Wayne, I consider myself a serious amateur. I try to apply my market techniques to the racetrack and I have been fairly pleased so far. The problem, as we all know, is that the friction costs at 20% or so, are much higher in racing than they are in the market. Also, the insiders don't file any forms with the SEC when they bet on or against their own horses.
My style is to go for longshots in my exotics. A typical ticket would be the horse that looks the best on paper and the horse I expect to finish second in an exacta with a long shot that I think could wake up. I don't hit the big ones that often, but they pay well when I do. But the most frustrating thing in the world is for my longshot to come prancing in and neither chalk to come in with it. That happens more often than I'd like. <g> Typically, I come up pretty dry for a long stretch, losing some and getting "kiss your sister" payoffs on the others, and then get a thunderbolt that makes all right.
I don't use serious money at the track and I think I would not enjoy it if I tried it professionally. I know I hated blackjack when I tried to do that for a living.
If you can find a copy, it is out of print, you ought to read Dave Feldman's "How To Win At Just About Everything." He has two chapters comparing the stock market to the track. Great stuff.
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