posted May 9, 2008 at 20:26 in Triple Crown Articles

Lennon and McCartney were always ahead of the curve and they were right on the money with their song “I’m a Loser”.

‘I’m a Loser, and I’m not what I appear to be..she was a girl in a million, my friend, I should have known she would win in the end.. what have I done to deserve such a fate..’

In the world of horse racing, those horse bettors that avoid the losses are the ones that are around at the end to talk about it.

It’s not all about value and about making the ego score in a big field. It can also be about making the right decisions on a daily basis and enough right decisions to stay in action.

What horse bettors do to deserve such a losing fate can be seen every day at every track in the country.

Horse bettors that continue to struggle are the players that don’t have a time tested and proven strategy that wins.

In contrast, a winning bettor takes the time to research and test a method to make sure it can show long-term profits.

In other words, he uses patience like it’s his best friend. Winners will also test their method with real money making small wagers to learn and understand what really happens before betting seriously.

The thing that successful horse bettors do is work hard at their craft. They have the discipline and confidence structure and when a winning horse bettor finds a method that works he goes back to it again and again until the inevitable losing cycle rears it’s ugly head.

Face it, for pro and novices betting on horses is an emotional experience. Whether you are sitting alone in your living room or among thousands at the local emporium live, the pitfalls of the game are screaming at you and just waiting in the wings to take you down.

When horse bettors get frazzled, and we all do, the temptation to make bad bets takes over. And it happens to everybody.

The thing that separates the winning horse bettor and the losing bettor is a game plan, self control, the ability to know that today is not your last day on earth and that if you can pace yourself and learn from mistakes, you’ll be able to come back and bet and win another day.

The best horse bettors around know that if they limit action to the very best winning prospect, the chances that they can make a living at this sport increases exponentially. Just like a great NBA basketball player, horse bettors have to go with the flow and not force the action. Even when hoop superstars force the action instead of playing within the confines of the game, they falter.

The cagey horse bettors in the world let the bets come to them with a feeling that there’s always another day.

Finally, the thing that separates winners and losers is ego. Losers can’t stand being wrong. It is more important for the majority of people to select and be on the winner of a race than it is to win money.

And then they can scream and wave winning tickets, even though those tickets may not be worth the paper they are printed on.

Winning horse bettors do the opposite. They’re not about winning a bet, but all about making money on the race, figuring out on the fly what happened during the race and why, and then take that knowledge to the track the next day and add it to the winning arsenal.

Losers go home and cry and make excuses, winning horse bettors try to learn every day and implement those lessons daily.

Keep checking the Locker Room all through the Triple Crown season, as we will cover the trainers, horses and jockeys in each race. You can get your early Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs bets in now in the BetUS sportsbook in the Future / props section, under Horse Futures: 2008 Kentucky Derby.