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IMO...the newcomer to this game has to develop as strong a liking for the handicapping aspect as for the actual watching and betting of the races. I have spent a large portion of my life at horse-betting facilities...and the carelessness that I see there by virtually every person present never ceases to amaze me. To a man, they all buy the form or the program on their way into the facility, and they all do their handicapping in-between the races...while furiously flipping the pages from the 1st race at Hawthorne to the 3rd at Aqueduct...and then to the 4th at Parx. After giving a brief glance at the race in question, they quickly dash to the betting terminal...where they decide in the most haphazard manner possible how to structure their wagers and bet their money. And some of these careless people bet amounts of money that are hard for any reasonable person to comprehend. I strongly suspect that the vast majority of the "at-home" bettors are just as negligent in the performance of their horseplaying duties as their "live-racing" counterparts. And they do it this way for many years, at great financial cost...because this is what's most "fun" to them.
If the newcomer isn't of the studious type, who develops an understanding early on about the difficulty and the demands that are associated with the proper play of this game...then it would benefit him immensely if he never got involved in this game at all. Foolhardy habits are very difficult to break...and far too costly to keep.
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Live to play another day.
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