Horse Racing Handicapping Free Picks
By the MyHorseBets team · Updated · 5 min read
Free horse racing picks are easy to find in the US. Most major tracks publish selections from their own handicappers, racing media post daily picks, and the big data companies give away sample past performances. The hard part is knowing which free picks are worth your attention.
MyHorseBets doesn’t publish daily picks. Instead, this guide lists where free handicapping picks are published by people with a public record, explains how to judge them, and shows how to check the price before you bet.
Where to find free horse racing picks
We checked each of these pages on 1 October 2026. What’s free on any given day can change, so look at the page itself before you rely on it.
Racetrack handicappers
Many tracks pay handicappers to publish a selection for every race on the card. Because the picks appear on the track’s own site, day after day, you can usually look back and see how they’ve done.
- New York Racing Association (NYRA). Expert picks for Belmont Park, Saratoga and Aqueduct, depending on which NYRA track is running.
- Del Mar. The Del Mar handicappers page lists free picks from several handicappers, including Brad Free of the Daily Racing Form and Frank Scatoni.
- Santa Anita. The track’s wagering page carries expert picks and analysis for its meets.
If you follow another track, look for a “handicapping”, “expert picks” or “wagering” section on its official website. That’s where the track handicapper’s selections and the morning line usually live.
Racing media and data companies
- Daily Racing Form. The DRF picks page carries selections from DRF handicappers. Some content needs a subscription.
- TimeformUS. The TimeformUS site gives away free past performances for the day’s top races, a good way to try its pace figures before paying.
- BetMix. BetMix offers a free race of the day, with its computer-generated picks and pace and class analysis on show.
- Equibase. The industry’s official database, Equibase is a partnership between The Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Racing Associations of North America. It publishes free entries, scratches and results, including each horse’s morning line. It isn’t a picks service, but it’s the place to check the facts behind any pick.
How to judge a free pick
A free pick is only useful if the person behind it is good, and the price is right. Before you follow anyone:
- Look for a public record. Tracks and racing media publish picks every day, so the history is out there. Be wary of anyone who only shows you their winners.
- Ask about the return, not just the strike rate. A handicapper who picks 35% winners at an average of 3-2 loses money. The standard measure in US racing is the return on a $2 win bet on every pick: if $2 on each selection returns more than $2 on average, the picks have been profitable at those prices.
- Check the sample size. A hot week means little. Look at hundreds of picks, ideally over more than one meet.
- Match the handicapper to the track. Track handicappers know their own circuit best. A specialist on Southern California racing may be much less sharp at an East Coast track.
- Notice the morning line. The morning line is the track oddsmaker’s estimate of how the public will bet, not a prediction of the winner. A pick on the morning line favorite tells you less than a reasoned case for a horse at 6-1.
Our guide to the best horse racing handicappers goes into more detail on reading a handicapper’s record.
Use free picks as a starting point
Free picks are best used as a second opinion. Read the analysis, compare it with your own view of the race and then decide. If you want to build your own view, start with our guide on how to handicap horses and the reading list in our handicapping books guide.
Check the odds before you bet
In the US, most racing is pari-mutuel. Your payout depends on the size of the pool and the track’s takeout, and the final odds aren’t known until the betting closes. So no calculator can tell you exactly what a US bet will pay. Our calculators are built for fixed-odds betting, but they still help you judge a pick:
- Use the odds converter to turn a morning line such as 9-2 into decimal or American odds.
- Use the odds calculator to see the implied probability of a price. If you think a horse wins 25% of the time, any price longer than 3-1 is an overlay.
- Splitting a bet across two or three horses? The dutching calculator works out the stakes for fixed odds, so treat it as a guide when the final tote odds are still moving.
If you want paid picks
Free picks cover most needs. If you’d rather follow one paid North American service, HorsePlayerHaven sells a handicapping course with a members area of picks. Judge it with the same checklist as any free source.
Free or paid, no picks service can guarantee winners, and long losing runs happen to every handicapper. Only bet what you can afford to lose, and set a budget before the first race. Gambling responsibly.
Frequently asked questions
Most major US tracks publish free selections from their own handicappers on their official websites, under a section such as expert picks or handicapping. Racing media such as the Daily Racing Form also publish daily picks, some of them free.
Some are. Track and media handicappers publish every day, so you can check their record. Judge them on the return to a $2 win bet across hundreds of picks, not on a few big winners.
No. We explain how betting and handicapping work and build calculators to check odds and returns. We don't publish daily picks.