Thoroughbred horse racing, despite its seemingly long traditions and prestige, is not an ancient type of race. Thoroughbred horses themselves, as a breed, don’t actually go back much farther than 300 years, while the races that bear their name were only formally established late in the nineteenth century. That means these types of races have only been run for perhaps 150 years, with harness races coming in a close second for longevity.

The thoroughbred horses were bred in England, crossing males, and were shipped to North America in the early 18th century. But organized thoroughbred horse races didn’t start for another 150 years or so, even though the first racetrack was constructed as early as 1665, on Long Island. It wasn’t until the American Stud Book was created in 1868 that things really got organized. Harness racing, too, made a sort of parallel history, when a new breed known as standard-bred horses branched off from the thoroughbreds.

Thoroughbred horse racing was still rather suspect as an organized sport, even after it became officially systematized. The reason was that until 1908, betting was seriously frowned upon among the American populace. This meant there wasn’t much incentive for the races to proliferate, when the disapproval was so strong. However, in 1908 the new pari-mutuel form of betting was established, in which all bets made were collected into a common pot and divided equally among the winners after each race. People could now bet on their horse racing selections, and the races began to multiply.

When pari-mutuel betting came into the sport of thoroughbred horse racing, it helped this racing to become more popular, yet this popularity continued on a roller-coaster throughout the twentieth century. It slowed around the time of the second world war, but increased towards the end of the century. What began the most recent rise was the fame of certain horses like Seattle Slew or Secretariat, and in more recent years it has been perpetuated through the internet, both via online betting sites and the many horse racing analysis and information websites. The beginnings of these races and the breed itself were relatively modest, but now they have risen to fame and have achieved an assured place in North American history.|It’s a measure of the success of thoroughbred horse racing that it feels like it’s had a very long history. Its most prestigious races, such as the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes (known as the Triple Crown), are deeply steeped in tradition. But you don’t have to delve into horse racing information for very long before you discover that even the breed of thoroughbred horses is only slightly older than the United States. And the races in which they excel were established not much more than 150 years ago.

It still took another three or four decades for the future of thoroughbred horse racing to become really secure, however. This was because there was betting at these horse races, but much of the American public frowned on such things. But in 1908, the system changed so that bettors were no longer betting against “the house” (i.e. the race track itself), but all bets were put into a common pool, and were divided among winners when the race was done. Now people could bet the horse racing odds to their heart’s content, and the number of races increased.

When pari-mutuel betting came into the sport of thoroughbred horse racing, it helped this racing to become more popular, yet this popularity continued on a roller-coaster throughout the twentieth century. It lagged somewhat, during and after the Second World War, then rose in the latter part of the century. What began the most recent rise was the fame of certain horses like Seattle Slew or Secretariat, and in more recent years it has been perpetuated through the internet, both via online betting sites and the many horse racing analysis and information websites. The beginnings of these races and the breed itself were relatively modest, but now they have risen to fame and have achieved an assured place in North American history.|Thoroughbred horse racing, despite its seemingly long traditions and prestige, is not an ancient type of race. Thoroughbred horses themselves, as a breed, don’t actually go back much farther than 300 years, while the races that bear their name were only formally established late in the nineteenth century. That means these types of races have only been run for perhaps 150 years, with harness races coming in a close second for longevity.

The thoroughbred horses were bred in England, crossing English mares with Arabian stallions, and were brought to North America in the early eighteenth century. But organized thoroughbred horse races didn’t start for another 150 years or so, even though the first racetrack was constructed as early as 1665, on Long Island. It wasn’t until the American Stud Book was created in 1868 that things really got organized. Harness racing, too, developed a sort of parallel history, when a new breed known as standard-bred horses branched off from the thoroughbreds.

Thoroughbred horse racing was still rather precarious as an organized sport, even after it became formally systematized. The reason was that until 1908, betting was seriously frowned upon among the American populace. This meant there wasn’t much incentive for the races to proliferate, when the disapproval was so strong. However, in 1908 the new pari-mutuel form of betting was established, in which all bets made were collected into a common pot and divided equally among the winners after each race. People could now bet on their horse racing selections, and the races began to multiply.

The future of thoroughbred horse racing wasn’t universally rosy, though, even after betting was allowed. There were continued rises and falls in popularity throughout the twentieth century, but since the 1980s the interest in this type of racing has risen fairly steadily. The internet has been an important tool in furthering these races in the past decade or so, as people can gather horse racing news and information by this means, and can now even use it to place bets. With its history and prestige now firmly established, it doesn’t look as though thoroughbred racing is likely to fade from popularity any time soon.

A little About the Author:

David Jones is keen in Horse racing events of all kinds and will travel the world to watch major events whenever possible. David enjoys a healthy bet on regular occasions, but always recommends one does not get carried away betting on horses!

For a living David also runs an Insurance business which provides specialized electronic gadget cover for standalone items such as Laptop Insurance Cover and phone Insurance. Some electronic items are these days subject to high levels of insurance fraud such as iPhone 3GS Insurance, so that takes up more of David’s time than other products.

The authors favourite event is in the UK and is well known around the world as The Cheltenham Gold Cup, which is internationally recognised as probably the most glamours horse racing events in the world.

The United Kingdom has the most diverse racetracks you will ever find the world. We have straight, right-handed, and left-handed tracks, on turf and artificial surfaces.

This however can cause a few problems when it comes to betting. In the US, all tracks are left-handed, and have sectional timing. This is not possible on UK tracks, as the rails can often be moved to protect certain parts of the track. So you may have a 5 furlong race officially, but in reality it may ne 5 furlongs one day, and then the next the move the rails so it is 5 furlongs and 20 yards. This makes sectional timing pretty useless.

Having a wide variety of tracks though does have its advantages. The racing does not become repetitive and you also get what we call ‘horses for courses’. This is when a horse will win again and again at a certain track, but never runs well at other tracks. This generally happens at our most weird tracks such as Chester, a left-handed track where 85% of the race is on a bend, and Brighton, with a number of bends as well as up and down, and a camber.

The UK also holds three types of horse racing:

• National Hunt: This is when the horse jump fences or hurdles (smaller fences). The main season for this is Autumn/Winter, although as long as the ground is fine it does happen all year round now.
• All Weather (AW): This is basically what the Americans would refer to as dirt racing. Generally in the UK this was for low grade horses during the off-season, but with the opening of Kempton, we now get much higher class racing, and are now often used as a stepping stone for International dirt racing.
• Turf: Turf racing is generally accepted as flat racing on grass. The main season is March to September, but it is not run on turf throughout the winter due to the ground conditions, although with climate change we see more and more soft ground during the main season.

With over 50 racetracks, not many of them are actually the same. York is similar to Newbury and Haydock, with large sweeping turns and a long run-in. Brighton is more like Epsom with strange bends and a camber.

Then we have the unique tracks, Chester mentioned earlier, Newmarket, the largest racing heath in the world with races over 1.5 miles run on a straight track, not only that, Newmarket actually has two racetracks on the heath. Probably the best well known track around the world for uniqueness is the Aintree Grand National with its specialised fences, and watched by over 100 million every year.

Below are listed some of my favourite tracks:

Aintree
Bath
Cartmel
Catterick
Doncaster
Ffos Las
Goodwood
Haydock Park
Hexham
Kempton Park
Market Rasen
Newcastle
Newton Abbot
Redcar
Sandown Park
Southwell
Towcester
Wetherby
Wolverhampton
Worcester

Vist our web site for information on profitable Horse Racing Systems

So you want to become a professional gambler like me? Do you simply wish to make some extra beer money; pay for a holiday, a little bonus cash in the bank, or go the full hog and turn into a full-time professional gambler, or just simply a semi-pro, that is making some money from gambling, whilst still retaining a job?

Although my gambling life is based on horse racing, these tips will work for any form of pro-gambling.

+ Long term horse racing profits+

Your initial year might only see you betting banks in the developing stages. After which they ought to really take-off. Take a peak at the members system research on my forum to see the difference between the first year, and those following. In some cases you may perhaps only start with a 1 stake, and produce 100 that year, but if you’re doing 10 systems, that’s a prospective 1,000, and is likely 1,000 more than you’ve ever finished a year in profit previously.

You will furthermore have to endure losses, at times wiping out your betting bank. This doesn’t mean the system has failed, although a few do (usually though you’ll find a system that fails to profit in a year gets back to winning ways the next year), but that your betting bank was too low, or stake too high. Re-adjust them, and start again, but do reserach first into what your max stake might be, potential losing runs, and adjust everything to manage the risk. I generally use a 3 strikes and the system is dumped rule. If it fails that many times, it is a dud.

Laying does have a tendency to throw up faster profits due to the higher quantity of daily qualifiers, but can suffer days that make you want to cry, but they do have the possibility to increase your betting bank by up to 100% a month. It is not unknown for laying banks to drop 80% though! In order to cover all angles, its best to run win and lay betting banks.

Whatever way you decide, here a five tips:

• The vast majority of the population gamble in the hope they win a massive wad of money, and although this occasionally happens, I can wage that you don t really know that many punters who have won sufficient to retire on (excluding the lottery). In fact you probably know very few, if any, who in reality break even, fewer still of those that profit. According to Betfair records, only 0.7% makes more than £15,000 a year.
• Notice I said the word business there? This is very important, as professional gambling must be run like a business or you will potentially fail. You need betting banks, logs of every bet and stake, betting exchange accounts, bookies, etc. You need to be able to track every penny/cent that passes through a bookie or an exchange, and be kept in such away an accountant would thank you for it.
• Take a peek at the professional poker players, yes they get paid a lot of cash, have a nice house, but they have to spend the majority of their lives travelling to tournaments around the globe, make appearances, and subsequently your 50th 5,000 mile flight of the year is no longer fun. On top of that, tournaments can last 3-5 days, so you can be sitting at the table, playing only the odd hand, for 12+ hours a day, in a room full of smoking perspiring people, Annie Duke apart!
• If you are just looking to turn into semi-pro, to add a bit of cash to your wages, or just make beer money, you still have to handle it as though it is a business. That way you can then see at a glance what you are good at, what is letting you down, and take steps to improve. If you just want fun bets, then you do not need bother with records, but it is a useful habit to have, but certainly use a separate betting bank for fun bets.
• So if you’re prepared to put in the hours, you may possibly make gambling pay, but it is a long road, and you will make plenty of errors, and in this business, errors can prove extremely costly.

So there you have it, you have an idea of what life is really like for a professional gambler if you want to profit from betting. You may find this horse racing forum is useful, plenty of gambling advice.

The United Kingdom has the most diverse racetracks you will ever find the world. We have straight, right-handed, and left-handed tracks, on turf and artificial surfaces.

This however can cause a few problems when it comes to betting. In the US, all tracks are left-handed, and have sectional timing. This is not possible on UK tracks, as the rails can often be moved to protect certain parts of the track. So you may have a 5 furlong race officially, but in reality it may ne 5 furlongs one day, and then the next the move the rails so it is 5 furlongs and 20 yards. This makes sectional timing pretty useless.

Having a wide variety of tracks though does have its advantages. The racing does not become repetitive and you also get what we call ‘horses for courses’. This is when a horse will win again and again at a certain track, but never runs well at other tracks. This generally happens at our most weird tracks such as Chester, a left-handed track where 85% of the race is on a bend, and Brighton, with a number of bends as well as up and down, and a camber.

The UK also holds three types of horse racing:

• All Weather (AW): This is basically what the Americans would refer to as dirt racing. Generally in the UK this was for low grade horses during the off-season, but with the opening of Kempton, we now get much higher class racing, and are now often used as a stepping stone for International dirt racing.
• Turf: Turf racing is generally accepted as flat racing on grass. The main season is March to September, but it is not run on turf throughout the winter due to the ground conditions, although with climate change we see more and more soft ground during the main season.
• National Hunt: This is when the horse jump fences or hurdles (smaller fences). The main season for this is Autumn/Winter, although as long as the ground is fine it does happen all year round now.

With over 50 racetracks, not many of them are actually the same. York is similar to Newbury and Haydock, with large sweeping turns and a long run-in. Brighton is more like Epsom with strange bends and a camber.

Then we have the unique tracks, Chester mentioned earlier, Newmarket, the largest racing heath in the world with races over 1.5 miles run on a straight track, not only that, Newmarket actually has two racetracks on the heath. Probably the best well known track around the world for uniqueness is the Aintree Grand National with its specialised fences, and watched by over 100 million every year.

Below are listed some of my favourite tracks:

Ascot
Beverley
Cartmel
Cheltenham
Doncaster
Exeter
Folkestone
Haydock Park
Hexham
Kempton Park
Market Rasen
Musselburgh
Nottingham
Redcar
Salisbury
Stratford
Thirsk
Uttoxeter
Wolverhampton
York

Vist our web site for information on profitable Horse Racing Systems

So you really want to become a professional gambler just like me? Do you simply want to make a bit of extra beer money; pay for a nice holiday, have a little bonus cash in the bank, or go the full monty and turn into a full-time professional gambler, or do you just simply want to be a semi-pro, that is making money from gambling, while still retaining a job?

My own gambling life revolves around horse racing, but you will find that these tips work for any form of pro-gambling.

Whatever way you decide, here a five tips:

• Notice I said the word business there? This is very important, as professional gambling must be run like a business or you will potentially fail. You need betting banks, logs of every bet and stake, betting exchange accounts, bookies, etc. You need to be able to track every penny/cent that passes through a bookie or an exchange, and be kept in such away an accountant would thank you for it.
• Take a peek at the professional poker players, yes they get paid a lot of cash, have a nice house, but they have to spend the majority of their lives travelling to tournaments around the globe, make appearances, and subsequently your 50th 5,000 mile flight of the year is no longer fun. On top of that, tournaments can last 3-5 days, so you can be sitting at the table, playing only the odd hand, for 12+ hours a day, in a room full of smoking perspiring people, Annie Duke apart!
• In order to do this you have to be prepared to disregard most of what you know concerning betting, and begin the learning process all over again. If you are one of those gamblers that kid yourself that you are winning, or at least breaking even, you certainly need to disregard everything.
• The vast majority of the population gamble in the hope they win a massive wad of money, and although this occasionally happens, I can wage that you don t really know that many punters who have won sufficient to retire on (excluding the lottery). In fact you probably know very few, if any, who in reality break even, fewer still of those that profit. According to Betfair records, only 0.7% makes more than £15,000 a year.
• Let me tell, I am aware of a lot of professional gamblers and not any of them get near to such a fantasy, in reality we are fortunate to manage a holiday at all as UK horse racing happens over 360 days a year, with much more night racing to come, including new floodlit racecourses, that means additional hours work. Of course we do not have to do it, but it is a passion you rarely get with any other job. How many times do you leap out of bed dying to begin work? I do that each day.

+On course horse racing secrets+

Just a quick tip, but one which ought to help you find additional winners while on the racecourse.

Before racing begins, hang around the bookies looking for any punters placing a nice wad of cash on a horse. If he/she is wearing a suit, it s probably best ignoring them, as these are big business men trying to impress their clients or boss, and likely don t have a clue which end the head is on.

If they look like ordinary Joe Punter, but are betting big, they may be a pro. You are probably best keeping an eye on them for the first few races to make sure they do know what they are doing, and keep an eye on more than one, as professional gamblers are pretty rare.

Watch which racehorses they gamble on, and watch the race. If that horse wins, or runs well, watch to see which horse they bet on next. Again, watch the race, and the next one. After that, if you consider this person to have good expertise, you can follow what he does for the remainder of the day.

We don t mind folk doing that, as we can t hide from view what we do, although a few will get piddled off with being stalked! Don’t follow in our shadow though, as you will get a number of choice words, as you wouldn t like being tailed by a strange looking person would you?

You can make contact with pro’s on the track, although they might not give you the days selections, the majority will offer you advice, and a number of pointers for the future.

Very few people mange to become professional gamblers, it is only those who put the work in that will make decent money out of it. If you are looking for further information please visit my horse racing forum.