Good Record Keeping Helps Elevate Your Handicapping
Recording your plays in horse racing is essential to identifying your strengths and weaknesses in your wagering. Good record keeping can lead to future success. Let's run down some of the components that you should include in your record keeping whether you apply them to a spreadsheet or old school notebook.
Components of Record Keeping
- Brand of Past Performances (Equibase, Daily Racing Form, Bris-Net, or other)
- Track (Belmont, Churchill Downs, Santa Anita, etc.)
- Race Number.
- Race Conditions (Maiden Claiming, Allowance, Stakes, etc.)
- Distance (Mile, 6 Furlongs, etc.)
- Surface (Dirt, synthetic, Turf)
- Age (3 year-old, 4 year-old Up, etc.)
- Saddle Cloth Number (#4, #8, #12, etc.)--generally the saddle cloth number will match up with the post position, but in some cases your horse might have a different post position. Make a note of it.
- Name of wagering interest (horse name)
- Parimutuel Investment (wager placed). You should have a column for your W/P/S wagers made as well as columns for your Exotics (Exacta, Trifecta, Superfecta, and Pentafecta).
If you are a multi-race player or contest player you may devise a different record keeping worksheet. This would enable you to compare and contrast your plays for each race in the sequence.
Compiling the Data
It is important that you record all results from your wagering activity at the end of each race day. No matter the format you are using (spreadsheet or notebook). This enables you to maintain your records efficiently and allows you to look back to previous days' results to make intelligent wagering decisions going forward.
Whether you are a handicapper that plays everyday or a weekend warrior, maintaining good records sets you up for analyzing the data, knowing your costs, and should you make a nice score, for the taxman.
Analyzing your Records
Once you have recorded a given amount of data, say a business quarter (three months), dive in with analysis. Maybe you have made some nice scores with 6 furlong events. Or you have done exceeding well with most races on the Turf. Moving forward with your wagering activity play to your strengths. Conversely, maybe you have done miserably on 6 1/2 furlong races. It might be wise to take a pass on these races until you derive more specific handicapping angles to improve your chances to cash a ticket.
Good record keeping combining all the components above can help you to determine your handicapping edge. At the same time you can begin to improve on your weaknesses to elevate your all around handicapping.
Have fun watching and wagering the races, but remember to take some time to record and analyze your plays in order to improve your handicapping.
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