Betting Thoroughbreds for the 21st Century: A Professional's Guide for the Horseplayers

Love this book. I grew up going to Del Mar and Santa Anita with my grandparents who had a basic understanding of how to read past performances and were willing to teach me. I improved upon the start they gave me by truly learning to read the racing form in college and could typically pick the winner of a race or two throughout a day at the track. That kept me interested over the years, but I was still pretty much guaranteed to come home with less than I went with. Now that I have a little bit of a bank roll I was hoping to do more.This book made a huge difference. I was able to use the information in the book to create a little bit of a "checklist" so that as I'm handicapping a race I make sure I don't miss something. I have gone from avoiding maiden races like the plague to looking for series of races that include them with one of my "Prime Bets" (detailed in the book). This Del Mar season (summer 2015) I ended up hitting a handful of longshots (8-1 and above) that I wouldn't have found without this knowledge as well as a few pick 4's and a monster $3000 pick 5 on a $64 ticket.I would recommend this book to anyone who regularly handicaps races.

Decent read if you're a novice. As a horseplayer who's been handicapping since the 70's, I can't say I gleaned much from the book, other than reinforcing some things I already knew. If you're a newbie, I'm sure this book would be useful. If you wish to delve deeper, I'd try some of James Quinn's excellent books, such as his,"The Compete Handicapper".

I bought this book as a gift for my boyfriend. He works in the racing industry and is very pleased with it. He has not been able to put it down and has taken notes from this book. He has told me that it has helped him tremendously in handicapping. I'm happy that he likes it so much. He has told me that he wants more books of this kind to help him understand the sport more. I believe this book would be recommended to anyone wanting to learn how to brush up on horse racing skills.

I don't know if I'll win anymore often at the track, but I really enjoyed this book. Opened my eyes to the many angles to bet the horses. Also taught me how to read a program.

Great!