Customer Reviews

Handicapping the Wall Street Way: Picking Xtra Winners at the Track

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If you play the horses regularly you'll want to keep the insights of Handicapping The Wall Street Way: Picking Extra Winners At The Track close at hand: it's a slim handbook but packed with insights analyzing the betting market, the psychology involved, strategies for successful horseplaying at the track, and developing an effective personal risk profile to hone risk and skills. A very basic, excellent introduction to handicapping horse races!

I read the book in about 1-1/2 hours two nights ago. The author is not a skilled writer. Like a lot of horse racing books, he repeats certain information far too much. The book is also small and thin (starts on page 11 and ends on page 82 with blank and significantly less than full pages between. I will not agree with the author with respect to Martingale betting and in over simplifications regarding professional, rational and irrational bettors. The book appears to have been written over a two week period in November 2004.

I think there are some reasonable points raised with respect to ideas such as wagering on Belmont Stakes (bettors caught up in hype), types of races to look for (e.g. 3+ yo vs. 2 & 3 yo), and strategies for certain types of races (e.g. MCl and MSW races). Many books I have read advocate avoiding horses higher than 5:1, but the author has some ideas for higher odds horses (not tried). He also tries to tie the ideas together at the end.

I got this book a week or so ago and was quite impressed. I've read almost every book on handicapping and this gave me some really useful bits of information. And I love his concept of relating the stock market and handicapping. While many handicapping books out there were good in their day, it makes sense to me that they can only continue to be successful if everyone and his brother aren't using them. Speed, and pace handicapping are fine, but again the information is so accessible, there really isn't any advantage to mastering those methods. This book is an entirely new approach which, too, may lose its "luster" so to speak, in twenty years, but for now its definitely the best current release on the subject. True pros who handicap for a living may not find it as useful as I do, but beginners to advanced intermediate handicappers should definitely have this book on their shelf.

This book is a beautiful blend of both stock market and handicapping theory. Mark Ripple has the double fortune of an advanced knowledge of both and it shows in "Handicapping the Wall Street Way." He takes the time to explain how to win certain races, and utilize strategies that he developed. I found that extremely helpful. He picked Pleasant Home at 30-1 to win the Distaff on Breeder's Cup day (not in the book; a Las Vegas radio show) and gosh, that was amazing in it of itself. There is a great section on exactas as well. This book pieces a lot of things together for me, and that is the point I am trying to make. Previous handicapping books were fine, but when you tie this one in, you will soon see that past, present, and future books (even this one) are not meant to stand alone, and that one really needs a library of them.

After reading about this handicapping book in an interview Mark E. Ripple did for CBS Marketwatch.com shortly before the Kentucky Derby, I bought it, and was able to coax my friends into making a few online racing bets. The results were fantastic! In that interview, Amy Hoak called Mark Ripple an expert, and I will agree that he certainly is an expert teacher.

Handicapping the Wall Street Way is a very well-written, easy to understand book for novice horseplayers like me. Another one of my friends, who I would consider an intermediate to advanced player herself, said that she could relate to the stock market, financial aspect of it, and it changed the way she thinks about certain types of bets. I have a financial background, and I'd wager that I will start to rethink some of my investment plays as well.

I wasted a lot of money on a lot of handicapping books, and I can honestly say that for $12.95, this is by far the Handicapping the Wall Street Way: Picking Xtra Winners at the Track.

The Author Mark E. Ripple clearly does NOT know what he's talking about. "Handicapping the Wall Street Way" is a great example of an author clearly way out of his league. He boasts and rationalizes why he is winning certain races, and quite frankly has no idea what he's talking about. If your in finance and wondering..... is it worth reading....don't even bother reading this awful excuse for a book on handicapping.... It can only hurt your money management at the track. One would think that a savvy wall street guru would be able to use variance and standard deviation as a measure of risk in a horse race?