Tips for Betting on Horses: Gambling on sports has become a much more accepted part of society than it once was. As recently as two weeks ago, the commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver, acknowledged his desire to embrace betting on sports in the near future. Betting has emerged as such a popular way to enhance the viewing of sports, especially in the age of social media, that the types of bets one can place range drastically. You can bet on the outcome of specific games, or you can bet on things such as predicting the future outcome of a league. For instance, you can bet on one of The 7 Teams that Will Win the Stanley Cup in 2015, or on how many points a player might score during an individual contest.
One of the oldest sports betting platforms has been that of horse racing. One reason for this is the sport’s popularity across the globe, and the simplicity of the it. As it’s simple to understand and each race has a short duration, it is a prime sport to bet on. Yet, because of the simple nature of the sport, gambling on it can seem more like random chance than skill. Just pick a random number to win, and make your bet. However there is far more depth to betting on horses than just the numbers, much of it that even the seasoned wagerer doesn’t fully understand or utilize.
Let’s take a look at some of our best tips for betting on horses, which should prove useful to both novices and veterans alike.
5. Be Selective In Picking Your Races
A day at the track can easily result in double digit races throughout the day, especially if you’re betting on multiple tracks through simulcast. It’s critical to choose your races wisely and focus in on a couple prime choices as a result. As we’ll talk about soon, there are many indicators that can help you in a specific race. Look for these instead of betting on every single one and trying to force picks on races where you don’t have a preference for any of the horses.
Four more tips for betting on horses are waiting to be released from the starting gate, on the following pages. Catch them while you can.
4. Straight Wagers
Like parlay betting in other sports, horse racing offers the gambler the option of betting on numerous races throughout the day; and if you hit all of them, the money is substantial. However, the odds of hitting these are extremely low, and rather than waste your successful picks by having them not count in the long run due to one misstep, we suggest spending a larger amount of money to bet on one particular race at a time. This strategy can decrease the anxiety that often comes with gambling as well.
3. The Difference Between Turf and Dirt
This is one tip we have that can often pay dividends if you properly research the horses in each race. Most horses are either great at running on dirt or on turf, but not both. If you see a horse perform badly on one of these surfaces, the odds are they will perform well on the other and vice versa. You can check results of previous races on these surfaces and moreover it can be used as a process of elimination when selecting horses. It’s all about trying to get the odds as much in your favor as possible, and by being able to eliminate certain horses from contention before the race even begins, you’re doing just that. Knowing this difference and applying it is one of our best tips for betting on horses.
2. Wet Track
Similar to the above issue, the wetness of a track can be a major factor in determining the outcome of the race. It’s easy to check a horse’s last few races on wet tracks online and doing so can tell a lot. Most horses hate wet tracks and perform worse than when running on a dry track. So by locating those horses that may be in an upcoming race on a wet track, that have performed well in the past on a sloppy surface, you can hone in on some of the best possible bets, yet again tilting the odds in your favor.
1. Medication
Unlike professional sports where the supplements taken by the athletes largely remain unknown, horse racing is very open about it. You can find the medication a horse has recently taken by simply checking online to see what it is marked with. In the sport, there are really two main types of medication, Lasix and Bute. Horses either need Bute to perform, or can’t perform on the drug. So, if a horse has previously ran well while taking Bute and is off Bute for an upcoming race, it’s likely their performance will suffer.
With Lasix it’s different; almost every horse using the drug for the very first time will receive a significant boost in performance. So, by finding horses that have recently been given the drug, it’s yet another way to enhance your own odds at predicting that horse’s performance. Because of its ability to predict potential outcomes, a horse’s medication is our number one best tip for betting on horses.
