Best harness handicapping authors

[trying2win]

--I've been playing the harness races for over 40 years now. In that time, I've read harness handicapping material that's been excellent, average, below average, and poor.

--In my opinion, the best two teachers on how to handicap and win at the harness racing game have been Al Stanley and Barry Meadow. The top-of-the-line harness handicapping materials from Al Stanley would have to be his:

1. HARNESS HANDICAPPING NEWSLETTER

2. PROFESSIONAL METHOD FOR HARNESS RACING (not to be confused with his more recent book, which is entitled the PROFESSIONAL METHODOLOGY FOR THE NEW MILLENIUM).

3. INVESTMENT STRATEGY METHOD

4. HANDICAPPING - THE "LAW" ACCORDING TO AL STANLEY
...(Note: - This is a two hour harnesss handicapping video, which was taped at one of his handicapping seminars).


--The best harness handicapping material from Barry Meadow, would have to be his book entitled PROFESSIONAL HARNESS BETTING.

--The above harness handicapping materials are pricey, but in my opinion, well worth the investment in the long run. If you want to learn from the best harness handicapping teachers, you're going to have to pay a premium. It's your choice.

--Then comes the study, the trial-and-error, finding out what works at some harness tracks and what doesn't, what tracks to play on a consistent basis, what type of races to play, what type of races to skip, what kind of odds to get, what kind of bets to make etc. Nobody said it was going be easy!

Regards,

Trying2win

[sq764]

Honestly, I have never read 1 good book on harness handicapping..

[norm f]

Al Stanley is head and shoulders above the rest as far as standardbred authoors are concerned.I have his 3 books and also attended 2 of his seminars,although i only have about 5 of his newslettersand do enjoy reading them. I dont think he does the hhn anymore, but i wouldnt mind gtting my hands on some of his back issues

[melman]

They are older books but if you can get your hands on them two harness books by Steve Chaplin "A Bettor's Guide to Harness Racing" and "Advanced Harness Handicapping" are my favorites. Still read over them. Might try a search on e-bay or one of the book .com's. Bob Pandolfo was supposed to come out with a new harness capping book but not sure if he has yet. Anyone know??

[sq764]

I don't think Pandolpho has his book yet.. I know he is writing it..

I have Advanced Harness Capping by Chaplain, but I thought it was not very informative.. Maybe it is for a beginner..

[pandy]

My book is still in the works. Although the book details a method, there are a lot of other things I'd like to cover, and that takes time. One of my goals is to make this book something that can improve a player's handicapping immediately and quickly. That's why I've come up with a numeric formula that anyone can apply, even without a computer. Another thing I'd like the book to do--turn a novice into a very good handicapper, quickly. When I first started studying handicapping, I found that a lot of the books that were published were too general. Consequently, it took years to become a good handicapper, through trial and error. It doesn't have to be that way.

Bob Pandolfo

[trying2win]

--I've read other harness handicapping books by authors such as Igor Kusyshyn, Robert Perosino, Ron Roblin, Don Valliere, Tom Ainslie, Barry Burkan, Bill Heller and Murray Slough. Unfortunately, I didn't get too much practical value out of these author's writings, except the odd gem extracted from Igor Kusyshyn's books.

--Has anybody else read any of the above-mentioned authors' harness handicapping materials? If so, what did you think about some of their books? Maybe I've forgotten some ideas, that might be of use to me.

--One harness handicapping book I haven't read, is one entitled "The Money Book" by Frank Cotolo. Has anyone read it? Would you recommend it?

Thanks,

Trying2win

[netherworld]

I still have Igor's book Harness Racing Gold, but haven't read it in over 15 years. It was written in the 70s so it has limited utility today but it would be a good starter for the basics for a new player. What still stands out in my mind is betting horses that move from allowance races to claimers. Man, that made me money. Haven't played harness for a while so don't know how well it works these days. In the 80s I could bet all horses that dropped into claimers indiscriminately but when last using it I used some elimination rules. For instance, the horse didn't need to show great promise, only the ability to hang around. If he stayed sixth all the around but didn't lose ground when the going got hot and heavy it was a good play. If he disappeared like a fart in the breeze then I wouldn't use him.

I have no idea where Igor got to. I was corresponding with him in the late 80s and last I heard he was trying to sell his newsletter for $250,000! Good luck with that.

[norm f]

I reread harness racing gold a few months ago..again. Read alot when i hit a rut,...lol
Anyway i did fool around with his simple point method and although i didnt keep "official stats" i did appear to hold its own,keeping in mind that i only pen and papered a few programs in july.The angles as well as the changes that mak you money chapters, I would say the would still do well even today.All in all
i thought it was an informative book,but really, the professor title and especially the robe and hat,did make it trying to take a dude like that seriously

[Exactaman]

what's the logic behind the condition to claimer angle? i've heard this many times but never could figure it out.

[netherworld]

Exactaman, I think the logic is that the allowance horse is just better than the claimer. Sometimes the allowance horse is racing for smaller purses than the claimer so it appears he is moving up in class. That, combined with past performances that can look ordinary, and the public overlooks them.

[sq764]

Um, since when was the term 'allowance' race used in harness racing?

[netherworld]

For as long as I can remember. Maybe it's a Canadian thing.

On second thought, maybe "condition" race is better.

[sq764]

Uh, ok..

Claimers, Open races, Nw/1,2,3,4,5,6. etc.. But never heard allowance

[norm f]

Also ffa, jrffa ,preffered
nw 5 and 6..well havent heard of that
nw 1,2,3,or 4 w/ allowances work

[Tom]

Trying to dechiper the race conditions is the hardest part of harness racing to me. I read some nad then go....Huh????
I try to look at purse size, but I have seen some horse come from pretty paultry purses into much higher one and perform very nicely.
My brother-in-law is a ferrier and part time driver (not recently) and has tried to explain it to me, but it remains a mystery to me.

[sq764]

it's all relative though, especially with slots..

You could have a $10,000 claimer from Raceway Park racing for $3,000 and at Dover Downs, he could be the same 10 claimer going for $8,000

[traynor]

norm f wrote: <i thought it was an informative book,but really, the professor title and especially the robe and hat,did make it trying to take a dude like that seriously>

Igor was a math professor (PhD) at York University. May still be. The robe and whatever was supposed to be a (largely unsuccessful) attempt at humor, as was his pen name. The latter was an inside joke with blackjack professionals, many of whom were fans of "Stanford Wong"--who, to the great surprise of Stanley Roberts, was not Chinese. Consider the title "Lance Humble" as Igor's condescending humor about "Stanford Wong's" choice of pen names.
Good Luck

[traynor]

Tom wrote: <I try to look at purse size, but I have seen some horse come from pretty paultry purses into much higher one and perform very nicely.>

Individual purses, yes. Average purses, no. APV, along with earnings per start, are two of the best contender qualifiers around.
Good Luck

[speedking]

Um, since when was the term 'allowance' race used in harness racing?

Back when I used to cover the Yonkers/RR circuit there were A, B and C class levels with subcategories such as C-1, C-2 and C-3. Thought we referred to these as allowance affairs back then, but now that I give it a little more thought I think the proper term was classified races. Must have been the TB subconscious taking over.

speedking

[toetoe]

Melm,

I was gonna mention Mark Chaplin. I LOVED the book, I think the second one mentioned. Here's the topper. I found a book he wrote, "How To Pick The Winner Of A Baseball Game." It was good, of course.
I also used to have a big, blue hardbound book called something like, "The Program For Successful Harness Handicapping(?)," by a Canadian guy, and he had photocopies of checks he insisted upon as payment at the track. I GUESS he could fake that, but it's doubtful. I'll never ever remember his name if I don't find the book. He's no Chaplin, but good.

[andicap]

Back when I used to cover the Yonkers/RR circuit there were A, B and C class levels with subcategories such as C-1, C-2 and C-3. Thought we referred to these as allowance affairs back then, but now that I give it a little more thought I think the proper term was classified races. Must have been the TB subconscious taking over.

speedking

I used to attend Yonkers/RR regularly and read much of the coverage about it -- who did you work for? Sports Eye, local newspaper, Hoofbeats?
Yes, classified races and the problems with them were that owners never wanted to win because they would get thrown up in class where they couldn't finish in the money.