Is Horse Racing Handicapping Easier With a Computer

By Bill Peterson

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The computer age has changed our lives in unimaginable ways. Who knew just a few decades ago that we would be carrying around phones that we could send messages with, surf the internet with, and use as a gps.
Those are just a few of the uses of today's modern techno gadgets that really do seem to make life easier. But do those gadgets enable us to handicap a race any better, and if so, are we making more money as handicappers?

In my experience the answer is that while we do have more information at our finger tips, there is still little profit to be made picking winners. It may be possible, but it isn't easy to make a profit betting on horses, and you're hearing that from a man who teaches people how to handicap the races. I make my living from horse racing, but I don't sugar coat it.

While the amount of information that is available has certainly increased, that information is available to any one who seeks it. The trick to making money betting on horse races isn't just to have more information, it is to have more and better information than the other guy or to use your information better than he does.

After all, let's be honest, we're each trying to beat the rest of the crowd when we bet on a race unless we're in a place where book making is legal, in which case we may be trying to beat an odds maker. Whatever the case may be, horse racing handicapping is about beating other people, being better at spotting a value bet, of evaluating the runners.