To successfully bet the horses full-time, you'd need a ton of money going in, which sort of runs contrary to the nature of the beast, doesn't it.The general consensus before the Unibet International Hurdle at Cheltenham - including from stable jockey Ruby Walsh on ITV racing - was that the Willie Mullins trained Melon had to win and win well if he was to be considered a genuine 2018 Champion Hurdle contender. Playing the horses with patience and discipline appears to be ideal as a part-time income supplement. But there weren't enough of them.Īnd unfortunately I put on about 15 pounds. The majority of the can't-lose propositions didn't lose. If somebody gambling on horses full-time can't find the ideal bet, then he or she is prone toward shaving off a little of your personal handicapping technique here, fudging a bit on money management, there, anything to make a game once in a while.Īccording to my figures, I made more than the minimum wage during the summer-long focus on the horses. At an unbeatable 5-to-1, it flipped in the gate and was scratched and I went to soak my head. When it came back in three weeks, I emptied my pockets and shoes. I once took a solid summer to see how I could do at the horse races if I didn't have things like work or acquaintances to worry about.Īn enormous amount of discipline is required to sit and sit and sit and not bet and not bet, wagering only $10 to place and $20 to show, anything to stay busy.Įarly during this period, I found a race with two reliable sources, one in which a barely visible bad ride and a track bias had kept the best horse from winning. Then you have to wait for the participants to get back to the track. First you have to wait for something to happen, then you have to be alert enough to see it. So patience at the horse races is doubly time consuming. If you don't bet a race, bad rides seem italicized.Ī person without a bet can watch a race and observe major pilot error and say to somebody who had a $4 Quinella, "Did you see that?"Īnd if the trouble didn't happen to a horse involved in the $4 Quinella, the answer is usually, "See what?" It's like you're vision suddenly improved from 20-200 to 20-20.
It can be difficult to focus on any part of a race, other than where you have let your money ride.īut it's amazing what a person can see in a race when he watches it with an objective eye, without a penny at risk. If you have a $50 Exacta box working up front, and you lose it by a few inches, you might see a bad ride where there wasn't one, or trouble when it was clear. You have seen something now that will mean something later.Īnd let me tell you something about seeing something important. Most times, you have personal histories with the best bets. You don't open a Form to an unfamiliar track and run a pen down the past performances and come upon the wagering opportunity of a lifetime. The best bets aren't love at first sight.
Back in focus horse professional#
No matter how good a handicapper you are, betting most of the races is recreational gambling.Ī professional horse player either puts out a tip sheet, or bets for reasons unique to the race. Patience at the horse races is usually a week or two. Patience at a casino gamble can be measured in a day or two. One race, one week with a loss for the professional horse player. And the one after that.įinding one great betting race a week is not a bad average.Īnd then say the jockey doesn't have a clock in his head. Even at a simulcast venue, you can look at 100 races without finding the right kind of opportunity. A person doesn't have to wait long for exceptional gambling opportunities in a casino.īut the same isn't true with horses.
Gambling full-time on horses is not like gambling full-time on cards or dice. Most horse players see themselves as smarter than they are lucky, and if they receive some wild good luck, well, it's about time. Not all horse players see wild luck for what it is - a miracle.Įverybody has had some miraculous good luck.īut trying to earn a living by collecting miracles on an eight-to-five basis is pretty difficult. Obviously this concept comes to one's mind after a pretty good week.
Something every horse player wonders is whether he or she could sustain life doing nothing but gambling on the ponies.