Whether you are a veteran horse player or just learning how to handicap horse races, you’ll probably agree that a good horse racing system will help you to pick more winners, than no system at all. Betting on horses for money is tough enough even when you have a good method, but just taking a shot in the dark based on your mood or whatever you think you’ve observed in the last day or two is certain financial suicide.

The first goal of a good horse player and therefore a good horse racing system is to preserve your bankroll. No bankroll, no bets, no bets, no profit. Therefore, if you’ve identified several good bets for the day but you are waiting to make them because you want to make sure you get good odds (always a smart move) then it is crazy to put your whole daily allowance on one or two of them and figure you will win on them and therefore have money to be the last ones. As we all know, any bet can lose and therefore you may tap out and not have any money left from your daily allowance to bet the last horse who turns out to be the best bet of the day.

You may be wondering what I mean by daily allowance. I am talking about that portion of your bankroll that you have set aside for the days bets. You should not risk your entire bankroll on any one day or any one bet. A method like Kelly betting will help you to stay in the game. No matter what handicapping system you use, a good money management system should also be a part of your system.

Now let’s talk about exotic bets and horse racing handicapping systems. I’ll be honest, I prefer straight win bets, but if you insist on exotics, like trifectas, exactas, superfectas, or the pick four or pick three, then what you need is still a method to isolate a strong contender to key on.

The difference between a system to pick winners and a contender system is that a contender system doesn’t necessarily pick a horse to win only. If you can identify one horse going off at long odds that will hit the board in any position, it can be a god key horse in an exacta or trifecta key.

When playing the pick three or other bets that rely on multiple races, then finding a race without a strong top pick but several “possibles” that will pay well to anchor your bet may also bring home a big paying ticket. While people often tout systems that rely on finding a good key horse to reduce the bet price, I say you also need a race or two that is somewhat chaotic to make the bet pay.

Therefore, depending upon your preference, the best horse racing system for playing exotics is the one that can help you to find one or more horses that suits the kind of bet that you want to make and gives you a strong key in one position or one race to anchor your bet, but not necessarily a favorite or even a winner.