If you have ever been to the horse races you may have asked yourself this question, "Is it really possible to win and if so, who is winning all the money?"



The first time I ever went to a horse track was over 50 years ago. I was a kid and my grandfather was a conditioner there. His friends owned and trained horses. Some of the jockeys were also his friends. So I started on the inside looking out. It never occurred to me what it was like for people who go to the races just as bettors with no inside connections.









Years later, after my grandfather, known as Montana Chet to his cronies, had passed away, I moved away from the New England area and started attending races in a new venue. That was an eye opening experience. I became an outsider and learned what it was like to handicap just using past performances. It was very hard, to say the least.



But that experience, as difficult as it was, also gave me respect for the men and women who do attempt to make money from the races. It also forced me to learn how to handicap just using information that was available to the public. I also quickly learned that most of the money that leaves the track finds its way out of there in an insider's pocket. When I say an insider I mean an owner, trainer, jockey, groom, jockey's agent, clocker, or any one who frequents the backstretch and has inside information.



That doesn't mean that horse races are fixed. Most of them are honest. But it does mean that it helps to know things that the public doesn't know. For instance, let's say you know that a trainer has been having problems with a horse and wants to try something new in a race and instructs the jockey not to try to win but to take the horse all the way to the back of the pack and make it rate for the whole race rather than letting it go to the front as it usually does? Though that horse may look like a contender and get bet by the public, it isn't going to win.



The trainer isn't doing anything illegal. He or she may realize that the horse is not settling as good as it should in races and needs some schooling and the best place to get it is in a real race. Another situation may be that a trainer has a good horse that is a contender in a race, but the trainer has decided that the horse, with an easy race for conditioning, will be competitive in an upcoming stakes race with a much bigger purse. So he or she tells the jockey to take it easy and just go for a nice ride. Don't push the horse and leave plenty in the tank for the next race where they can make more money.



That is good horsemanship, but if you see the horse is a contender and bet on it, you are going to lose. On the other hand, if you worked on the backstretch and knew the trainer, you'd know you shouldn't bet on that horse and you would place a wager on one of the other runners. Do you see what you as a handicapper are up against?



I hope I haven't discouraged you, because that isn't the point of this article. What I am trying to do is to show you why you have to think like a trainer or insider in order to win money at the horse races. It can be done and I have done it, but to do it, I had to remember the lessons I'd learned on the backstretch. The two things that you must be able to do if you are going to be successful are to know if a trainer is serious about winning in that race with that horse and also if the runner has the ability to accomplish that task.



In order to do that you must understand trainer moves and the toteboard and its secrets.

By: Bill Peterson

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Learn how an insider handicaps horse races by visiting Bill Peterson's website williewins.homestead.com. To see the systems Bill uses, go to williewins.homestead.com/handicappingstore2.html or williewins.homestead.com/truecb.html. 50 yrs. Experience!