Anyhow…I wanted to touch on the subject of risk and reward. We all have choices in life and even more so in horse racing. Which catagory do we wish to be in? Do we want to be risk takers, hedging our bets in hope of minimizing that risk while capitolizing upon the great rewards that come from taking “said risk.”….or do we wish to keep all risks to a minimum and only travel down the path where unfortunate things do happen yet when they do they are rare and don’t last long. Do we want to bet on a “sure thing”…or at least as much of a sure thing as we can muster in betting on horse racing? Personally, I tend to beat myself up pretty bad when going through a losing streak…take the above race that I’m waiting to go off. “Marybeth Marybeth” is the odds on favorite according to the morning line odds…but horse racing can be unpredictable, as can be seen in Mine That Bird’s Derby win a couple of weeks ago…. a smallish horse that most folks didn’t even put in the running. Things have a way of happening and it’s great if you’re on the winning side of them but not so much if you were the odds on favorite wondering “Who Dat?”….”who just went flying by me?”

There is also another school of thought that the reward for playing it safe isn’t worth risking laying that money down on the odds on favorite….the pay off isn’t enough to risk something happening like having a Mine That Bird coming inside on the rail and blowing away everyone.

I believe that there has to be a balance…that we only take the calculated risk when we believe that we have all our bases covered or remove as much of the risk as is possible and thus reap some of the rewards and take our lumps like a grown up.

The above is why I have started to change things up for myself and am looking into learning how to effectively bet Trifectas and Superfectas. I played around with them when I was younger….the exotics like Trifectas and the Daily Double were my Dad’s favorites and he taught me a bit…but not enough for me to feel confident. I’ve picked up a couple of books that I’ll post links to on here this afternoon once I’m done and I’ve also picked up a nice little course/system on Superfectas.

I will caution you against using “systems” right out of the box and thinking that the publisher’s promises of making you money without having to know a thing about horse racing…there are no “instant riches” without some sort of work…and if horse racing interests you then it won’t really be “work” (UGH! such a dirty word!)…it’s more of a puzzle or skill that I want to learn…a love of the sport and desire to be proficient at or wish to know as much about as I possibly can. What’s the payoff? The satisfaction of having this knowledge and also knowing that I have a skill that I can use for the rest of my life….a past time/hobby/job that I can work at in my leisure that will provide for me and that I enjoy at the same time. Imean, I am a pretty good handicapper…but I don’t think I will ever be as good as I want to be.

Overall, this has been a good weekend with a 100% strike rate so far for the weekend with four races yesterday and only one today that I wanted to mess with. I just couldn’t resist this horse…only the future will tell if I have chosen wisely!

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HE HE HE!!! Ran in the money! Paid 3.20 on a $2 bet to show!