Each of these examples runs somewhat contrary to general opinion about horseracing conditions and situations. And Picking Winners is loaded with more good stuff, like Beyer's change-of-pace theories, key-race handicapping and the use of the "logic of illogic" in picking high-priced winners.
A THEME WHICH also runs through the beck is the unquestionable truth that you meet the most amazing characters at the racetrack. As Beyer relates in one instances.
"I could not have guessed, from the outward appearances, that the man sitting next to me would exert more of an influence on my mind than would any of my professors at Harvard, Wearing a rumpled suit and an ancient straw hot, he looked the a typical racetrack bum. But when I caught a glimpse of the Reading Form he was studying so intensely, I got a different impression of the man,"
This was no ordinary Harvard professor or racetrack bum. This was Mr. D., a man who had come to Boston to serve as the consul for a South American country. When the government of his native land was overthrown by a left-wing coup, Mr. D. was out of a job and started betting the horses full-times. The socio-political aspects of horseracing can be plainly seen in the gentleman's moved insight into the sports.
"Mr, D.'s political views--his convictions about the treachery and duplicity of the Communist--helped shape his philosophy of handicapping. He believed in the conspiracy they of horse racing. He viewed all horses as looks manipulated by their trainers."
The natural outgrowth of such a belief is the theory that trainers fix all the races so they can pick up big payoffs on their horses when they win. Beyer refutes Mr. D., and insures us that trainers are basically an honest group, not knowing any more than an astute handicapper about who is going to win a race.
Beyer concludes by delving into the psychological aspects of being a good handicapper, how to notice the onset of major losing streaks before you are hopelessly mired in them, and how to manage your money at the racetrack with "prime" and "non-prime" bets. All external factors are potentially negative if they disturb your concentration, Beyer states, and that includes drinking and relations with the opposite sex. A great horseplayer must at least be unwaveringly serious in dedication to the sport.
Picking Winners is far any away the best of "how to beat the race" books. If you are serious about wining money at the races and willing to put some time into it. Beyer may have an everlasting effect on your life. If you are just getting started effect on your life. if you are just getting started in the business. Picking Winners may provide just the false security you need to really get into the sport.
The book ends with a classic example of racetrack logic as Beyer provides the reader with a race to be handicapped. Using the infinite knowledge absorbed from the preceding pages, we are steered toward an animal named "Where Am I," whose credentials fit perfectly into Beyer's scheme of things.
On the final page, we find that "Where Am I" was soundly trounced by a horse that had no business in the race in the first place. This leads to Beyer's definitive statement on horseracing: "Nobody ever said this was an easy game."