Don’t Get With The Program, Get With The DRF
If you are going to the track, or just staying home and wagering from your online account, there is one thing you should know about handicapping the races, which many so-called handicappers do not know. Using a track and or a simulcast program when playing the races is a mistake. People that use these types of past performances are selling themselves short by passing up valuable information that is available to them if they choose. The reasons they opt to use the track or simulcast program makes little sense when you sit down and really think about it.
There is one key element that one needs to be an informed handicapper. It’s called the Daily Racing Form. It’s Handicapping 101. If you consider yourself a serious player, or a weekend warrior type, or just someone who likes to make a wager on the big race days, such as the Kentucky Derby, Breeders’ Cup and so on, there is one thing you should know. The track or simulcast program should not be your only source for past performances.
On a typical Saturday afternoon, if you go to the Meadowlands, you will see many people with a simulcast program. Actually almost everyone you will see will have a simulcast program either in his or her hand or on a table. When I see that, I know I have an edge over those players. Mind you, some of these handicappers have been playing the races for several years, and they still only use the track or simulcast program, it’s hard to believe.
Word to the wise, ditch that track or simulcast program, and grab a Daily Racing Form. The DRF is one of thee most important handicapping materials one can have when spending a day at the races, experienced and inexperienced players alike should always have a copy, or the printed pdf’s of the DRF while handicapping the races. I consider it a starting point in my handicapping, other variables will come into play, but it starts with the form.
As I start preparing for a day of handicapping, regardless of where I may be playing, either at home, Meadowlands, Monmouth Park, Belmont Park, or Aqueduct, buying or printing the DRF the day before, is the first thing I will do. It should be the first thing any handicapper should do. If you are going to spend a day at the races, it is simple, Get the Form. Some players will use Brisnet and/or other handicapping materials, such as Ragozin Sheets and Thoro-Graph sheets. These materials offer past performances in a different way.
Know and understand the DRF past performances first, before dabbling with other past performance materials. You will have a solid, fundamental foundation as a handicapper over someone who opts to use a track or simulcast program. You can use them, but know you will have much less information available to you. Less information means not knowing important things, and that will cause you to rip more tickets, opposed to cashing more of them. The goal is to cash, not rip.
When I see people using a track or simulcast program, I feel like just yelling at them, get the form!However, after realizing that these are the same people I am trying to beat in the pari-mutuel pools, I in fact have an edge over those individuals who opt not to use a DRF, which is readily available to them, for a dollar more or so no less, at the same place where they will pick up the track program. They sell them together. It makes no sense.
The one thing a serious handicapper will not do is just use a track or simulcast program for their past performances. Yet the majority of players do in fact only use the track program. If you are one of those people that solely depend on a track program when handicapping, there is one thing you should know, you are at a distinct disadvantage over players who do use the DRF.
There was a time when I was one of those individuals who used a track program only. I learned a lesson that stuck with me about 7 years ago at the Meadowlands, and it changed my thought process on what type of information I should arm myself when handicapping the races. I missed a $22 horse that popped on the turf. The track program, plain and simple does have enough important information that the DRF has.
After the last race that night, I picked up a discarded DRF that someone else was using. I looked at the race I came up empty in, after closer examination, I saw a nugget of information that certainly would have changed the way I saw the race and the horse I neglected to use. If I had only been aware of the trainer’s dirt to turf percentage, I would have at least considered the horse. I will not get into detail, but I realized that I am wasting my time and energy using a track program, when the DRF contains information that is a lot more useful. I asked myself a simple question, why am I selling myself short by not using the DRF? The days of using the track or simulcast program were history.
Loading ...