Something Odd About Horse Racing Betting

If you’ve been wagering on horse races you know that there is something called odds that a lot of people seem to pay a lot of attention to.  While some folks think it is hard enough to figure out which horse will win the race and like to play that game, others are bargain hunters and will try to find the best odds on a horse that might win.

So which angle is right?  That depends on what you hope to accomplish at the race track or OTB parlor.  If you like solving crossword and logic puzzles, then you are definitely handicapper material and should focus on trying to find the fastest horse that is most likely to win.  On the other hand, if you like boasting to your friends that you bought something at cost and got a great bargain, then perhaps you should be shopping the toteboard for good odds on a horse.

It also depends on what your goal is when you go to the races.  Do you just want to have the thrill of seeing your horse go across the finish line first or would you rather have the thrill of leaving the place with a little more cash than you started with?  Maybe you are saying to yourself, Wait a minute, I want both!

It doesn’t matter which thrill you are seeking.  Either way, you are going to have to learn how to handicap horse races.  The reason is that people who handicap horse races have a pretty good idea of what each horse’s chances of winning might be.  If you know how likely a horse is to win the race, you can then decide whether or not the odds will lead to a profit.  It is simple mathematics, though making a profit at the races consistently is certainly not easy.

For instance, if you’re a good handicapper and win one out of three of your bets and only bet on horses at 4-1 or higher, you will make a good profit.  If there are ten races on the day’s program and you find 6 horses that are at suitable odds at post time for you to wager on, then you will cash a few winners and make a profit.  I’m not trying to be flippant or diminish the difficulty of trying to make a profit at the races, I am just illustrating how the whole struggle can be boiled down to a simple statement.

You may go to the horse races and bet any way you like.  You can choose your wages based on the runners names, the names of the jockeys, the color of the horses, the color of the jockey’s silks, or any other way that suits you.  You may win now and then, particularly the first time you go to the races, thanks to beginner’s luck, but if you keep going to the races, you will eventually have to learn how to read a program.

You will also have to learn how to form an opinion about a race and the horses in it.  When you get to that point, you’ll realize that what you are really doing is betting on your own opinions.  Of course, part of that opinion, if you’re smart, will be your opinion of what the horse will pay to win and whether that is a profitable bet.  That’s the odd thing about horse racing handicapping.