Customer Reviews (1)

Another simple points system for handicapping harness races.
Ron is a fellow Western New Yorker who believes in establishing some order to the handicapping process by using a points system. This is good for the beginning to intermediate handicapper but I have learned that professional handicapping relies on other factors which can't be quantified as easily as this author would have you believe they can.
This book has sound basic principles and the example races are based on the WNY racing scene. Just to see the names of the horses and drivers from our area reprinted here brought back fond memories of the old days I spent hanging around Bflo. raceway and Batavia Downs. ... Read more

Book Description
Based on the innovative analysis of more than 11,000 races at 14 tracks across the country, you will learn all the important elements of step-by-step handicapping and betting strategy. And more than anything else, you will learn how to handicap for more winners and more fun. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

So-so
Being a novice handicapping book buyer but an experienced handicapper, I purchased this book thinking that it might add a little something to my arsenal, however it fell waaaaay short of that.The layout of the book is weak in that it provides terrible images of the program pages and then refers to that program page 1-2 pages ahead which causes one to have to keep turning back-and-forth which, for my taste, interferes with continuity and, therefore, comprehension.

It, like almost any other book, did have SOME information that was useful, however, this book is not for the experienced (I should say GOOD) handicapper.It's more for the novice that needs to acquire some basic handicapping skills.

In my opinion, finding "vulnerable favorites" (as the book purports to teach you how to do) was more of the focus of this book instead of finding the best horse.Most favorites are vulnerable by virtue of the fact that MOST of them lose, depending on the track, upwards of 72%.

In short, if you're new to harness racing and need to know basic terminology, how to compute a horse's last half time, how to adjust for different track speed ratings and the like, this book may be a good STARTER book for you.If you're looking to improve on existing handicapping skills, you probably ought to look beyond this book.

More of the same. sigh.
Bill Heller, Harness Overlays: Beating the Favorite (Bonus Books, 1993)

I wanted to like this book. I really did. I own two other Heller books (Overlay, Overlay and Turf Overlays), and they're both at least worthwhile, if not the rock-solid sourcebooks one gets from Brohamer or Quirin. But back ten or so years ago, I read Tom Ainslie's book on harness racing. Ainslie is the undisputed king of Thoroughbred writers, the man who brought Thoroughbred handicapping into the modern age; he is the foundation sire of every handicapper since 1968, in one way or another, directly or indirectly. And, simply put, his harness book was crap. Why I expected Bill Heller to do any better, I'm not sure.

Much of the problem with Harness Overlays lies in its vagueness. There are long stretches of information that are interesting (in at least one chapter, "interesting" is kind of a stretch), but their usefulness at the time of publication, much less eleven years later, is questionable at best. This is okay, relatively, when you've got a six-hundred-page tome and you want to throw in some interesting, not really all that relevant but it'll give the reader a break material. When your book is a quarter that length, you're going to end up with a reader who feels cheated. (By the way, the six hundred page tome I was thinking of when I wrote that is Olmsted's Compleat Handicapper. $65 when I bought it eight years ago, paid for itself on my first bet using one of its principles, and has been worth many times that much over the years. A must-have for any handicapper.)

What the vagueness masks is... very little, really. I take copious notes on handicapping books, usually so I can translate them into code for quick system testing. A slim book with much common-knowledge information or an older book that's had much repetition since and thus has become common knowledge, like Ainslie's Complete Guide to Thoroughbred Racing, will give me about four pages of notes; a book with some math in it and a few ideas I haven't seen before, e.g. Carroll's Handicapping Speed, will give me six or seven; a book heavy in advanced math concepts will give me twenty to thirty (e.g. Brohamer's Modern Pace Handicapping, still the best handicapping book I've ever read). How many pages did I get out of Harness Overlays? Less than one. As a handicapping manual, I can't recommend it in the least.

Where I can give it decent marks is in that vagueness I mentioned above. Two chapters are jockeys' responses to questionnaires about their driving strategies, and the right respondents (four from New York, four from Chicago) are all award-winning drivers. It's great to get into the minds of the best guys out on the track, and those two chapters alone are worth the price of admission. If you're looking for good, solid handicapping material on the trotters and pacers, stick to a guy who specializes in them (Jerry Connors, who wrote the Handicapping Beyond the Basics books, is probably your best bet; there's a dearth of good harness handicapping info out there). **

This book will help you make money...
I bought this book at Borders and it is an excellent book that will help you make money at the track.I thought I knew alot about harness racing but this book takes you to the next level.If your going to gamble make money when your doing it.I am so on fire since I started using this book that it is scary, I can't beleive how good I've gotten.Check this out friends.

The Harness Tips
This book helps you win big at the harrness tracks.It will help you learn how to beat the favorite. If you want to win buy this book ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Most important book on Harness racing
Though this guide was released in the late 1970's, I consider this to be the most important book written on Harness Racing.The book is well written and interesting, it is not an angles on gambling on races type of book.Instead it is an honest straight forward approach to attending Harness Racing and understanding the sport, its history and creating speed ratings from the racing program.Even regular attendees of the races can learn from this book, and enjoy the read as well. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Pretty good for the era it was written in.
Chaplin thoroughly investigates pace and breaks down speed for each portion of a race.He tries to quantify a horse's exertion level during each portion of the race. After doing a fine job in those regards, he totally blows it by suggesting the player can profit by playing any good shape overlay, regardless of how firm your opinion is on that contender and even goes on to state that the more contenders in a race, the better the bettors chances become. The seasoned player knows that these assumptions are simply not true and any time you don't have a firm conviction on who the winner will be, no amount of overlay will profit you.
After all, it's the horse with the best chances of winning that wins in the majority of cases, not necessarily the one with the best overlay odds. Anyone who thinks it's easier to pick winners by selecting any horse just because he's NOT the favorite is thinking backwards. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A Timeless Classic
Containing many quotes from famous gamblers of yesteryear and a points rating system that will put you onto the legitimate contenders, this is a must read for all harness handicapping fans. The most valuable aspect of this work is the elimination rules which allow the bettor to get rid of the non-contenders, right off the bat. Some of these eliminations are overlooked by the betting public, which will give you overlay opportunites.
The angles Professor Igor mentions are still valid today. For those track addicts that spend much time at the track, his description of the "head turned horse" is a great one to look for in the cheap claimers where a horse's form varies from week to week and horses racing "gimpy" aren't uncommon.
Although points rating systems for handicapping S-breds should be taken with a grain of salt due to the difficulty in quantifying inter-related and overlapping winning factors numerically, even the seasoned veteran player should be able to profit from this one.

harness racing gold
A book printed in the late 70's still usefull today.Angles are still effective in todays market,also contains a simple point system,that is still highly effective today

For beginner/intermediate player, insightfull yet outdated.
Shows reader how to disect the elements of harness racing and sets up a plausible system, while being light and humorous reading. The system offered is simple and fast, but I haven't been able to show a profit with it.The system may now be outdated or localized to his home track.But whatever the case, the aspiring player needs only to be able to combine these elements in the right way for their track to win. ... Read more

Book Description
Known as the “Winter Capital of Harness Racing,” Pompano Park has provided the only nighttime standardbred harness competition in Florida since its 1964 inaugural season. Prominent Kentucky horseman Frederick Van Lennep and his wife, Frances Dodge Van Lennep, built a $5.5-million track on the property of a failed 1926 thoroughbred track in Pompano Beach. Pompano Park has since hosted leading trainers, drivers, and champion horses, including Hall of Famers Stanley Dancer, Bill Haughton, and Delvin Miller and current leading drivers Bruce Ranger and Wally Hennessey. It also has been a mecca for celebrities who have enjoyed the racing action and entertainment. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A wonderful story, deserving of a movie!
The story of a non-descript, blue-collar Standardbred gelding, who developed into one of the greatest horses in the sport of harness racing.Rambling Willie was owned by Vivian Farrinton and trained by her husband Bob.This couple tithed Willie's earnings and the team was blessed with a racing career that lasted well past the norm, and comeback after comeback from injuries that would have ended a normal horse's racing career.This is a true story about big-time harness racing, a man who had gone into retirement until Willie came along, and a pair of owners who experienced the "ride" of a lifetime.After reading the book, you will understand why Rambling Willie was "the horse that God loved." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

my first look at horse ownership
when i first bought a harness horse this was the book that a friend told me i had to read. this is one of the most entertaining books i have ever read. it means more to a person who has raced horses as an owner than someone who has never been involved but anyone would enjoy it. it is the story of don eveans and how he became a horse racing nut,an owner, and a hall of fame harness writer.it is full of hilarious stories of the joys and heartbreaks of the sport that i also grew to love as an owner. ... Read more