Handicapping Horses – Learn how to Handicap!

Winning money betting on the horses all begins with learning how to handicap the horse races. We’re going to give you a lot of help by teaching you basic and advanced techniques that will give you the edge at the racetrack. You’ll even be able to impress your friends with your handicapping expertise! Maybe even be the best horse handicapper.

What is handicapping?

The process of using available information to identify and find a winning horse is called handicapping. Those who master this process are called handicappers. These are two words you will hear used very often at the racetrack and betting windows.

Handicapping requires an ability to analyze data found in what are known as the past performances. The past performances give you a complete picture of a horse’s career. Once you learn how to read the past performances you’ll have a better idea of the chances of any given horse in a race. Handicapping can tell you if the horse is fast enough to outrun its rivals, whether or not it is racing in an appropriate race for its skill level, and even reveal any possible physical problems the horse may have.

To be a good handicapper also requires a good deal of intuition. You can also use the data provided in the past performances to envision how a particular race will be run. You’ll be able to anticipate which horses will be on or near the lead and which horses will come from behind.

The Path from Learning Handicapping to Applying It Profitably

Learning to handicap horses is a multi-year journey that produces different kinds of value at different stages. In the early stages, handicapping knowledge improves the quality of your engagement with racing — you understand what you are watching, you can follow the analytical discussions that serious horseplayers have, and you experience the intellectual satisfaction of forming and testing opinions about competitive outcomes. This engagement value is genuine even before handicapping skills are refined enough to produce consistent betting profits.

In the intermediate stages, handicapping knowledge begins to translate into measurable improvement in betting results — a gradual narrowing of the gap between the edge you are achieving and the edge you theoretically should achieve given your analytical work. This stage is characterised by the identification of specific analytical strengths and weaknesses through honest record review, and by the systematic work of improving the weaknesses while protecting and extending the strengths. In the advanced stages, handicapping skill produces consistent positive ROI not through any single dramatic breakthrough but through the compound effect of small, consistent analytical advantages applied across hundreds of bets over an extended period. For a complete guide to developing your handicapping skills, our articles on handicapping horses and how to become a better horse handicapper map the full development pathway.

Handicapping is an intellectual puzzle!

Many people enjoy handicapping the horse races because handicapping is an intellectual exercise similar to chess. You must always be thinking three or four steps ahead of your fellow bettors at the racetrack. There is a lot of information to consider, but EZ Horse Betting can teach you how to evaluate that information quickly and accurately to improve your odds of picking a winner.

Speed figures. Pace. Class. Form. Workouts. Trips. These are all terms you will become familiar with if you take a little time to study our website.

Are you ready to begin learning the fine art of handicapping? Okay, then We’re off to the races!