While there are many courses and tutorials online, learning from a book is still one of the best ways to greatly improve your skills. Below I have selected top Horse Handicapping books.
- Picking Winners: A Horseplayer’s Guide (1994)
- 19 Valuable Horse Racing Betting Systems (2019)
- Betting on Horse Racing For Dummies (2005)
- Beyer on Speed: New Strategies for Racetrack Betting (2007)
- Smarter Bets – The Exacta Way: A Simple Process to Winning on Horse Racing (2013)
- Learning the Basics of Horse Racing Handicapping (2017)
- Handicapping Secrets of The Horse Racing Fanatic (2005)
- Horseracing From the Inside Out: Owning, Training, and Betting Thoroughbreds (2017)
- The Winning Horseplayer: An Advanced Approach to Thoroughbred Handicapping and Betting (2007)
- Extreme Pace Handicapping: If You Doodle They Will Come (2008)
- Thoroughbred Cycles (2015)
- The Path to Harness Racing Handicapping Profits: One Man’s Journey to Success (2015)
Picking Winners: A Horseplayer’s Guide (1994)
Just as football evolved with the introduction of the forward pass and basketball with the development of the jump shot, so too was handicapping forever changed by the use of speed figures—and it all started with Andrew Beyer.
19 Valuable Horse Racing Betting Systems (2019)
The methods and angles that follow have been among Ken Osterman’s favorites over the years. They have been developed and tested on races at racetracks all over the country. There are systems that cover all three main breeds of horse racing: thoroughbreds, quarter horses, and standardbreds. The rules of the handicapping angle are clearly explained and easy to find horses that qualify for a bet.
Betting on Horse Racing For Dummies (2005)
How to enjoy a day at the races-and bet to win! The last two years have seen a record number of Americans tune in for climatic Triple Crown races featuring Smarty Jones and Funny Cide; in 2004, television viewership jumped a whopping 61 percent over the record set in 2003, and the Belmont Stakes race itself drew a record crowd of more than 120,000!
Beyer on Speed: New Strategies for Racetrack Betting (2007)
No serious horseplayer should be without Beyer on Speed, the third jewel in Andrew Beyer’s literary triple crown. Beyer shows the handicapper how to make his Beyer Speed Figures the focal point of a wagering strategy for pursuing spectacular profits by relating speed figures to pace, track bias, and track conditions.
Smarter Bets – The Exacta Way: A Simple Process to Winning on Horse Racing (2013)
Great for beginners and intermediate horse players, the second edition of “Smarter Bets the Exacta Way” is designed to teach you the basic principals and art of betting exactas. This simple process contains solid handicapping strategies to help you to identify the best horses to include in your all your wagers.
Learning the Basics of Horse Racing Handicapping (2017)
This guide breaks down the past performance programs you would receive at the racetrack/off-track wagering facility. Even if you are someone who has never watched a horse race in their life, I guarantee this guide will get you to understand what is occurring during each race. Not only is each piece of the past performances explained, but I also showcase how long-time handicappers utilize the information as well. This guide is written so even a ten year old could pick it up and understand.
Handicapping Secrets of The Horse Racing Fanatic (2005)
“The first weekend at the track after reading your book (Handicapping Secrets of the Horse Racing Fanatic) I won $2,600.00! Thanks for all the great info.” R. Kelley – Los Angeles, CA. “Initially, I was looking for the plays on the pick six but actually evaluated them last.
Horseracing From the Inside Out: Owning, Training, and Betting Thoroughbreds (2017)
Vin Rogers loved thoroughbred horseracing and became a rider and owner himself after retirement. Now he offers an unparalleled glimpse into racetrack culture and the challenges that come with owning, racing, and handicapping thoroughbreds. Horseracing from the Inside Out provides a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at what’s involved in acquiring and training racehorses and offers numerous tips and techniques related to handicapping and betting.
The Winning Horseplayer: An Advanced Approach to Thoroughbred Handicapping and Betting (2007)
In The Winning Horseplayer, Andrew Beyer builds on the strategy of speed handicapping that he detailed brilliantly in Picking Winners by introducing the concept of trip handicapping. Through an unbeatable combination of case studies and lively anecdotes, Beyer shows the smart bettor how to combine past performance data with an understanding of trips, track bias, and pace.
Extreme Pace Handicapping: If You Doodle They Will Come (2008)
The best payoffs I’ve had at the track were generated by extreme pace aberrations. Those nice payoffs didn’t come from pedestrians. I’m talking about thieves and carpetbaggers, opportunists who were ordinary but found themselves in extraordinary situations – the right place, the right time. When I started playing the extreme pace way, it made such a difference that I dedicated my handicapping life to it. Extreme Pace Handicapping will show you what made the difference and why.
Thoroughbred Cycles (2015)
Mark Cramer is at his happiest in the dim light of the off-track betting parlor, where the flickering glow of the racetrack monitors dances to the low, steady rumble of the race caller’s voice. You’d feel the same if you knew what Cramer knows about thoroughbred handicapping! After years of research, observation, and ups and downs at the track, Mark Cramer has devised the most reliable system for tracking and predicting a horse’s performance cycles in the history of the sport.
The Path to Harness Racing Handicapping Profits: One Man’s Journey to Success (2015)
This book represents three decades of handicapping and betting harness races and is a summary of observations that are important to being a winning player. This book summarizes the conclusions on what made the author a winning player. There is no magic formula to become a winning player and the author is the first to say that there is more than one road to profits. This book is the road taken by Doug Masters to becoming a winning player.
Best Horse Handicapping Books You Must Read
We highly recommend you to buy all paper or e-books in a legal way, for example, on Amazon. But sometimes it might be a need to dig deeper beyond the shiny book cover. Before making a purchase, you can visit resources like Library Genesis and download some horse handicapping books mentioned below at your own risk. Once again, we do not host any illegal or copyrighted files, but simply give our visitors a choice and hope they will make a wise decision.
The Winning Horseplayer: An Advanced Approach to Thoroughbred Handicapping and Betting
Author(s): Andrew Beyer
ID: 3605707, Publisher: HarperCollins, Year: 2007, Size: 20 Mb, Format: epub
Please note that this booklist is not final. Some books are absolutely record-breakers according to The Wall Street Journal, others are written by unknown writers. On top of that, you can always find additional tutorials and courses on Coursera, Udemy or edX, for example. Are there any other relevant links you could recommend? Leave a comment if you have any feedback on the list.