Where to learn

[sprintchaser]

I am brand new to horse racing and need a little help. Are there any helpful books or websites to help someone that is new? I currently play the tables and machines but would like to try something new. I like the idea of doing your homework to help your odds. Any and all help would be great.

[thaskalos]

I am brand new to horse racing and need a little help. Are there any helpful books or websites to help someone that is new? I currently play the tables and machines but would like to try something new. I like the idea of doing your homework to help your odds. Any and all help would be great.
Read these 3 books in the order that they are listed:

1.) RECREATIONAL HANDICAPPING -- by James Quinn

2.) BEYER ON SPEED -- by Andrew Beyer

3.) THE WINNING HORSEPLAYER -- by Andrew Beyer

All 3 can be purchased very inexpensively at Amazon.com

[JustRalph]

Read as much as u can in the handicapping section of this board

Post questions in those threads, and stand back and watch the answers come in. It wil be fun if nothing else

[Fastracehorse]

is to buy the Daily Racing Form

you can handicap your track of preference and then compare your picks with the trackmans at the front page

the trackman uses common horse players vernacular so that is helpful

some trackmen are better than others - see what they write when they actually pick a winner :)

also, you can scour the past performances in the DRF to see how horses came up to a win, and what price, and how they did afterwards, it really is a gem

that way u can test your own theories as well

welcome to a fantastic game

fffastt

[CincyHorseplayer]

Read Steve Davidowitz-Betting Thoroghbreds.I think it is the best into to handicapping and escalates as you go along.

Good luck and welcome aboard.This is a fun game!

[Tom]

Try the night school every week, and archived on line.
NTRA.com should have a link to them.

[duncan04]

Read Steve Davidowitz-Betting Thoroghbreds.I think it is the best into to handicapping and escalates as you go along.

Good luck and welcome aboard.This is a fun game!


Couldn't agree more. Very good book!!

[Canarsie]

Here's the link for the DRF on learning how to read the form and more. Hope this helps.

http://www1.drf.com/products/learn/how-to-bet-horses.html

[Ted Craven]

In addition to the above excellent suggestions, may I add 'Pace Makes the Race' by Hambleton, Schmidt, Pizzolla, and Sartin. It's an introduction to the basics of the early Sartin Methodology, but many have found it an excellent and thought-provoking primer. We use many of those original concepts with continued success to this day. If you're having trouble finding it, try the Sartin Methodology Amazon Bookstore: http://sartinmethodology.com/bookstore/ (someone found a used copy yesterday for $25, 1st Edition)

Consider also adding to your own reference library the Reference Library of the Sartin Methodology: complete published works of Dr Howard Sartin. Free for the asking (you pay the time and attention to study).

Sartin Methodology Reference Library: http://sartinmethodology.com/sartin-library-info/


Best wishes as you launch on this the Greatest Game!

yours,

Ted

[Dave Schwartz]

Pace Makes the Race is still available directly from Dick Schmidt, who is on this forum regularly.

You can send him a PM about the book and he will respond.

[Ted Craven]

Agreed, and thanks Dave! Dick sold me a bunch of copies of his 2nd Edition a few years ago. The original 1st Edition includes Dr Sartin's contributions re the Psychology of Winning and some advanced concepts (at the time) like energy distribution and deceleration. It is harder to find, but some books do appear for resale.

Both/either are worthwhile.

Ted

[Partsnut]

sprintchaser:

I am brand new to horse racing and need a little help. Are there any helpful books or websites to help someone that is new? I currently play the tables and machines but would like to try something new. I like the idea of doing your homework to help your odds. Any and all help would be great.


Experience is the best teacher and I hope you're prepared to gain your experience through a lengthy and possibly an expensive learning curve.
In my opinion, this is a skill that has to be acquired and learned over the course time. There are many that will offer you advice. Most of it will be sincere
and some of it won't. Some advice will be noteworthy but most of it won't be.
You have to seperate the wheat from the chaff. Keep an open mind and walk before you leap.

[Elliott Sidewater]

Thaskalos:

I read your posts and find you to be a thoughtful, knowledgeable handicapper. Your recent thoughts on track bias were so spot on that I wish I had written them myself. I'm trying to remember, was Receational Handicapper the book that had all the multiple choice questions (like over 600!) in it? If so, I think we may have a rare disagreement in that you listed that book as the first one a new handicapper should read. If I'm mistaken, I apologize in advance, but that book threw me for a loop, as I thought that many of the questions were way over the top in difficulty for a "recreational" player.

I agree with your number 2 and 3 selections, you just can't go wrong with any of Andy Beyer's books. One of my laments is that he hasn't written a book in 19 years. The way racing is headed down a slippery slope to oblivion, I wouldn't be surprised if Andy's next tome was titled "Beyer's Guide to No Limit Texas Hold'em".

Regards,
Elliott

[thaskalos]

Thaskalos:

I read your posts and find you to be a thoughtful, knowledgeable handicapper. Your recent thoughts on track bias were so spot on that I wish I had written them myself. I'm trying to remember, was Receational Handicapper the book that had all the multiple choice questions (like over 600!) in it? If so, I think we may have a rare disagreement in that you listed that book as the first one a new handicapper should read. If I'm mistaken, I apologize in advance, but that book threw me for a loop, as I thought that many of the questions were way over the top in difficulty for a "recreational" player.

Elliott,

Thanks for the kind words...they are greatly appreciated!

NO...the book that you mention above is not RECREATIONAL HANDICAPPING; that book was titled "THE ABCs OF THOROUGHBRED HANDICAPPING"...and I agree with you that it was hardly Quinn's best work...

The book RECREATIONAL HANDICAPPING is completely different...and might be the best all-around handicapping book ever written - in MY opinion at least...