No matter how good a handicap you are, sooner or later you will end up in a losing streak. It’s really disheartening when you do what worked for you before and it doesn’t work now. You begin to question your ability to pick dogs and wonder if you’ll ever pick a winner again. Unless you have radically changed what worked in the past, you will pick winners again. But it can take a while, and some changes, to get back into your groove.
When I get to a bunch of lost races, the first thing I do is take a break. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you can’t just immerse yourself in dog racing without getting outside for fresh air from time to time. You become stale if you don’t have other interests in your life, something to balance the stress of going through programs and the stress of betting money on your own decisions.
Sometimes losing streaks can arise when you move away from logic towards momentum. Are you choosing dogs with good handicap factors, but then bet on other dogs on the spur of the moment? Or are you betting on the dogs you pick with a good handicap method, but then “cover” them with “insurance bets” in case they don’t go in? This is a quick way to lose money and pick winners, while losing at the same time. That’s not something you want to do, because it makes you feel like a fool.
If you’re spending more money on a race than your bets can reasonably recoup, it’s time to stop and take a look at your methods. Sit in a quiet place with a cup of coffee, preferably decaf, and really think about how you’ve been gambling lately. Are you spreading your bets all over the place? Are you betting on races that you don’t have strong feelings about, just because you want to have something in every race?
Are you aware of how much money you are spending and losing on the track? Or are you just overlooking it so you don’t feel so bad about how much you’ve thrown lately on bad bets that you didn’t really think through first? Maybe what you need is a fresh start. Maybe it’s time to change the way you operate before you blow your entire budget.
A good way I’ve found to do this is to take a few days off. Then, hit the track on a day when there’s a good show. Carry a small amount of CASH with you. No credit or debit cards or any other source of money. Cash only. Choose the dogs you want to bet on and bet on them the moment you enter the arena. Then get something to eat and drink and sit back and watch the races.
Do not get up except to go to the bathroom or leave the track. No outside bets, insurance bets, or bets because “dog 7 looks great” and someone tells you it’s a piece of cake. He just watches the races, collect your money and go home. If he loses all the bets, at least he didn’t spend more money than he planned to spend. Sometimes it’s more important to do what you promised yourself you would do (show some self-discipline) than to earn money.
Do this a few times and you just might get back into a winning frame of mind, picking dogs and betting with smart money management, and win. Do this as a regular routine and you may find that on most rides you come home from the track a winner and losing streaks are few and far between.