The seasoned bookie is quite content to let all of his players wager on the low-priced horses. Bookies very seldom get hurt when the favorite wins. The bookmaker’s worst nightmare is about some player betting a whole lot of money on a price horse.
The typical horse player has a tendency to bet on low-priced horses. Even when they like a longer-priced entry, they still wind up with some money on one of their favorites. Somehow before actually calling their bookie some of the money earmarked for that 15 to1 shot will end up on the favorite that day. They call it “just hedging a little.”
The smart bookie will always be sure to balance the odds in his favor by framing his market at 120%, thus ensuring a working profit regardless of the outcome of each race.
A player will take a look and decide which horses he thinks have the best chance of winning. Each horse is assigned a number that appears on the program and is displayed on the horses saddle pad. The colors assigned to a horse will be displayed on the horses’ blanket… not on the jockeys’ shirt.
Here are some important points both bookies and players to look at:
- Check under the jockeys name and figure out what the chances of him winning on this particular horse.
- Look at the horse’s race record. Is it time for a win?
- Find the estimated odds of this horse winning this race. Note that these published odds are only an estimate and they will be changing right up to race time.
- Check the jockeys overall win percentage as well as the trainers and the owners.
Note: Neither bookie nor player should be fooled if a horse’s odds of winning, which show up on the monitors, suddenly increase right before the race. Sometimes a trainer or owner will place a large wager on their own horse in order to encourage players to wager on their horse as well.
The most logical place to start when considering placing or taking a wager on horse racing is the Daily Racing Form (DRF.com). These guys have been at it since 1894 and call themselves “America’s Turf Authority”… and most experts agree.
The Daily Racing Form is a ready reference for use by anyone interested in playing the ponies. There is a wealth of information on current and past races that can be put to good use when determining what to wager on or how to set you lines.
