Picking Winners At the Race Track

Posted by BarbaraAnne Helberg Sep 29, 2007

Is it possible to pick finishers at the local Standardbred track without much prior speculation?

Sure.

Try it. You'll enjoy it. Arrive early. Get a program (essential). Find a good, less crowded seat: room for pen, program, and field glasses. Notice the program's connections and the statistics. It tells all about the Standardbred competitors. Watch the horses warm up.

Many local tracks for Standardbred races feature pacing and trotting competition from similar backgrounds and nearby barns. A good program gives one the inside track.

Attending the Fulton County Fair in Wauseon, Ohio on Labor Day, I did a pre-race scan of the pedigrees, money winning totals, ages, and won-loss records of the Standardbred participants before each contest.

In pedigrees, I noticed Precious Bunny had six descendents running throughout the eight races; Pegasus Spur had three; Stand Forever, four; Nobleland Sam, three; and Yankee Cruiser, two.

The next thing I circled in the program was the dollar lifetime winnings of each descendent in each race. Then I considered the age and the race record of each contestant in my cirlced list.

I decided to choose three horses in each of the eight races to finish in the top three places, circling only a winner in each, but choosing no other particular order for the remaining two selections.

In the first race, I chose Must Be The Bunny to win. A first time starter. No history. But Precious Bunny was his parentage. Must Be The Bunny broke his maiden for the win.

In addition, I had chosen Pronk to finish well. He had the best record. Buckeye Forever -- besides that great name -- had Stand Forever. Pronk led most of the way, then finished third. Buckeye, well...two out of three in the first wasn't bad.

Etc.