Beaten Favorites

Beaten favorites are among the worst bets in horse racing. It some times acceptable to bet a horse who ran second as a favorite. Once in awhile some horse will improve and beat the favorite. But if the horse runs third or worse something is wrong. Avoid the horse like the plague. If the horse is dropping in class, this doubly true. If a horse is suppose to do something and does not, then it it is safe pass on it. This also includes front running types who all of a sudden fail to get anywhere near the lead.

Lone Speed Horse

On most dirt tracks 25-30% win by going wire-to-wire. The winner is usually the best horse in the race wire-to-wire or not. But sometimes a front runner will steal a race. No other horse challenges it for the early lead. The jockey slows the horse down and sets very slow fractions. Betters are usually on the look out for these horses and over bet them. But there are times when they don't get bet. This generally happens when one or more of the other horses in the race caught the front running horse in its last race. In order to bet the lone front runner you first need odds. 10 to 1 or better, the higher the better. If the betting public doesn't think it can hold on, the other jockeys probably agree. The horse should have won wire-t0-wire at this class level or above and at approximately todays distance. This should have happened at least three races ago. The track today should have had at least one wire-to-wire earlier in the card. I have also found out that it probably best not to bet a filly or mare. These bets do not appear every day, but they do show up a couple times a week. They show up in every class of race from grade 1 stakes to maiden claimers. That said, they most often show up in straight claimers a notch or two above the bottom level.

The aim of this blog is to examine how to make money betting on horses. I will look various ideas and discuss their merits. The hope is to find a way to pick winning horses avoid the losers.