Customer Reviews

Betting Maidens and 2-Year-Olds: Analytical Approach to Future Winners (Elements of Handicapping)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book was a disappointment.

It was more of a historical account of specific horses and races rather than a how to as it proclaimed.

It was very hard to follow and I kept waiting for him to get to the point. Very boring and monotonous.

Dan Illman's first book for DRF Press is a nice companion to Lauren Stich's Pedigree Handicapping, also from DRF Press. While Ms. Stich's work focuses more on overall pedigree, Illman's piece has a distinct tilt towards win early types, which is helpful with early season racing at Keeneland, Belmont and Churchill Downs particularly. This one will help you more for analyzing the stallion side of the pedigree, but I would have liked to have seen more on the wider range of maiden races, including maiden claiming races and greater analysis of turf racing.

Use this one to supplement the Stich book rather than as a starting place.

Picking a winner from a race where nobody has won before is inherently difficult, and picking winners from entries that have never raced before can be even more difficult. Illman effectively presents material on how to approach these tasks by presenting examples of numerous angles and factors and how statistically significant they have been. I believe that by using some of the ideas here, a handicapper can generate an edge on the masses.

This book has a great title and the backing of the DRF; that's where the quality stops. The author is a young kid with little gambling experience, but it really seems like he spent more time on the computer than at the track. He gives you page after page of data that can probably be put into a 2 page spread sheet.

Not worth $5, let alone $20