What did you learn this year?
 

Another year about to close. What is amazing about this sport of handicapping horses is you're always learning.

What handicapping angle did you learn or found useful this year?

For me it's how I apporach the PP's. Quite simply, starting at the bottom of a horses PP and working up as the first thing I do has shown to give me a real feel for what the horse will do today. It takes some time, but, it puts the horse's PP's into a perspective that I can work with. Only after doing that do I look at everything else. Because I'm usually looking for long shots, I find this way I see things I may not, even working down a horses form, instead of up.

What about you?

Concetrating on p3s and fours and avoiding going nuts on big exacta and win bets. Good Luck to all in 2009. KP

Mortys zodiac cypher ;) :{>:

I know this sounds really dumb, but I can't think of a thing I learned this year. It was an ok year, didn't win a lot, but didn't lose a lot either. The one thing I think I will try to do more is play more Pick 4's. Problem is, I don't have alot of confidence in doing so. I've played maybe 8-10 (normally play win and exata's), and haven't hit a one.

I learned that I am terrible at vertical bets. On occasion I managed to cash a couple of Exactas, but didn't cash a single Tri all year and eventually quit playing them.

Had a good year betting horizontally and learned to focus just about all of my bankroll on those pick-3 and pick-4 wagers. Can't count the number of times a pick-4 blew up on the first leg at Arlington but I managed to recoup it by seeing out the late pick-3.

Oh, and to stop wasting my money anywhere but Arlington...that'd probably help too.

Listen to more peoples selections or picks here.

Trip handicapping.

Much can be learned on this board and through personal observations about trip handicapping. If one can add the ability to understand trips, which goes so far beyond the surface, he/she can be successful and end up grabbing some nice scores.

NT

Complete opposite for me. P3 and P4 were a waste of money compared to the exacta's that you can cash at Belmont,Saratoga and Aquaduct.:$: :$:

A hard copy of the DRF is a must for me. I have started to supplement that with the BRIS TRACK BIAS/ RACE SUMMARY page. It is especially useful for getting a price or two.

Many times you can get BRIS pages for free at Thoroughbred Bred Bloggers Alliance.

i learned that you have to stop at every freaking toll booth on the highway in chicago, or they mail you a ticket and threaten you with a collection agency.

I think that's pretty much true at all toll booths...:rolleyes:

i don't have much experience with tolls...but it's the first place i've seen that you have to repeatedly exit TO PAY, not pay on exit when you are through driving on a highway--the penna turnpike for instance. in fla, you paid when you got on a tollway, and that was it.

dont trust whitey..:zz:

there is a place you can go on the internet to pay your toll so they don't send over the "collection" guys

I took the toll and didn't have the right change
got home, looked it up and paid it online. but remember where you didn't pay or you get stuck with the top rate plus Blogo's comission.

George Ryan wanted to get rid of the toll roadds and look what they did to him

George Ryan sold CDL licenses and one guy who got one ended up burning the Willis children. Damn Bush if he gives him a pardon.

Being a pic 3 and 4 player, like every year LEARN TO LAYOFF RACES

I learned to not sing Christmas Carols:wf


Seriously though, I echo alot of what BDub said. Horizontal bets on the only plays for me. I will throw in a Exacta bet every so often...but multi race plays (mainly pick 3's) are where my strength lies...even more so when there are 2 races that involve turf.

I learned that betting on the favorite doesn't always mean your a wuss. Just sometimes.

I learned that it cuts into your profit margin when you leave your voucher in the betting machine :o

I learned how many lemons you could buy for $16 million.

The ADW situation taught me that I am not as big a degenerate as I thought I was. It was quite easy for me to not gamble because the tracks I normally played were not available to me. I found other things to do this summer to keep me busy.

That should be scary to the industry.

I learned to respect luck and gut feelings.

Last New Year's Day weekend I watched some replays and picked out a double digit ML horse that I was confident was going to hit the board here in the Bay Area. Just planned to take $150 for one BS/fun play of the weekend at $50 to place and $100 to show.

I had planned to hit the OTB at opening, but my wife asked I head to my mother in law's house to set up the new electronics we gave her for Christmas. I figured I had time to go across the bay and get it done, and come back and get the bet in. Plans went awry with traffic and unexpected tech issues, and I didn't make it to any place to bet until after the race's post time.

On the drive back across the bridge I told my wife, "if that horse I was thinking of betting placed, I probably shouldn't bet the rest of the year."

Of course it placed. I forget the payouts, but it was like $14 to place and $8 to show.

The superstitious part of me knew that it was something of an omen. Then, about six weeks later I had a premonition that Ryan Newman was going to win the Daytona 500. I made a nice chunk of change with a straight bet on Kevin Harvick at about 14-1 a couple years earlier, and planned to put $100 on Newman, $100 on Junior, and $50 on Tony Stewart. A sideshow bet for a weekend of blackjack, and I knew I would probably make up any loss at the blackjack tables. We had plans to make it to Reno where I was going to bet, but work stuff came up at the last minute, and we didn't go. Ryan Newman won, at I think 35+-1 odds.

Another omen. And I knew it.

I ended up having probably the worst year of gambling of my entire gambling life. I lost at blackjack in Reno and Tahoe like five times, and I have historically NEVER lost at blackjack. I caught my longshot tri's on several occasions, but the chalk never missed the board. I didn't collect a ticket of any significance at the Breeders' Cup.

Now I did probably go somewhere between 45-55 and 55-45 on other horses the rest of the year, but way off my lifetime average.

I'm far from giving up gambling, but I should have listened to my gut last New Year's.

I've learned how to use words like machinations and ensconced in the same sentence. It's really helped with my people skills.

Bet the Euros!

^^learned he is really Scottish:eek:

great point, i only played churchill downs 1 time this year, and that was on derby day. Outta sight, outta mind

i'm gonna work on my ROI and singling more in my horizontal bets

happy holidays

-bt-

I learned that the Fairgrounds has a really long stretch and I should have listened to FGfan.:rolleyes:

Believe what your eyes tell you . Stay conservative . Be Bullish and Tin Cup Chalice are 2 examples .

Tin Cup Chalice going to Japan is not an example of staying conservative.

I believed my eyes when they told me he should not go.

Agreed . Prior to Japan . To be more precise . Pardon moi . Of course I tell myself every year to believe my eyes .

Do eyes improve with age ?

Another thing I have learned and got better at is I can cap a race, watch a race, and not bet on it. I use to think I had to bet every race. I'll only play one card at a time, I don't hop from one track to another, so I use to think I had to have action. Now, I'll have interest in a race without money on it which has allowed me to focus on races I feel strongly about, bet more on those races, and win more.

It only took 38 years playing the ponies to do this!

Spyder

I learned that i can't pick any winners in NY and need to never play it. Stick to places i am solid at picking winners, ie CA, WA and FL.

I learned that after 9 mint juleps I can't walk a straight line.:zz: ...but at that point I may still argue that I'm still ok to have a beer or something.