If you’ve been around the race track for a while, trying to make money betting on horses, you probably know that most tips are worthless. But the handicapper who works for the track and sets the morning line, has little to gain by steering you wrong. He or she keeps his or her job because of a certain amount of reliability and credibility.

While reading the track handicapper’s comments can often point out something you might have missed, they can also point out things that weren’t even in the past performances. So I always advise handicappers to read the public handicapper’s comments and morning line.

You still have to think for yourself, but every bit of information is important and it is easy to miss something that he or she may point out. Another good reason for reading the morning line is because it will also give an indication of where the money will flow in a race and why. The morning line can be used as a gauge to judge whether or not there is a mystery in a race of it is playing out as a WYSWYG (what you see is what you get) race.

If the morning line puts the odds of 10-1 on a horse and you see it bet down to 4-1 there is obviously something amiss. While it is possible that the handicapper just misjudged the runner’s abilities or missed a crucial factor, it is also possible that you are seeing inside money bet on the horse. The first step is obviously to take another look in the past performances to see if you can figure out why the horse is getting that action.

If you don’t see a reason for the horse getting that kind of money you may want to take certain steps.

1. First of all, you can bet on it figuring that the smart money is on the horse and it will therefore perform well.

2. Secondly, you can not bet on the race figuring that something is up, but you’re not sure what it is.

3. The third option is disregarding the odds on that horse and trusting your own handicapping, after all, it may just be that a zealous, over confident owner has dumped a pile on the horse.

Whatever you decide to do, make a note of the whole situation and each it closely. Use whatever you learn from that experience to help you in the future when the same situation presents itself again. After a while you will have a good handle on what is going on and why.

If you want to learn how a horse owner and insider handicaps just go to http://williewins.homestead.com/truecb.html and get the truth. Bill Peterson is a former horse race owner and professional handicapper. To see all Bill’s horse racing material go to http://williewins.homestead.com/handicappingstore.html, Bill’s handicapping store.