Horse racing handicapping has been around for quite some time and it is still the most widely used "system" for picking winning horses. In any given race the odds are overwhelmingly against you. Regardless of how good or how lucky you are, you cannot help but lose more than you win. This is where horse racing handicapping comes in. It's a way to help tip the odds more in your favor by eliminating those horses that have a statistical disadvantage.

Imagine having only 4 or 5 horses to play in any given race. Would it make your picks easier? You bet! So, how can you use handicapping to make better picks and to win more? There are quite a few ways you can eliminate certain horses but here are some of the most used ways that will get you off to a flying start.

Speed Handicapping

The fastest horse win race and that's a fact. Although they won't win every race, over time the faster horses perform better. By eliminating the slow horses from any particular race you can cull almost half the field.

Form Handicapping

Like any sport star, horses go in and out of form. No horse is always on top of it's game and horse go through dips in performance. By looking at a horse's immediate performance (3 t 4 races back) you can get a pretty good idea of how that horse is performing currently. Compare that against it's career performance and you can see if it's in form or not. You should also look at other factors like illness, injury and other factors that may play a part in performance.

Favorites

While some punters swear by and only bet on the favorites it is not the way I recommend you go. In fact, I would suggest that you handicap all the favorites since most are only false favorites. Eliminating the favorites from the starting lineup will also cut 3 or 4 horses from your selection and significantly improve your chances of winning.