Stop losing and win
This one is about the continuing search for some handicapping relief -- the study of race replays on the screen, the archival digging with a fine-tipped pen, the desire to come across something, anything, which might keep the horse player from having to think so hard and so long.
Here's something that doesn't work: Singling third on a trifecta ticket.
I watched as a friend did it on numerous occasions the other afternoon.
Pick third?
While you're at it, why don't you go ahead and try to pick seventh.
Singling a spot on an exotic wager ticket, other than the one on top, is something like watching a Ping Pong ball pop from a chute at the lottery draw. Horses don't run third. They wind up third, find themselves in third.
The hope that a consistent horse racing angle exists will eventually take the handicapper to the library, to books, how-to stuff for the most, examples of writers having made money, which is no help whatsoever, as those alleged tales of joy involve conditions that no longer exist. The most technical kinds of handicapping eliminate the most creativity, or thought, and are therefore mostly worthless. Technical handicapping involves old charts and graphs that have nothing to do with today -- team sports wagering in particular; with technical football handicapping, picks are based on the performances of retired, or even dead, guys. Whereas some technical angles make sense -- travel and surface changes are hard on all athletes and animals alike -- you still have to use your mind to make money, as consistently picking winners is essentially a creative endeavor.
The only how-to writers to whom I pay attention are reasonably wealthy, not characters trying to get their losses back, touting. The question that a handicapper needs to ask him or herself before paying good money for who knows what in a how-to book is: If the how-to writer is so smart, why isn't he or she simply betting? Having a strong ego is the best reason to give away your secrets: buy what the racing snobs have to say.
It's possible that no how-to-pick-winners type of handicapping book will make you a dime.
It's likely that more can be learned from losing. As is the case with anything creative, the way you get good is by being bad. Winning is personal, impulsive, instinctive; good instincts can be learned. Eliminate the mistakes. What's left is money.
Here's an updated version of: How to Lose
Write to Jay at jaycronley@yahoo.com.
