Things You'll Need:
- Comfy walking shoes
- Casual clothing
- Racing program
- Pen
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Step 1
Visit any picturesque North American racetrack and you’ll feel the excitement of watching elegant thoroughbreds thunder around the track toward the finish line. Many seasoned handicappers frequent Off Track Betting facilities, but if you’ve never been to a race track before or never wagered on a horse, you’ll want to experience the thrill and excitement of watching live racing.
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Step 2
Watch the horses and trainers in the paddock before they parade by the grandstand for the first race. The success of any racehorse, talented or not, depends on the care, attention and knowledge of a skilled trainer and a top-quality stable staff who prepare a horse for racing. Trainers forge a special relationship with the horse. Though they don’t share a common language, the horse will approach a trainer and wait for him to become the leader. A good trainer brings this about not through coercion, but through understanding the horse's nature and using subtle persuasion to alleviate the horse’s natural instinct to flee.
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Step 3
Observe the jockeys in their colorful silks. Although life as a jockey conjures up glamorous images, it’s anything but. Most people don’t know the hard work involved in riding horses. Note how jockeys try to make a horse feel comfortable before a race. During the race, notice how jockeys ride their mounts to achieve the best possible placing around the track. Each jockey has certain strengths and weaknesses as well as characteristics, which will affect their finishing position.
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Step 4
Find out the times for watching early morning workout sessions, when the admission is free. Or you can breakfast at the track, dining by the rail as the horses are exercised, and listen to the experts as they tell you about the morning workouts. Another great option: Take a tour of the backstretch where you can get a close-up look of the horses in the barns or take a tour of a private horse farm.
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Step 5
Learn to read the racing program. Here, you’ll find the horse’s statistics. It helps to understand the horse’s speed rating, which is simply a numerical representation of how fast the horse is, with larger numbers being assigned to faster horses.
