My Handicapping History

Thinking back years ago (about the time I got my first new car) when I was going to the race track with my grandfather, Morris, I wish I had a personal computer to do the handicapping.  That was a time before personal computers, but we had Joe to help us win.  He was a professional handicapper and my grandfather's friend who always had a grin on his face when he was ready to cash those winning tickets.

Today, I can still hear my grandfather saying, "Let's talk to Joe.  He'll have a few good winning tips for us."   Joe, always had more good tips than bad, and we usually left with the track's money. After several years at the race track, and long talks with Joe, I learned the secrets of his success. And that valuable information from an old-time handicapper has been incorporated into our computerized systems today.

Basically, Joe looked at information from the last three or four races, and no more.  He liked to handicap quickly with accuracy basing his system on speed and recency.  He would say, "The best way to predict what the horses might do now is to look at what they've done in the last three.  It won't do you any good to look back months.  It's wasted effort." Joe was a smart handicapper.  When he talked, people listened, especially me and my grandfather. We had a lot of fun, and learned a lot about betting and handicapping when Joe was around.

Unfortunately, both Joe and my grandfather, Morris, passed on several years ago, but I took on the task of transferring many of Joe's theories to my computerized handicapping systems today.

Howard Berenbon