Originally Posted by
ZipZop
It's an exciting sport if you go to the track, but it's not easy to win. Horses are flesh and blood and bone and nerves and hormones. They have good days and bad days. When you spend time handicapping a race, you are mostly looking at PPs (Past Performances) of the horses racing. That tells a good part of the story of how they MIGHT perform this day, but without asking them how they feel, you really don't know the whole story. And I don't speak Horse, so I'm out of luck.
I do go to the paddock to see the horses up close for signs of how they are feeling during the post parade. Excess kidney sweat - a horse is very nervous. Excess sweating in general, the horse may be stressed out or overheated. Ears down head down, not a good sign. I want a horse that is on his game, walking around like he's about to dispatch another horse, his ears perky, muscles rippling.
I always tell first time bettors to stick with a SHOW bet. This way you have three times the chance to win SOMETHING. Not as much as a WIN bet, but at least you get to the cashier's window more often with a SHOW bet. And you can still bet as little as $2.00 on a horse. That's really nothing, especially in today's economy.