do u like horse racing for the betting or the horses?

Question

im in for the horses
i've never bet on a horse and don't ever plan to (well i am only 13)
but still, never

Answer 1

The horses. I like my flutter on a pony once in a while when I visit friends near a track, but thats rare and I prefer the wonder of the horses.It is fun to follow a favorite's career.

Answer 2

You can bet at the racetrack(the best way),an off track betting shop or online if you don't want leave the house. However you should first learn how to read a racing form so that you will know how to pick out the horse or horses that should have the best chance of winning any particular race. This is not something you learn in a short period of time and it never hurts to see who the experts like in a race and use that as a guide when you are studying the racing form. There are also many good books written on handicapping horse racing. Unless you are very serious it will take quite awhile to become good at picking winners. The top experts only can only pick about 28 to 33% of winners most of the time so it is not easy. The best advice is that no one can consistently win by betting every race on a race card on a daily basis. This means you have to pick your spots like a professional gambler would do and then bet a a lot of money on one race. Real gamblers may go for several weeks waiting for the right situation to come up. The average racing fan like myself who doesn't go to the track every day wants to bet every race on the card when they do go and that is ok as long as you don't go crazy and bet more than you can afford to lose. It is fun but try and learn how to read the form and you will enjoy it even more. Ask someone you know who goes to the races a lot to explain the form and past performances to you and what everything means. I learned from my uncle when I was about 7 or 8 years old but of course it took a several more years to get decent at it. I haven't bothered much for many years now so I am just an average Joe when I go to the track. It's something you have to stay on top of if you want to be real good at it. Just take it easy when you first go to the track and make $2 dollar bets to place or show depending on the odds until you get more confident. Good luck.

Answer 3

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Answer 4

Horses will always be my passion, but when I came of age I found that betting and winning was fun too. I attended my first race as a 3 year old kid with my reprobate Uncle (my parents have NEVER forgiven him...LOL!). I love going to the various tracks, some more than others... Saratoga and Woodbine rate as my all time favorites, with Belmont a close 3rd.

But when it comes right down to it, there is NOTHING that gets my heart beating faster than to hear thundering hooves coming down the stretch! If I couldn't bet I would still go, just to see the beautiful horses.

Answer 5

This is probably one of the best Questions I've seen on this site, well done. For me it ts more of a roller coaster. As a young child I loved going to see the horses and picking who I liked by number and name during my single digits. From 10 to 20 I honed my handicapping skills and spent many days driving down to the track to bet the last race or 2 after football practice, after hitting a few BIG tris while in University I changed stream again and decided before I loose it all back I would buy a horse. 9 years later I only gamble on Breeders Cup and Oaks/Derby day, or the odd time someone asks me for a bet, then I usually see something I like and play it too, but in the end, take away any wagering and I would love this sport as much as I do now, it is what I live for.

Answer 6

I love it for the horses. There is nothing like racing.

I started following the races when I was about your age; that was in 1968, the year of the pari-mutuel strike at Santa Anita and I got so frustrated, because during the strike there was no racing at Santa Anita and nothing I could read in the papers about racing.

For my birthday in 1971, I begged for a subscription to the now-defunct Thoroughbred Record magazine, and I'd highly recommend to you that you subscribe to The Blood-Horse if you can. It's one of the best ways to follow racing. This is their website, and you should bookmark it and check it often for news about what's happening in the racing world: http://www.bloodhorse.com/ There's also the Thoroughbred Times website: http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/default.aspx, The Jockey Club (not really useful for news, but for general information): http://www.jockeyclub.com/ .

You might also want to bookmark the Keeneland website: http://ww2.keeneland.com/default.aspx You can go onto this website and download sales catalogues in .pdf format, and there's a lot of information that can be gleaned from studying sales catalogues, as long as you remember that they are ADVERTISING-- the consignor has paid the sales company to present their horse's pedigree in the most marketable, not necessarily most informative, way.

I've been on trips to Central Kentucky to visit the big farms there. I've gotten to pet Secretariat, I visited Round Table at Claiborne Farm when he was in his 30's, I saw Seattle Slew just after he was moved to Three Chimneys. I saw the Newstead Farm Dispersal sale where Miss Oceana, in foal to Northern Dancer, sold for a new world's record. I visited Windfields Farm and got to pet Northern Dancer.

Racing is a passion that can last you a lifetime. I'm 50 now and I haven't reached the end of it yet. While I do sometimes bet on the horses, and have done fairly well (at times; I've also bet three horses to show in a six-horse field and come up a loser), if I never bet a dollar again I'd still enjoy racing.

It's the best sport in the world. Nothing can compare to it. And the horses are what makes it the best.

Answer 7

I could spend a day at the track without wagering a dime, and there are times I may meet friends at Thistledown and will go several hours before wagering on a race I keyed as the one to plunk down a couple bucks; which they don't understand at all how I can do that.

I am in several partnerships and will wager on those runners and - it is a harsh reality - without wagering, there wouldn't be Thoroughbred/Standardbred racing in the U.S. It isn't like Dubai, where there is no wagering, but the ruling family subsidizes the industry there (to race and win and breed throughout the world).

If you don't ever wager on a race, don't worry about it...what the industry needs desperately is good people who truly care about all the runners from birth until death, or at the point when they cannot race anymore.

Answer 8

For me it is the horses. I mean I wouldn't be working with race horses if I wasn't in it for the horses. I am also too busy on race day to go bet on them.

Answer 9

Being a jockey here in Australia,for 27 years and still riding in races,the money is too good to waste on betting.I like some of my horses that I ride,and some of them can be real rats.

Answer 10

I like it for the horses but i bet a small amount now and then.