Horse Racing Handicapping Books

Books are still one of the best ways to learn horse racing handicapping. The classics explain the ideas behind speed figures, pace and trip handicapping in more depth than any website, and most of what they teach still applies to reading today’s past performances.

Below are nine horse racing handicapping books the MyHorseBets team rates, grouped by level. We’ve checked the title, author and publisher of each one. Most are available new, used or as ebooks from the usual bookshops, and several older titles can be borrowed from public libraries.

Books for beginners

Handicapping 101 by Brad Free

Daily Racing Form Press. First published 2004 as “Handicapping 101: Finding the Right Horses and Making the Right Bets”; later edition 2007 as “Handicapping 101: A Horse-Racing Primer”.

Brad Free covers Southern California racing for the Daily Racing Form, and this is a plain introduction to the basics: speed, pace, class and condition, how to read past performances and how the different bets work. The later edition adds a chapter on synthetic surfaces. If you’re new to handicapping, start here.

Ainslie’s Complete Guide to Thoroughbred Racing by Tom Ainslie

Simon & Schuster. First published 1968, with revised editions in 1979 and 1986.

A broad, old-school reference that covers almost everything: class, form, distance, weight, jockeys, trainers, the tracks and the bets themselves. The sections on computers have dated, but the core handicapping chapters remain a solid foundation and the book is easy to find second hand.

Speed and trip handicapping

Picking Winners: A Horseplayer’s Guide by Andrew Beyer

Houghton Mifflin, 1975.

The book that brought speed figures to the wider racing public. Andrew Beyer, later the Washington Post’s racing columnist, explains how he built his figures and how to use them. The Daily Racing Form has printed Beyer Speed Figures in its past performances since 1992, so this is also the best explanation of a number you’ll see in every DRF PP.

The Winning Horseplayer by Andrew Beyer

Houghton Mifflin, 1983.

Beyer’s follow-up builds on speed handicapping by adding trip handicapping: noting what happened to each horse during a race, such as a wide trip or a troubled start, so you can judge a performance fairly rather than by the finishing position alone. Read it after Picking Winners.

The Complete Handicapper: You Can Beat the Races! by James Quinn

Daily Racing Form Press, 2012.

A long, structured handicapping course from James Quinn, drawing on his more than four decades of handicapping experience. It runs from the fundamentals to big-day stakes racing and the changes in the modern game, so it works as both a course and a reference.

Pace handicapping

Modern Pace Handicapping by Tom Brohamer

Revised edition, Daily Racing Form Press, 2000.

A detailed treatment of pace analysis, built on the Sartin methodology: running styles, turn times, track variants, energy distribution and par times. It asks for real effort with numbers and record keeping, so it suits players who already know the basics and want a more rigorous approach.

Handicapping Magic by Michael Pizzolla

Intl Thoroughbred Superhighway, 2000.

Pizzolla’s book teaches his own pace and speed methods, including what he calls the Fulcrum Pace and pace-balanced speed numbers, with worked examples and a list of common mistakes. The terminology is colorful, but the underlying approach to finding overlays, horses whose odds are bigger than their chance, is sound. Copies are mostly second hand.

For experienced players

Betting Thoroughbreds for the 21st Century by Steve Davidowitz

Daily Racing Form Press, 2009.

The updated edition of Davidowitz’s “Betting Thoroughbreds”, first published in 1977. This version adds chapters on synthetic surfaces, “super trainers”, wagering syndicates and handicapping software, which makes it a good bridge between the classic texts and the modern game.

How to Pick Long Shots by Christian Blake

Self-published ebook, later in paperback.

A short guide written for intermediate and advanced players. It describes three race scenarios in which the author looks for long shots and gives a checklist for deciding whether one is worth a bet. Treat it as a set of ideas to test against your own records rather than a complete method.

How to get the most from these books

• Read with past performances open. Work through the examples, then try the ideas on today’s races at a track you follow.
• Keep records. Note every bet and the reason for it. After a few hundred bets you’ll know which ideas work for you.
• Price everything. Most of these books end in the same place: a winner at a poor price is a losing bet over time. Our odds calculator shows the implied probability behind any price, and the odds converter turns US odds into decimal or American format.

When you’re ready to put the reading into practice, our guide on how to handicap horses turns these ideas into a routine, and our guide to handicapping software covers the past performance products the books refer to.