Try telling your family that you’re going to quit your job and make a living punting. Go ahead!…tell them that you either have a system that is earning you more money than you’re making going to work every day and see if you don’t wind up on a morning tv show where your loving family has an intervention with you, telling you that they are worried about your sanity…at worst. At best, your family and chances are your mates will tell you that you’re nuts. That if it was that easy everyone would be doing it and that you shouldn’t quit your day job.

But what if you actually COULD learn to be a successful punter? If you could hone your punting skills to the point that your betting bank was slowly growing instead of shrinking on a monthly basis. What if before long your betting bank had grown from a hundred pounds or dollars to a thousand? What if on a weekly basis you were clearing an easy 100 to 200….more than if you had a part time job. How long would it take before you took your punting to the next level? Enough money to pay the bills every month and three months worth of funds in your bank account for those losing streaks that are bound to come along….how would it feel to not have to live paycheck to paycheck? To have the security of basically having your own business…and a business doing something that you love!

Personally, I can see myself waking up each morning when I want and not at the urging of my alarm clock…no grueling drive to work each morning or commute back at night, realizing that more than half of my time is spent doing what someone else wants me to do when they want me to do it…basically slavery to a job that I despise. I can imagine the freedom of going on holiday when I want, where I want and for as long as I want.

Is this just a pipe dream or can this be your reality? It is honestly up to you…how hard are you willing to work?…will you take the time to find a system that works for you or create your own system?…will you have the patience to wait for your betting bank to grow and make safe bets along the way and throughout your career as a professional punter? Can you treat this like a real business and put in the time to grow your business slowly but surely? Will you continue with your ‘education’ just like any successful professional?

The fact is that close to 95-99% of all punters lose money. What makes you think that you can be amongst that elite 1-5% that don’t? What is going to separate you from the crowd? Is it going to be a superior betting system or will it be your patience, character and determination? Everyone has access to the same information and betting systems…it is all in how we use this information and these tools that will keep us in the money in the long run. We won’t win every bet and every day won’t be filled with big wins but as we hone our skills and become wiser…and with patience…we will become a member of the elite who quietly make a handsome living at their leisure while enjoying time at the track or by betting on a few select races each week.

For most the dream of making a living betting on horse racing is just that….a dream…but people just like you and me DO make a handsome living doing just that. Day in and day out they quietly wait for their race…they see opportunities and with the skill and precision of a successful stock market trader they place their bets and receive income. If you listen to the crowd you will never live the dream…but if you dare to dream it you can live it.

Visit our main site, Horse Betting Systems, to read our reviews of popular betting systems and books to see what might suit your betting style and keep from getting ripped off. I assure you that, just like the races, not every system is a ‘winner’ and there are quite a few folks out there wanting to separate you from your money. Basically…anything with a rating of three stars of less is not good….we got sick of these guys trying to hack our site or sending us nasty emails so anything three stars or less is bad….four or five stars is good. Get it? And good luck!

The fact is that if you ever wish to become a successful punter you are going to have to work in a different direction than you have been. Even if you are seeing some sort of success chances are it will be short lived if you are relying solely upon an “off the shelf” betting system. Betting systems or handicapping systems have their place but only as a tool. You will never be able to call yourself a real punter if you don’t know what makes that tool or system work. On the flip side of that, if you know how each particular system works you will know which one to use given a particular situation. A real punter also knows that no system can ensure a 100% strike rate and when to sit out a race and just enjoy watching the horses run.

The long and the short of it is that if you love horse racing and want to take some pride in your handicapping….if you are into this for the long haul and you want to set yourself apart from the pack there are some things you’re going to have to do.

Work On Your Mental Game – There is nothing quite as important as how you deal with the wins and losses as the mental component of punting. It can be quite a roller coaster ride with severe highs and lows and the only thing that is going to keep you from crashing when you come across a long losing streak is how well mentally you are prepared to deal with this stress. You might also want to look into how you are going to deal with the losing streaks financially…will you have money set aside to get you through such times?…will you go on vacation for a bit until the season changes?…will you lower the size of your bets until you feel more secure in your handicapping and your betting system?…or will you become frustrated, like many punters do and either walk away or blow your entire bank trying to recoup your losses? Likewise, big wins and long winning streaks can do the same thing in a round about way. You might feel invincible and start spending money like a rock star or become sloppy in your handicapping. It might feel like the good times will never end but life seldom plays out this way.

The above are a few of the things that you might want to think about and the results should be enough to tell you whether you want to take your handicapping to the next level or if you are just dreaming about what it might take to make a living at betting on horse racing. It definitely can be done but it’s not as easy to get from here to there as most people might like to think…but with a little determination and some passion for the sport you will be successful.

This fact can be seen in Calvin Borel’s winning record on Rachel Alexandra…..he is unbeaten on her, and hopefully he will remain that way come Saturday at the Preakness! LOL

The fact is that winning jockeys get the best horses. This may go against your thinking or beliefs but it is the best horses that have the money behind them in the form of ownership and these are the mounts that the best jockeys want since that’s where the money is in the form of percentage of winnings. Nothing can be more heartbreaking than having a great horse and placing it in the hands of a jockey that doesn’t know how to get the best out of that horse….perhaps a jockey that can’t hold a horse back at the begining of a race and thus the horse is spent come the end of the race. Yes, there are always exceptions to the rule and there are a lot of young, new jockeys out there with pure talent….as well as some older, “experienced” jocks that just lack real talent…that intuitiveness where they become one with the horse. But as a general rule, older, more experienced jockeys get the better horses and thus have a better winning percentage.

This fact is why as a part of my own betting system I do take into consideration a jockey’s win percentage. I don’t treat this as a flat number but I do actually take that percentage and weigh it against all the other jockeys in the running.

There are many variables to take into consideration and a jockey’s winning percentage is just one of them. You may ask, “what betting system do you use?” and I’ll tell you that I use MY betting system. It may look a lot like many of the other ones out there but this one is mine. I am constantly modifying and tweeking and and changing things a little bit as things change in an attempt to get a better handle on exactly what all these variables mean in my handicapping…but not too much. How did I come up with this system? I read a lot and take the advice of others who have gone before me and been successful like Michael Wilding of Puntology fame.

To find out more about this “education in punting”….this “PHD in betting on horse racing”….this “Masters Degree in Gambling” go to http://www.horsebettingsystems.info/recommends/puntology/

So…I’m all jazzed up with everything that’s been going on and I get an email this morning offering tips for todays races at Churchill and Belmont. These tips are coming from a very reliable handicapper who claims to have picked the trifecta for the Derby keying on Mine That Bird…so he has my attention. $15 and I’ll have hot tips from one of the most respected handicappers in the country…so I bite. I’ve got stars in my eyes and see what I think is a shortcut to winning at the track…..sounds pretty good eh? $15 and I’ve got tips for a 20-1 shot, a exacta box and a trifecta. I’m thinking that even if one of these comes in I should be able to at least break even….

Now, I’m not a big fan of tip services or tipster services. I don’t even take seriously anything that I read on message boards…at least not a plain tip sheet. I am basically an honest man and I love the sport of horse racing and I want to become as proficient as possible and tipster services always sort of reminded me of the kid in school that would want to cheat off of your test. There is a certain satisfaction that comes from picking horses yourself and win, lose or scratch, at least I have nobody to blame but myself.

Needless to say, none of the tips were worth a damn. I sure am glad that I did fork over the $100 to race with these blokes this entire week! If I want to pick losing horses I can do that for free and I’ll tell you that I had better luck on my own this past weekend! I picked 4 out of 5 races…played it safe and bet to show (because that’s just how I roll sometimes when a race is contentious)…but 4 out of 5 horses ran in the money. Not too bad for a guy that isn’t a world reknown handicapper! Perhaps I should start my own tipping service!?

Please done’t be emailing me asking me to help you by sending you my tips. There is nothing spectacular about me or my handicapping. I just love the sport and enjoy handicapping and have worked to educate myself. I WILL tell you what put me on the right path…and I’m no bullshitting you…Puntology…this is where I would begin if I were you. If you really want to save youself a lot of time and trouble just sign up for this course. It is a no bull, shoot from the hip education in how to pick winners and become a professional punter. Do what the guy says….pick up a couple of the books that I recommend on my site and get yourself an education in betting on the ponies. Don’t waste your time with tipster services and lame systems. I promise you that you won’t be dissapointed in Puntology.

To learn more about Puntology go to http://www.horsebettingsystems.info/recommends/puntology

and to see some honest reviews of horse betting systems go to

http://www.horsebettingsystems.info