Product Description

Winning Moves: How To Win At Horse Racing includes a successful horse race handicapping process based on the idea of catalysts. Kentucky Derby fans will enjoy a seperate method in the book that has picked the Kentucky Derby winner 8 out of the last 12 years using only 1-2 horses. Additional chapters cover advice from professionals horse players on how to structure exotic bets for maximum profit, extreme race shapes based on favorites and early pars, why people lose and more. Winning Moves is filled with examples and step by step instructions so you know exactly how to apply the material you're reading.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #720561 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-25
• Binding: Paperback
• 214 pages

Review
"....a must-read by any serious player of the game."

Over the last several years, Daily Racing Form has ramped up their book division, DRF Press, and they've published a whole spate of excellent, innovative handicapping books that have given the horseplayer a wide and varied perspective of the game. They've done a good job of cornering the market with their strong brand, but every once in a while a book slips under the radar of the big publishing company and makes its own mark because of its excellent content. One such book was Dean Arnold's A Bettor Way; A Winner's Guide to Wagering on the Races, which was published in 2005. More recently , the handicapping book that has emerged from under-the-radar is Prentice Mannetter's Winning Moves; How To Win At Horse Racing.

Available for purchase at Amazon.com, Mannetter's book takes an overall look at the game, from the typical horseplaying staples like money management, record keeping, and exotic wagering, but it also provides some interesting twists. With chapters on stakes racing, particularly the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, as well as chapters the give specific handicapping advice and wagering strategies, Winning Moves has something for every level of player. Mannetter perhaps best known by Horseplayer Magazine readers as the author of "Betting the Pick 4; Three Big Mistakes Players Make and Effective Strategies for Small Bankrolls," which appeared in the January/February 2009 issue of this magazine, has a background in finance and likes to champion the notion of "catalysts"-unique approaches to handicapping that allow a player to land on a horse that most traditional handicappers wouldn't land on. Because Mannetter takes the contrarian approach, his advice is often fresh and controversial.

In short, Winning Moves is a worth addition to the handicapping genre and a must-read by any serious player of the game. --Horseplayer Magazine, March/April 2009 Issue

About the Author
Prentice Mannetter has published 2 books on horse racing and has written for multiple professinal horse racing publications including Horseplayer Magazine and Practical Punter. He has also worked within the horse racing industry.

Customer Reviews

Up The Track and OTM
The first question to ask is, who is Prentice Mannetter and why would you buy a book from him purporting to tell you about how to win at horse racing? I'm afraid there is not much to reveal about that. The author doesn't write much about himself personally except to say he is not a "professional" horse player. That statement alone doesn't bother me as I think there are alot of "professional" horse players out there who seem to make lots of income by means other than wagering on horses. However many of these professionals do at least keep their sidelines in the realm of thoroughbred racing. The author does not elaborate on what his actual profession is. A Google search revealed nothing.

To the book itself. The author opens with a discussion of catalysts and changes. For those of you not familiar with what a catalyst actually is, it can be defined as an agent that facilitates change in another object without actually altering itself. Biologically, enzymes can be considered catalysts as they facilitate chemical reactions that are necessary for us to maintain our current state of animation.

Then the author lists and discusses various "catalysts" he believes will effect the outcome of a race. I use the term "catalysts" advisedly as I don't believe the author properly applies the definition, but this is mere semantics and, really, a minor quibble. What the author really describes are existing traits of the horse such as how fast can it run, or changes such as claims, class drops, equipment changes, etc. There is nothing really new here. In fact, the book started to remind me alot of "The One-Minute Handicapper" by Frank DiTondo, except the author didn't provide the neat charts and dry erase boards and markers.

Next the author takes us through and handicaps a card using the methodology. The first thing the author does is separate contenders from non-contenders using speed figures. Already now I have parted ways with the author. While it is my belief that speed figures can be useful, I don't feel that speed figures can simply be taken at face value as there are many factors in racing that can effect how fast a horse actually runs in a given race. Automatically eliminating horses because they don't meet a criteria such as speed figures can take you off of many live horses at long prices.

The author chooses to go through the Jan. 19, 2008 Fairgrounds card, wins a few, loses a few, and some get rained out. You, dear reader, can take that for what its worth as even the author admits that you've never seen any book writer demonstrate a losing day using his method. I have to say, after the first race or two, my eyes started to glaze over. I noted on the notes page that was conveniently provided that the author didn't seem to take into account the surface or track conditions that the figures were acquired on, nor did he mention the current condition of the Fair Grounds track. However I did note that the turf races had been moved to dirt possibly implying that these races were run on an off track. Long story short, the gist of the method seemed to be tallying up the changes, and the horses with the most changes are the choices. Somehow, that seems to be just a little too simplistic to handicap something as complex as a horse race.

Next the author takes us on a discussion of race shapes and how to use Quirin figures to determine the probable front runners, pressers, stalkers, and closers. He discusses various strategies to use depending on how the horses sort out based on the Q figs. (Side note: For those of you who use the DRF, Q figs are not provided and you have to calculate them yourselves. The Brisnet PP's do provide the Q figs.) The information provided in this chapter will be useful to new handicappers but doesn't reveal anything new to experienced handicappers who are already well familiar with the effects speed duels, or a loose on the lead horse can have on a race.

After the race shape interlude, its back to handicapping more races from other tracks for January 19 and more of the same. Eventually I just had to skip ahead to the next chapter where the author provides some advice on record keeping and capital preservation.

To the author's credit, the importance to record keeping and money management to the serious horseplayer are often given short shrift in many handicapping books. Of course, if one is not a serious horseplayer, why worry about long-term results at the races if you only go on Derby day. Unfortunately, here the author tells you that record keeping and capital preservation are important but not much more. In other words, he gives short shrift to the topic here, but does discuss it in more detail later.

Next there is the plug for the computer program at winmoneybetting.com. (which is currently not avaiable according to the web-site). The plug acts as a kind of intermission to part 2 of the book called Winning moves.

In this section of the book we are given betting strategies and advice. Told we need to find the right handicapping method best fitting our own personal strengths and weaknesses, and why people lose. Then we are treated "Handicapping General" which offers a potpourri of racing generalisms, and "Money Management" where the author gives a few more details on methods of capital preservation.

The author discusses in particular the Martingale system and why it is not a particularly good method of capital preservation. He discusses the pros and cons of using a simple percentage of your bank roll (which is my personal method due to its simplicity), and the advantages and disadvantages of the Kelly and 1/2 Kelly systems (which I've tried but gave up on because I was spending so much time trying to calculate what my proper bet would be I couldn't focus on anything else). And probably a few more that I can't really recall because by this time he was starting to get repetitive, and I was beginning to doze off from lack of interest.

In summary, this is not a book I can recommend. The organization of the book seems to be somewhat chaotic as the author flits about from topic to topic in a seemingly random manner. While the author does cover a broad swath of handicapping topics, he really doesn't offer anything new to the discussion, and these topics have already been covered better and in more detail by other authors. I can't even recommend the actual handicapping section for beginners because I think they will treat it as a mechanical, no-brainer method without bothering with the nuances that the author does try to elaborate on in some parts of the book.

If I have to give the book a rating in horsey terms, I'd have to say that it finished up the track and out of the money for me.

Pretty helpful book, I liked it!
I've been following horse racing for a few years now and overall I was impressed by the book. I figure if I get one good idea from a book it's worth it.

I've read a lot of handicapping books so some of the information was review but it has enough new concepts to make it worthwhile. I've already won some races I would have missed.

I like the idea of handicapping with catalysts and the whole methodology is well laid out with full race examples. One of my pet peeves with other books is that they only show the horse they're talking about and not the whole race. I thought the section on exotic betting structure and money management was very valuable, I'm still trying to digest it all.

In summary; not everything in the book is new but I've been able to use some of the information to win races I wouldn't have before. It's changed the way I handicap turf and polytrack races. I still refer back to it and keep picking things up which is probably the best compliment I can give it.

Winning Moves: How To Win At Horse Racing
This was a complete waste of money. Nothing new to add to what is already out there from more notable authors. I'm not going to give you any particulars because it isn't worth discussing what is in this book.