Top Five Most Influential Handicapping Books

[Cangamble]

I'm not necessarily talking about the best handicapping books out there, but the ones that you may have taken one or two or a few ideas from, and still use these ideas a lot in your handicapping methods today.

Here is my list:
1. Winning at the Races
2. My $50,000 Year At the Races
3. Thoroughbred Cycles
4. Speed To Spare
5. Beyer On Speed

[RaceBookJoe]

Here are mine :

1. Ainslie's Complete Guide
2. Handicapping to Win by Scott Flohr
3. Betting Thorougbreds (sp?) by Davidowitz
4. Beyer on Speed by Andy Beyer
5. Modern Pace Handicapping by Tom Brohamer

I still thumb through them from time to time. The Scott Flohr book was one of the first books I read, thats why it is influential to me. I left out "PIcking Winners", because I was already making speed figures before that book came out, but "Beyer on Speed" meant more to me...maybe because of the section on turf racing...which at that time was my weak point. I still use a nugget or 2 from all 5 of the above books though. rbj

[Overlay]

Winning at the Races (Quirin)
Modern Impact Values (Nunamaker)
Commonsense Betting (Mitchell)

I found the above titles useful because they helped me take information on handicapping and wagering that was presented in other excellent references that were primarily theoretical or qualitative, and apply quantitative values and weights to it.

If I have to add two more to round out the list to five, I guess I'd go with Ainslie's Complete Guide to Thoroughbred Racing (which introduced me to racing), and Beyer's Picking Winners (for a basic background in speed handicapping).

[cnollfan]

I am going to limit my answer to my favorite book per author. In cronological order:

1. Smart Handicapping Made Easy by William Bauman
This dates to the stone ages of handicapping literature, i.e. pre-Ainslie, pre-Beyer. I first read this book as a young teenager, and it influences me to this day in that it taught me not to take a poor performance at face value, but to always look at the circumstances that led to that performance, and to be alert when those circumstances change.

2. Picking Winners by Andrew Beyer
The book that changed the game. It's easy to forget how revolutionary it was at the time, not only for its handicapping philosophy, but also for its writing. Lost in the controversy of celebrity is the fact that Beyer is a writer of great clarity.

3. Horse Racing Logic by Glendon Jones
An under-the-radar gem jam-packed with useful ideas that I never tire of reading over and over.

4. Thoroughbred Cycles by Mark Cramer
Cramer is one of the few handicapping authors who truly believes, as I do, that a jockey switch from Joy Scott to Gary Stevens can be a negative. Much of my current handicapping philosophy is an expansion of the themes in this book.

5. multi-way tie with many of the usual suspects and some oddballs too.

[The Judge]

1.) Modern Pace Handicapping 2.) Pace Makes the Race 3.) Handicapping Magic 4.) Money Secrets At The Race Track 5.) Handicappers Condition Book

to keep at 5 had to leave off Mitchell, Cramer, Scott , The Hat, Beyer and Ragozin.

[RichieP]

1) "Matchup2" - Jim "The Hat" Bradshaw
The Mind's Eye

2) "Calibration Handicapping" - Jim LeHane
Valuation

3) "Handicapping Magic" - Michael Pizzolla
Soft Focus

4) "Pace Makes the Race" - Hambleton,Schmidt,Pizzolla
Step by Step

5) "Thoroughbred Cycles" - Marc Cramer
Amazing

[Dave Schwartz]

Winning at The Races
Percentages and Probabilitities
Modern Pace Handicapping

[PaceAdvantage]

1) Modern Pace Handicapping

2) More Basic Betting

3) My $50,000 Year At the Races

4) Pace Makes the Race

5) Dr. Z's Beat the Racetrack

Honorable Mentions: The Best of Thoroughbred Handicapping & Investing at the Racetrack

[timtam]

I have no problem with Top 5 or Top 10 Lists of various topics but

I find it quite interesting that many of the same books keep appearing on

these lists. My question is if you don't put on Ainsle or Beyer on your list

are you afraid some of your peers will feel lesser of you as a handicapper.

I also am suprised that there aren't many off the wall type books at least

one should make somebodys list. I read a book called MR Trifecta several

years ago and to this day I will check various points from his book.

If I put Mr Trifecta on a top 5 list I'm sure someone will say this guy is a fool.

I just think putting out top 5 or 10 lists on handicapping is very trite and

it reminds me of the time they were doing the Handicapping Expo and the

same names kept showing up hashing and rehashing the same old gobblyde

gook that still makes most players losers and the authors driving cabs,

turning into preachers, or laying in gutters for hours. I'm almost positive

someone withheld a book or method because it may have come from RPM

instead of Andy Beyer. If you want to give a list give us a REAL one not

what you think your peers are going to expect you to include.

[MarquisMark]

Originally Posted by timtam

I read a book called MR Trifecta several
years ago and to this day I will check various points from his book.
If I put Mr Trifecta on a top 5 list I'm sure someone will say this guy is a fool.

Who cares if someone says he's a fool. If the stuff Mr. Trifecta has written helps you to win, then let everyone say what they want to. There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but the view is the same.

[MarquisMark]

Here are the books from which I have parsed various nuggets of wisdom in the ongoing quest to grow my equine IQ:

1. Ainslie's Complete Guide to T-bred Racing
2. Picking Winners
3. Beyer on Speed
4. Handicapper's Condition Book
5. Handicapping 101


Modern Pace Handicapping is the next one I'm going to tackle as it seems that this has helped many of the players I've talked to gain an edge.

[ryesteve]

When I started to think about which books are influencing the way I'm playing now, I came to realize the answer is "none of them". I'm not aware of any books that address db handicapping and data mining that are applicable to the current generation of handicapping software. Is this an opportunity for an enterprising author, or would the audience be far too small to make it worthwhile?

[Cangamble]

Originally Posted by ryesteve

When I started to think about which books are influencing the way I'm playing now, I came to realize the answer is "none of them". I'm not aware of any books that address db handicapping and data mining that are applicable to the current generation of handicapping software. Is this an opportunity for an enterprising author, or would the audience be far too small to make it worthwhile?

Do you not tailor your program with specific angles that you may have found in a book or two?

[Cangamble]

Timtam, I certainly wasn't influenced by peer pressure here. If you put down Mr. Triactor, I don't think anyone here would giggle. They might want to look up the book on the internet, like I did for a few titles I saw here that I didn't recognize.
Personally, I didn't like Ainslee because I always felt he was too much of a chalker.

[cmoore]

To tell you the truth..I can't tell you one book that has really helped me in my handicapping. Mostly for me its' been trial and error..Reading pps, watching races and years of losing. Everyone has to lose money in this game before ever winning consistenly. Am I a pro. Far from it. My handicapping is sound but my money mangement is suspect at times. It took years to find my bread and butter. Maiden races are my favorite type. Especially 2 year old first time starters. I never was a fan of the claiming game and conditions of a race. Especially the cheap races. You don't even know if the horse is sound or not. Ninety nine percent of all first time starters are sound. No guessing there. There's no conditions. Its get out of the gate and go. You learn the sires, and pinpoint the ones that are meant for that distance or surface and you got a huge advantage over the public..HUGE ADVANTAGE!!!