The best horse racing betting system is one you can live with without losing your mind or your bankroll. That is not always easy. I have tried progressive bets, martingales, flat bets, and Kelly bets to name a few.

If you’re like me, your bets are behind your downside when it comes to success. It is one thing to pick winners in races and quite another to make it profitable. Earning money from horse racing is not an easy trick.

With that being said, based on my years of experience, here are some thoughts and tips for making a profit while betting on ponies.

A lot depends on your nerves and your mood. Some days you feel brave and seem to be able to see the world on its own terms and whip it around, while other days you just want to navigate without any major ups and downs or problems.

I once used a modified version of the Dutch Shultz method to play exactas and a progressive betting scheme. It worked well, but when there were long losing streaks, progressive betting could be quite expensive. I used this for several months and was way ahead of the game but like all good things in life it came to an end. I started to lose and saw my winnings being eaten to pieces. When it became apparent that he was done and it was time to call the dogs and pee on the fire, he was still ahead, but not by much.

Worst of all, my ego and spirit were severely damaged. There are few things in life worse than earning a piece of change only to have it disappear as quickly as you made it out to be. Therefore, I do not recommend that you always use progressive betting, but there are times when it is great.

The form of progressive betting that I use now is a daily form. When I feel good and have located some attractive horses using the “Willies Workouts” method, I will bet on the first horse of the day to win. I use my daily bankroll and distribute it equally among as many horses as I have to bet. If I have $500 and 5 horses to bet, I’ll start with a base bet of $100 per horse.

If the first horse wins, I spread the winnings over the next four bets. So if I got $400 for the winning bet, I’d split it among the next four horses left that day. I am now betting the original $100 that I had reserved for each horse, in addition to the $100 that I won. My base bet is now $200 for each remaining horse for that day.

If any of the following horses win, I also distribute that money among my bets. As you can see, if I have a streak, I can win a lot of money, of course, I can also lose it all. That is the problem with this way of betting. You may have a few winners of the day but still go home broke, not a good feeling or ego boost. If you bet flat and show a profit by winning a few bets, you may go home with a profit, but not as much as you get using the system I just described.

When I’m doing this form of betting, I guess you could call it modified parlay, I always stop and assess the situation before placing the final bet for the day. If I’m way ahead, I might take a profit and put it in my pocket and then bet what’s left. That way, even if I lose the last horse, I go home with a profit, or at least what I started the day with.

There are other days when I’m just not in the mood to ride the roller coaster and I’ll bet flat on every one of my selections, if I can get the odds I want of course.

It all comes down to there being no right or wrong way to gamble, just the way that works best for you and your temperament. IF you keep your old programs and revise them by experimenting with different forms of betting, you may find that a progressive or parlay betting system would have given you better returns than flat betting. That’s a thought and you might want to give it a try, but be warned, progressives and combo bets can be hard on your blood pressure and bankroll.