Customer Reviews

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Betting on Horses

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

 

 

A fun read with little or no information about the gaming aspects of this exciting sport. Railbirds and lifetime fans will learn quite a bit about the sport and the athletes (both equine and human), while being shortchanged on the wagering aspects of the game. Look elsewhere if your interest lies in the wagering aspects of horseracing.

I found nothing in this book that would help me, a newcomer to betting on horses, make an intelligent decision at the track. I'd prefer to give it less than a star. I will continue to search for a good book that will give me the information I need.

THIS BOOK IS BECOMING A BIT OUTDATED BUT IT IS STILL A GOOD READ ESPECIALLY AS A GIFT TO SOMEONE THAT YOU ARE TRYING TO INTRODUSE TO THE GAME

First, it is important you are clear there are two series of horse racing books, this "Idiot's guide to Betting on the Horses" and the entry in the Dummies series of books, "Betting on Horse Racing for Dummies."

Second, it is important you are clear that this "Idiot's" book teaches nothing about handicapping horse races. It is written to describe racing terms and educate the reader about the sport itself; not betting on it. You will NOT learn how to review the Daily Racing Form and analyze a race. As a novice, I bought this book because it was the first one out of the gate (pun intended). It was extremely disappointing. On the other hand, the "Dummies" book educates you about the steps you can take to analyze a race and budget your betting $$.

So overall, this book does a decent job of explaining the history of horse racing and defining the who-and-what you find at the track. As long as you enjoy picking winners using your own superstition, then this book will work for you. If you want to learn how to approach the races as a bettor and at least build an illusion you know what you are doing, get the "Dummies" book instead.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Betting on Horses, Sharon Smith; Alpha Books ("a Simon & Schuster Macmillan Company" - one more layer & it's a federal Witness Publishing Protection Program; 1998)


These prior reviews, mostly, seem uncharitable (to put it mildly).

CIG is an uncomplicated & quite competently written book that is suitable for people who are new to horse racing & need a book exactly like this one in order to gradually become accustomed to the language & rules of a very complicated sport.

You can do it the way I did it - hanging out in a bar on 2nd Avenue in Manhattan in the 1980s (located next door to a disease-incubating & cockroach-infested OTB) - at first, utterly bewildered by the irrational ways & means & words of the game, & taking advice, as the evenings would progress, from increasingly intoxicated louts (of which I was one) .

But obviously, buying a copy of CIG is a lot less expensive & an infinitely more rational way of getting started.

Taped into my copy of the book is a page from the Monmouth Park racing program of June 24, 2001, when the most peculiar disaster struck.

Goomada Byda Sea (#1) won the race at 20-1. Sitting in the grandstand above & directly overlooking the finish line, I could also see Salt It Again (#3) at 9-1 finishing 2nd.

I had a #3/all front wheel & reverse exacta bet, & a 1/3/6/7 exacta box bet - & I'm high as a kite, for I'm about to cash the two tickets & receive, in return, about @ $800.

Who the third horse in the order of finish was, I did not notice. But that didn't matter, as it appeared to be a two-horse race at the wire with the show horse some lengths back in 3rd.

I presented my tickets at the window & hell, not I, was paid.

The actual order of finish had been Goomada (#1), Charmander (#7, 5-1) & Salt It Again (#3). Charmander in the last seconds of the race, unnoticed by myself, had come up the rail; & being the smallest of the three horses at the wire, had been completely occulted by Goomada's physical bulk.

The horse that I thought had finished third had actually finished fourth.

(I'm definitely recommending "Complete Idiot's Guide." But needless to say, there isn't a warning in CIG - or in any other book ever written on gambling on horse races - as to how something exactly like this could come along & shipwreck your day.)

The exacta stepped on the bantamweight scale & paid $321, of which I received $160.50. Not a bad payout, but nonetheless, at that moment, gratitude wasn't on my To Feel list.

"It will never get weirder than this!" was my post-race remark written on the program. But of course, that's doubtful.

*****

The race is also notable for a name that sadly proves, again, that "an injured jockey is a forgotten jockey."

Talkabout (name of horse, not the asinine ESPN cliché repeated 400 times during each football game) in this Monmouth race was ridden by the charismatic Rachel Lavoy, who had made a brief splash at Monmouth at about this time in this very young century before a serious riding injury thrust her to the sidelines for a long time. She attempted a comeback. It didn't work out. She vanished.

And I hadn't seen her name or thought about her for a very long time, until tonight, when I was culling the racing books & double-checking to see if the ones that made the cut had been entered onto the roster of the titles in my library.

This is a great guide for all the new fans , as well a back to basics refresher manual for the oldtimers. It is quite comprehensive starting from first step up to including methods or systems for selection of winning horses. Just one system in the book may pay for it, with the first bet.