Winning and Losing Streaks in Horse Racing Handicapping and Betting
By http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Bill_Peterson Bill Peterson
Winning and losing streaks are a part of the business of betting on horse races. If you can’t handle long streaks of good and bad fortune, then you should definitely not try to be a professional handicapper. If you have a good system and know how to work it, then you can succeed at horse racing handicapping, but it will still be hard.
I’ve known a lot of horseplayers in my time and never knew one yet who didn’t go through some serious ups and downs, myself included. In 1987 I was playing Aqueduct using a system I had devised during the winter. It was based on the morning line odds of the starters, the jockey and trainer percentages and a few other basics. Though it was an incredibly simple system I tried it on paper for a three week trial and it showed a good profit.
I started making $100 win bets every day and started packing away a nice profit. I had 19 winners in a row. They were all very short priced horses, but obviously with 19 winners in a row I was way ahead of the game. Then the Southern New York racing moved to Belmont Park. I thought of laying off but after giving it some thought I decided to continue, “After all,” I thought, “It’s still New York, same horses and connections, how could it be that much different?”
My question was soon answered. I started losing and another streak began, a losing streak. Though I’d had 19 winners, they had been short priced and my bankroll was bigger than when I’d started, but not big enough to withstand the losing streak I was in. I learned several things.
First of all, it is very difficult to make a living off short priced horses, no mater how good you are. That is why I say this over and over again, don’t take anything at less than 2-1 odds. Secondly, there is a difference between racing at Aqueduct and racing at Belmont. Third, always test things on paper first and test them at the track you plan on playing. Later I also learned that things often work on paper but fail to work in real life. A final bit I would like to add, while we’re talking about streaks, is that even when something works on paper and then works for a while, it can stop working.
Now you’re hearing this from a man who has played horse systems for many years, so please pay attention because if you want to make it in this game here is a very important truth of horse racing handicapping, nothing works all the time and no system works all the time. You have to know when to get in and get out. Winning and losing are “streaky.” Like everything else in life, you will have your good times when it seems you can’t lose and times when it seems you’re snake bit and can’t win. That is why you put aside money for those losing streaks and savor every moment that you win.
The last thing I would like to say is that for me, anyway, it is all worth it, but there have been some very frustrating times when I had to wonder about that. That is why every time I cash a ticket I say, “Thank You.” The race track totes think I am being polite, and I am, but I am also thanking fate, luck, or the racing gods, whatever you want to call it, for letting me have the joy of winning.
The most consistent horse racing systems have to have the basics and a handicapper must understand the basics. I have been around horse racing for 50 years including as an owner. Without the basics the rest is not going to do any good. If you want to learn how a horse owner and insider handicaps just go to http://williewins.homestead.com/truecb.html and get the truth.
Bill Peterson is a former horse race owner and professional handicapper. He comes from a horse race handicapping family and as he puts it, “Horse Racing is in my blood.” To see all Bill’s horse racing material go to http://williewins.homestead.com/handicappingstore.html - Bill’s handicapping store.
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