| A lot of horse racing handicapping is about beating the | | | | bet, so I turned to one of my favorite exotic betting |
| horse that has the most money bet on it. That means | | | | strategies. |
| you will spend a lot of time looking for reasons that the | | | | The four horses I liked were #1 Halo Najib, #4 |
| public's choice is a false favorite. When you can isolate | | | | Tizdejavu (who had just posted an impressive win |
| one or two horses that are going off at attractive | | | | over the Churchill Turf course they were racing on), #5 |
| odds and who have a legitimate shot at winning, then | | | | Golden Yank (a classy horse who had traffic |
| betting them to win makes sense as long as the | | | | problems and legitimate reasons to come up just a bit |
| shortest priced horse is suspect. But if you can't find | | | | short in his last effort), and #7 Bobby Blue Eyes (a |
| that situation, but still feel the top choice of the fans is | | | | promising El Prado gelding who had just won a maiden |
| going to tank, you may want to try some exotic | | | | special event on the turf). A look at the tote board |
| betting strategies. | | | | showed that the exactas without the #6 Old Man |
| Here is something that worked for me in the Jefferson | | | | Buck, were all paying well. |
| Cup Stakes, a grade 2 event run as the 9th race at | | | | I boxed the four horses in an exacta box since I felt |
| Churchill Downs on June 14th, 2008. The favorite was | | | | the race was pretty much wide open and two of the |
| Old Man Buck going off at 2-1. I didn't think he was | | | | four could be an exacta. As I suspected, Old Man |
| infallible because he was coming back off a layoff and | | | | Buck was a false favorite and despite a gutsy effort |
| hadn't done well in that situation in the past. He hadn't | | | | battling down the stretch, he came in third, beaten a |
| raced since November of 2007. That is a very long | | | | half length by Golden Yank behind the four length |
| layoff for a thoroughbred. | | | | winner, Tizdejavu. My payoff for the 4-5 exacta was |
| I found four other horses in the field that I thought could | | | | $63 for each $24 invested. It was approximately like |
| beat Old Man Buck, but for the life of me I couldn't | | | | catching a winner at 5-2 even though I couldn't isolate |
| narrow it down more than that. Still, I wanted to bet | | | | a winner from the four horses I liked to beat Old Man |
| against him because I thought he would take most of | | | | Buck. The key to the whole deal was finding a horse |
| the money in the pools and would come up short. Here | | | | that could be beaten who was taking most of the |
| is a tip for some of you folks who may be new to | | | | action and figuring out how to put the contenders |
| horse racing handicapping, to make money at this | | | | together in such a way to make it profitable. My |
| game you have to be good at finding good bets, not | | | | system for exacta betting was the logical choice in |
| just figuring out what a horse will do in a race. I thought | | | | that situation. |
| there must be a good bet, but couldn't find a good win | | | | |