A guide for horseplayers and fans that provides tips on how to bet on thoroughbreds, watch and review races like a professional, pick up on race conditions, and understand speed figures and pace concepts; and also features track-bias profiles for twenty-one North American tracks.

This advanced guide to handicapping, which includes a new Foreword by the author, is chock-full of the wit and wisdom that have made Beyer a legend in the sport. The Winning Horseplayeroffers the sophisticated bettor invaluable advice on handicapping and betting. "(Beyer) is the grand guru . . . of handicapping".--Boston Globe

Written in Beyer's clean, rapid-fire prose, this book explains how to relate speed figures to such factors as pace, track bias, and track conditions. It discusses exotic wagers such as the pick six and reveals optimal uses of the figures based on computer analysis of more than 10,000 races. Blending colorful anecdotes, it presents a revolutionary way to play the horses.

This fun and witty exposé of horse racing in America goes behind the scenes at the track, providing a serious gambler's-eye view of the action. Ted McClelland spent a year at tracks and off-track betting facilities in Chicago and across the country, profiling the people who make a career of gambling on horses. This account follows his personal journey of what it means to be a horseplayer as he gambles with his book advance using various betting and handicapping strategies along the way. A colourful cast of characters is introduced, including the intensely disciplined Scott McMannis, "The Professor," a one-time college instructor who now teaches a course in handicapping, and Mary Schoenfeldt, a former nun and gifted handicapper who donates all of her winnings to charity. This moving account of wins, losses, and personal turmoil provides a realistic look at gamblers, gambling, and life at the track.

Calculating the pace and comparative speed of horses in a race often holds the key to the puzzle of selecting the winner.

A classic guide to handicap strategies in the field of thoroughbred racing 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. With a foreword discussing the changes that have swept horse racing since the book's original publication in 1975, Picking Winners is essential reading both for serious horseplayers and curious amateurs.