One of the advantages of going to a race track and watching live races is that you get to watch the horses being saddled and to observe them for a while before they run. The second best alternative, of course, is to watch them on a television monitor at an OTB, racebook, or some other venue. Of course, with horse racing now shown on television in the United States and still broadcast on the air in other countries, it is now possible to sit in your own home and watch them run.

Horseracing handicapping can now be done from home, but don't lose sight of the fact that being at the races and seeing the animals live is still the best. The reason for that is that these living creatures react to their environment and feelings so that the effect of their surroundings and their mood will have an impact on the race results. Observing them before they race is just another tool to add to your handicapping bag of tricks.

I have seen horses literally do a back flip in the paddock and still go out and win a race just minutes later, but that is a rare occurrence. It is much more likely that if an animal is that agitated, or frightened before a race, it isn't going to perform well. The same can be said of horses that break through the gate and have to be caught and led back and reloaded. They rarely win.

Horses that are all lathered up often break on top and set fast early fractions in a race, but rarely finish well. Learning to observe horses and making a few notes about their condition before a race can really help you to avoid bad bets and to find some really good bets at the horse races.

The ears of a horse can even indicate if it is paying attention to the jockey and trying to please or if it is nervous or distracted. Your job as a handicapper is to figure out what the signs say about the animal and wager accordingly. There are many ways to gamble in this world but one of the fun things about betting on horseracing is that you get to see beautiful live animals and to observe them and to note each one's unique character and personality. For some of us, that is half the fun.