Using visuals provides a big handicapping edge

Q. I assume you have read Barry Meadow’s “The Skeptical Handicapper.” It was well-written and informative, but it was a bit depressing [to read] that the angles that many of us have used over the years are now net losers.

As I move closer to retirement with more time to “up my game,” I wonder what areas I would be best served to work on. Any suggestions you might have would carry a lot of weight with me. –Jim Peregoy

A. For much of my life as a horseplayer, speed figures and track biases were all I needed to make a healthy profit. Those days are gone. Besides employing all of these essential factors, I watch videos of races and take notes on all the horses. I use DRF Formulator to look for valuable nuggets of information in its trainer data. But it is still a challenge to obtain an edge in the modern game. U.S. betting pools are overwhelmingly dominated by syndicates using sophisticated computer systems that weigh all of the important handicapping factors, and it’s hard to beat them.

If I were to recommend a way for an ambitious horseplayer to improve his game, it would be with an approach that antedates the computer age.

Decades ago, I knew successful bettors whose main tool was a pair of binoculars. They would judge horses by watching them in the post parade and pre-race warm-up. They not only recognized soundness and unsoundness but also the signs that indicated a horse was bursting with energy today. They kept detailed notes that would indicate when a horse had improved or regressed since his last start. Since most horseplayers today bet away from the track and rarely see a living, breathing Thoroughbred, a bettor who focuses on the physical animals could find a wagering edge.

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