How to Avoid Betting on Fixed Or Stiff Races
While the majority of horse races are honest races the temptation to fix a race and profit from it is going to get the best of some people from time to time. So as in anything else involving human beings and money, there is a certain amount of larceny in horse racing. I don't think it means you should stop betting on races for that reason only, but that you should be cautious.
I often heard howls of pain and disbelief after a horse race and cries of foul and fixed race, too. That is unavoidable because some people just can't face the fact that they lost and they made the wrong choices. Sometimes we even make the right choices and lose.
How can you make the right choices and lose? If you know that a particular bet wins about a third of the time and pays a profit of 15% ROI and you bet on that situation every time it arises, that means that for every three races you bet on, you will lose two. That is not uncommon in horse racing handicapping and betting.
It takes a certain amount of discipline and stoicism to handle that kind of life, but it is the only way to come out ahead in the long run. Whoever said that gamblers play the horses for instant gratification, didn't know what he was talking about. Good horseplayers who grind it out, race after race, have to have the patience of Job.
So how in the world can you tell before a race if it is fixed? Don't bother looking at the odds board because that will not tell the story. When the fix is in, the money isn't dumped into the pari mutuel pools at the track where everyone, including the racing secretary and other officials could see it. Sometimes a fixed race is bet in the offshore betting services by a group or syndicate that has arranged the fix.
The way they manage to put it over on the people who run those offshore betting services, which are illegal as far as the United States Government is concerned, by the way, is to set up multiple accounts that appear to the betting service or offshore sportsbook as legitimate accounts held by individuals in the US or some other country. They try to weed out accounts that are opened with false ID's but many times the people who fix the races have access to good false ID's that appear real to the sportsbook.
They then make bets on the horse or horses they know will win the race and cash on them through all those accounts. Sportsbooks may be suspicious of the fact that so many people bet a longshot and against a favorite and all got lucky on the same race, but they usually honor the bets because they don't want a bad reputation. It is hard enough getting people to gamble through them without appearing to be welschers.
If someone is going to fix a race, the best way to do it is to get one or two jockeys to stiff a big favorite. Then they can either bet the logical contenders, or for more insurance, in a short field, just buy off all the jockeys. Most jockeys are honest hard working people who value their licenses and won't stiff a horse. So that is a very difficult way to go.
My advice is, if you don't want to bet on a stiff race, don't bet on a horse going off at less than 2-1. That is the very horse that might be stiffed.
I often heard howls of pain and disbelief after a horse race and cries of foul and fixed race, too. That is unavoidable because some people just can't face the fact that they lost and they made the wrong choices. Sometimes we even make the right choices and lose.
How can you make the right choices and lose? If you know that a particular bet wins about a third of the time and pays a profit of 15% ROI and you bet on that situation every time it arises, that means that for every three races you bet on, you will lose two. That is not uncommon in horse racing handicapping and betting.
It takes a certain amount of discipline and stoicism to handle that kind of life, but it is the only way to come out ahead in the long run. Whoever said that gamblers play the horses for instant gratification, didn't know what he was talking about. Good horseplayers who grind it out, race after race, have to have the patience of Job.
So how in the world can you tell before a race if it is fixed? Don't bother looking at the odds board because that will not tell the story. When the fix is in, the money isn't dumped into the pari mutuel pools at the track where everyone, including the racing secretary and other officials could see it. Sometimes a fixed race is bet in the offshore betting services by a group or syndicate that has arranged the fix.
The way they manage to put it over on the people who run those offshore betting services, which are illegal as far as the United States Government is concerned, by the way, is to set up multiple accounts that appear to the betting service or offshore sportsbook as legitimate accounts held by individuals in the US or some other country. They try to weed out accounts that are opened with false ID's but many times the people who fix the races have access to good false ID's that appear real to the sportsbook.
They then make bets on the horse or horses they know will win the race and cash on them through all those accounts. Sportsbooks may be suspicious of the fact that so many people bet a longshot and against a favorite and all got lucky on the same race, but they usually honor the bets because they don't want a bad reputation. It is hard enough getting people to gamble through them without appearing to be welschers.
If someone is going to fix a race, the best way to do it is to get one or two jockeys to stiff a big favorite. Then they can either bet the logical contenders, or for more insurance, in a short field, just buy off all the jockeys. Most jockeys are honest hard working people who value their licenses and won't stiff a horse. So that is a very difficult way to go.
My advice is, if you don't want to bet on a stiff race, don't bet on a horse going off at less than 2-1. That is the very horse that might be stiffed.
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