Trip Notes & Video Review in Your Handicapping Process

Some basic advice for building trip notes and then constructing a wager

I wanted to share this example from the YouTube Channel of FatBaldGuyRacing.

Trip Notes 101

This is a basic example of looking at a past trip to try and determine if a horse might have something behind it’s most recent past performance.

In the video, the handicapper Dan Cronin looks at Youknownothing and his past trip as he works to handicap Turfway, Race 8 - #10 on December 11, 2024. Turfway is a tough track with it’s large fields and synthetic surface.

I think the comments are instructive - especially if you’re new to this, as Dan explains what he is seeing from Youknownothing’s past race. Listening to and learning from experienced horseplayers is a must for the up and coming ADW player.

That’s the 101 version of this. And that video is posted below.

Trip Notes: 201

Youknownothing, #10 went off at 2:1

Finished 3rd and paid $3.20 to show

In this case, the betting public was attuned to this past trip and bet the horse down to 2:1 - which was certainly a terrible price for this horse. By my count there were at least 6 viable contenders in the race that were difficult to separate. I couldn’t bet him at 2-1 or even 3-1.

But given his late running style and the Kentucky breakage rules, I liked him to hit the board and just bet $40 to show on him returning a total of $64.