Rank Analysis Handicapping: How to Bet Thoroughbred Races Instead of Horses

Loved this guy's writing style. He kept it on a level that even I ( an actual rookie at horseracing handicapping and wagering) could understand and appreciate. Thank you sir, for me, you've dislodged the mystery of where to actually begin, I you're seeking success in wagering on the "Sport of Kings."

The author is a retired engineer and it comes through in his writing. There is no fussing around with inconsequential stuff. He makes some keen observations...such as, never bet the favorite to come in 3rd on a trifecta ticket. I agree. When the favorite finishes 3rd it will kill the price of your ticket.My problem with the book is that bettors should avoid betting trifectas like the plague. A large portion of the book is dedicated to how to play trifectas. The quick answer is: Don't play trifectas at all.Trifectas and Superfectas typically have track take-outs of 25%. At Laurel Racetrack, the current take-out is 25.75%. The New York Racetracks "only" take out 24%. Yippee! Tampa Bay Downs takes out 25.9%.Meanwhile, track takeouts for Win, Place & Show betting around the country are generally between 16% and 18%. Pick-5 bets can be made with takeouts of 15% at many tracks. Why would anyone knock themselves out trying to beat a 25% takeout?One minor correction...on page 15 the author makes a trifecta bet: 8/5/348. I have never yet seen a horse finish both first and 3rd in any race anywhere. If a horse could even finish 1st and 2nd in the same race that would be something to marvel at. But 1st and 3rd? I don't think so.

As other commenters have said, this isn't a system or a true handicapping method (like pace handicapping or speed figures/points, etc.), but I found it to still be useful. What the author has put forward is sort of a shorthand notation which helps you envision how a particular race might unfold.I see it as a complement to whatever handicapping method you already use. You simply rank the horses in order of their odds, and then make notations on their pace style, early and late speed, as well as whether a hot trainer and/or jockey is involved. Trip handicappers could easily add a notation to mark those horses which had especially good or bad trips which might affect their performance.The author seems to believe it's more suited to dirt sprints; I could see its utility in dirt routes as well, but this method would probably be less useful on the turf.

I different way to look at how to handicap a horse race

Met expectations

This books tells me a good system which I will try to use in the near future.This system is actually a diagram which lists out all the horses in the order of odds and then shorthand notations on running style, best first fractional time, best second fractional time, final speed, trainer and jockey are added. As a result, by drawing this diagram, the user can understand what will/may happen in a race immediately.The author has also done some statistics on the odds and performance and this books tells us how he is using them to construct his bet. This is very interesting!At the end of reading this book, I found out the author is actually a retired engineer. No wonder he can handicap a race in such a systematic way.

Book made me think how I’m taking my top choices and how I’m playing. Gives a process to build out your exactas and tris to get a score. If your just finding the high odds horse and following this process I doubt how profitable you will be. If you already know how to handicap the process explained in the book can help you key in on a horse that you like. I already bet on pace but not sure that piece is as detailed as it should be for a novice. Regardless, the book made me think and it was worth a read.

Easy read with tips on measuring performance between horses and direction on how to use the numbers posted from previous races to gauge expectations and common sense analytics for beating the odds/betting public