what you need to know before you go
Resources to help you win
How to bet
Learn the basics of exotic betting, including exactas, trifectas and superfectas. Also discover how to use workout times, final race times, and budgets of different sizes to improve your betting results.
If you already know a little about horse racing, here are five quick tips to help you improve your handicapping game:
The term thoroughbred refers to the fact that Thoroughbred racehorses are bred specifically for racing. Since they were brought to America in the 1700s, generations of breeding have refined their speed and stamina. By using Brisnet's Past Performances database along with The Blood-Horse magazine archive, you will be able to track down a horse's ancestry and make an informed decision on which horse would be most likely to win the race.
Track maintenance and weather conditions can affect how each racetrack plays on a given day. Sometimes the rail is the deepest part of the track, giving outside-drawn horses a distinct advantage. Other times the track is unusually kind to front-runners, with one horse after another winning in gate-to-wire fashion. Watching for strong trends in the track profile can help steer you toward the best horses to play, whether they’re front-runners or simply outside post positions.
Not many horse racing axioms are more true than "pace makes the race." If there's only one horse in the race that wants to go fast, he's probably going to win. On the other hand, if there are a few horses who want to go fast, they're probably going to settle down and then someone will win from behind. Learning how a pace is likely to unfold can help you pick winners.
Curious to find winning horses? Look no further than the top jockeys and trainers. Want to know which trainers excel preparing unraced horses for winning debuts? Curious which jockeys ride best on dirt, and which are skilled on turf? Past performance sheets (available through Brisnet.com) contain a wealth of pertinent statistics for review. Betting strategy/form analysis sites such as Equibase.com allow you to generate your own custom statistics using a wide variety of parameters.
There are a bunch of different wagers at the horse track. If you think you can pick the top three finishers in the correct order, the trifecta is a good bet. Or if you believe you can pick the winners of four races in a row, the Pick 4 or Pick 5 is an exciting option.
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