to make more money, it follows that the next hurdle he must jump has to do with bet size--bet size, to make a distinction, has less to do with profitability (profitability is expectation) than it does with maximizing gain, or extracting the greatest return from one's profitability.

however, increasing bet size fuels the intensity of those twin bastards of the devil, fear and greed, so bet size is really a function of one's character, since emotional balance is an aspect of character.

it's simple: if you want more money, bet more money. but if you can't bet more money, then you have to learn to bet more money, which is not about handicapping but about the flaws in your character. and that, really, behind all the numbers and distinctions and statistics, is what this game is really about.

thelyingthief; I've stated that you bring who you are to the game and I'm not sure exactly what your getting at but what comes to mind is my brother.
He was one the better candle pin bowlers around New England, the strength of his character believe it or not when it came to bowling was his carefree, joking, uncommited, natural talent for the game. For example, he spent very little time warming up for compitition, just bowled a couple times a week in the leagues whereas other top bowlers were at it every day practicing, this one guy would put in an average of 20 to 30 strings a day some times more because he got a free ride from the house. ( a very dedicated bowler.) He had the highest averages in 3 different leagues but my brother would come off the street cold and beat him 9 out of 10 times when serious money was at stake.

If you were to compare the two, who would say had "character flaws" when it came to compitition?

T.D.

[joeyspicks]

Time! yeah GOOD subject


Time can be the "REAL" obstacle. When counting record keeping and analyzing etc it can be extremely time consuming (3-4 hrs/ day? ...at min). When counting the actual 5-6 hrs at the track/computer....9/10 hrs. Its easy to "slip" and lose your edge.....easy to look for short cuts (the famed "black box" that does ALL the work) or the "system" that takes care of all the problems.

I believe thats WHY "THOSE" ads work so well.......if you do it right this TAKES TIME....ITS LIKE A JOB !!.

[skate]

thelyingthief and twins;

man, i like those points.

making "caracter" a part of betting, i mean its always been there, but you air it out and make it understandable.

the important issue here is "win", at least for me.

i like to run the race(cap) and win. not too critical is the amount i bet, because if i can win, i (we) have caracter.

but but but, i go "no " place if i dont win enough to cover all expenses and i include "the rent" in all expenses.
i understand going out and having fun,but im talking about having a life here.

my point being, to include your opinion with twins, in order to extract gain $ we should make the best use of our money when we bet. this is a point that has always "been there", but unless it is a Priority in your betting process, unless you maintain this priority, then you must lose.

if you make $30/day, you lose.

if i can't bet $50 to win on my horse, then i should not be betting. to me this would be a worthy caracter. and if it took me 50 weeks to obtain $50 to bet on my horse, then that would be proper and add caracter to me (we).

[twindouble]

"but but but, i go "no " place if i dont win enough to cover all expenses and i include "the rent" in all expenses.
i understand going out and having fun,but i talking about having a life here."

Skate, if I'm reading the above right, your saying you wouldn't bet the rent money to win, that's good but if wagering on the horses would effect "having a life'', I would change things darn quick. The fact that your weighing such things says alot about your character. With good planing you can position yourself to eliminate those concerns. I'm not talking about a wagering strategy, what I am talking about is having the risk money, (bankroll ) avalible that wouldn't effect having a life.

If I didn't understand what you saying, excuse me.

T.D.

[skate]

twins;


"but but but, i go "no " place if i dont win enough to cover all expenses and i include "the rent" in all expenses.
i understand going out and having fun,but i talking about having a life here."

Skate, if I'm reading the above right, your saying you wouldn't bet the rent money to win, that's good but if wagering on the horses would effect "having a life'', I would change things darn quick. The fact that your weighing such things says alot about your character. With good planing you can position yourself to eliminate those concerns. I'm not talking about a wagering strategy, what I am talking about is having the risk money, (bankroll ) avalible that wouldn't effect having a life.

If I didn't understand what you saying, excuse me.


oh no problemoo, twins.


im sure i was not enough precise. mater of fact, not precise.

not sure i can do beter.

im talking about wasting time. aside from the fact that you can have a good time. im talking about your friend the bowler, he knows when to get serious.

im not concerned about "the rent, mortgage or whatever", but im concerned about winning and to win you must bet, not a little but lots.

i think it is a mistake to go to the races everyday or every other day or whatever the pattern you may have, and bet $2.00, $10.00. $20.00 on a horse that you may like. consider that im saying if you want to bet, whatever, however, thats fine with me, but like the bowler "know when to get serious". at least that is my feeling and i might add that until i followed a pattern like the above, i never had a positive result over any length of time.

if you can not cover the rent, as in enough to accomplish something, at least the rent, then you are wasting your time. keeping in mind the difference between being serious and thinking your serious.

so, if it takes you 50 weeks to find the $50 (maybe $5000) then take the 50 weeks and bet serious. other wise you are kidding yourself, and that is something ive also done.

i went for more than a few years, picking up $30 or $40 daily, i went and spent that much everyday and got no place. if you like to bet $10,000 thats fine, but betting $4.00 to win on a horse, will not get you in the hay.

i might need more but...

save your money "until you can bet enough" to win enough to cover your rent or whatever youd like, girlfriend, boyfriend or airplane. to cover the cost of a hot dog is useless.

[xfile]

My opinion: In this age of computers, you find one program that you like and let it handicap. All my time is spent on HOW TO WAGER the race. I believe most players spend 98% of their time handicapping the race and 2% on how to bet the race. I don't alway bet the top pick on my program. I look for overlays. I don't spend much time at all anymore and I'm doing a heck of alot better than in the 80's and 90's when handicapping a card took 5 hours and I ended up finding the chalk!. Some players enjoy the mental challenge of figuring out the puzzle of the race and I understand that. SometimesI do to. But these days I spend far less time and what time is spent goes towards making a long term profit.