DIVIDING THE FIELD INTO GROUPS

You may find it helpful to divide the field into groups during the handicapping process.  This is particularly useful when faced with a field of 10 or more horses.  I recommend using the following three groups:

1. Horses you think might finish 1st or 2nd

2. Horses you think will finish no better than 3rd or 4th

3. Horses you think will finish "off the board"*

*(After the completion of a race, only the first four finishers are displayed on the tote board.  The rest of the horses are considered "off the board" because their numbers were not displayed on the board (tote board).  This is just horse racing jargon for saying that a horse will finish 5th or worse.)

Take a blank piece of paper and make the following three columns:
 

Then briefly look at each horse in the race and make a quick assessment of its chances and place it in the appropriate column.  Don't spend a lot of time doing this.  Just get a first impression and go with it.

You are simply "skimming" through the race to determine if it is a good 10-cent superfecta betting opportunity.  This will give you a good "read" on the race before you can get trapped into the eventual "zigging" and "zagging". 

You will know immediately if this is a good betting race or not depending on how many horses you end up with in the "Possible 1st/2nd" column as illustrated below (assuming a 10 horse field):

Example #1: These are just not good 10-cent superfecta betting races.  Your preliminary analysis has told you there are just too many contenders. 

Example #2: This is a better situation.  You have at least 3 but not more than 5 horses (50% of a field) to focus on to find your "KEY" horse or horses.  You will be making better decisions because you will not be distracted with the rest of the field.

Example #3: There are just not enough horses to work with.
 

Dividing the field into groups is a good way to begin the handicapping process as it pertains to the 10-cent superfecta.  You want to find out if you have a good "read" on a race before you start investing your time and money.  If you can narrow down the potential 1st/2nd place finishers to just a handful of horses then you have a good "read" on the race and it is worthy of your time and money.

You also will have identified your potential 3rd/4th place finishers which will make putting together your 10-cent superfecta betting combination that much easier.  In addition, leaving out the "off the board" horses will help keep your cost down.

If you want to learn more about playing the 10-cent superfecta, be sure and get my booklet,
The 10-Cent Superfecta Betting Guide.

Paul Lambrakis

February 6, 2007