Winning At the Dog Track With Simulcast Races

The first time I walked into a track where they were simulcasting races, I was like a kid in a candy shop. I hardly knew which track to play first. It cost me almost $20 for programs and when I spread them out on the table, I barely had room for my coffee cup and my sandwich. I always get to the track early, so that I can grab something to eat and go over my program before there are any races to distract me.

Well, there were six tracks altogether, so I figured I’d go over the first four races at each track, then decide if I wanted to play any of them. I had already handicapped the program for the track I was at, so I just had to make my bets when I bet on the other tracks. Half an hour later, I had semi-handicapped the first four races at each track and had a few bets that looked good.

I lost a lot of money that day. By the time the four races had run at the simulcast tracks, not only was I down almost a hundred dollars, but I’d missed two bets at my home track, because I’d gotten distracted by the simulcast races. One of the bets I missed was a quiniela that paid over a hundred dollars, so I was really down almost two hundred dollars, if you count that.

I’m usually pretty calm when I leave the track. Win or lose, I take it in stride, go over my bets and handicapping to see where I went wrong, and move on. But that day, when I hit the parking lot, I was fuming. I was so mad at myself that I actually threw my programs on the floor of the back seat, because I never wanted to see a simulcast program again.

Luckily, by the time I got home, I had come to my sense. I took the programs into the house, went over them, and figured out where I’d gone wrong. My biggest mistake was trying to play six tracks and my home track with so little time for handicapping. My second mistake was in not putting down my home track bets before I turned my attention to the simulcast tracks. And my third and biggest mistake was not doing enough research before I handicapped the other tracks.

It’s certainly possible to win at the track by playing simulcast races. But if you’re going to do it, you have to do it the same way you play your home track. Get your programs early. Do the research you’d do if you were going to those tracks. Is there a track bias? How long is the stretch? What distance is their sprint race? (Not all sprints are 5/16ths, but a lot of bettors don’t know that.) What’s the handle and the grade of the track? (I’ve researched all of them and have them written down in a notebook, so that I can refer to the list when I see a shipper on the program.)

Only play the races that you really feel strongly about. It’s easy to get carried away with simulcasts when the crowd is yelling and three or four races are going off at different tracks on different TVs. The first time I bet simulcasts, I got so confused, I actually bet on one track, watched it on a monitor (I thought), went to collect my winnings and found out that I’d been watching a whole ‘nother track and I hadn’t won.

If you’re like me, you’ll do well at some simulcast tracks and not so well at others. Even the design of the track’s program can affect your handicapping. There’s one Florida track that I won’t play, because the program looks so disorganized to me. I can’t find what I want on it and it drives me crazy trying to handicap the races with it. Find two or three favorite simulcast tracks and stick with them.

There is money to be made with simulcasts, if you don’t get carried away. Handicap early. Do your research. Take care of your home track handicapping and betting first. If you’re not making money at any of the tracks you play, you need to invest in The Marks Method or the Two Key Trifecta System and turn your luck around.