Customer Reviews

Expert Handicapping: Winning Insights into Betting Thoroughbreds (Drf Handicapping Library)

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3 star:		(2)
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This is one of the very best intermediate to advanced handicapping books out there. Litfin brings out concepts that no one else in the DRF universe is touching on, in fact, he's the first person in the DRF family to embrace the Ragozin/Thorograph numbers and talk about analyzing a horse's form in relation to itself. Players who use the concepts he talks about (many of which are Len Ragozin's theories, but applied not only to Sheets style numbers, but to Beyer numbers as well). At the same time, he also talks extensively about money management, particularly in relation to the Pick 4. A lot of what's in the book could be gleaned from Len Ragozin's The Odds Must Be Crazy and Steven Crist's Exotic Betting, but Litfin presents them in a much more concise and clear manner, particularly the Ragozin theories. Throw in some useful thoughts about synthetics, and you have a go-to book.

It's hard in this game to find an edge on the other players out there. Many of us have read the same books and find horses the same ways-- Beyers, running styles, workouts; none of these are secrets, and they tend to lead you to the horses everyone else is playing. Litfin's book gets you thinking in ways that the other players aren't. I'm identifying more price horses than ever since reading this, particularly with 3 year olds in the springtime. Both my win percentage and the average price of my winners have been going up, and I'm also finding more of those unlikely horses who used to blow up my trifecta tickets underneath.

Although I respect Mr.Lufkin's ability as a handicapper, I am somewhat disappointed with the book. The first 136 pages of this book are all about handicapping with the "Ragozin's Sheets".

Cool book, but unfortunately, I use Kindle for the iPhone, and the scanned DRF pages that are used as examples throughout the book are almost completely illegible. Would probably be fine on a dedicated Kindle or in the print edition, but cannot recommend for iPhone use.

IF YOU ALREADY THINK YOU KNOW HOW TO HANDICAP HORSES, YOU SHOULD STILL READ THIS BOOK.