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Walt · 48 years betting the horses Smart Money at the Track
Forty-eight years of exactas, trifectas and notebooks

Up to 26 cents of every trifecta dollar is gone before the gate opens. Nobody at the window tells you that.

I'm Walt. I've bet the horses since I was eighteen, and I've written down every ticket for most of that time. Those notebooks showed me where my money really went: the track's cut, the rounding, the late odds, and tickets that cost three times what I thought. This ebook is the money side of the game, in plain numbers. No system. No promises.

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Smart Money at the Track, by Walt
Free with the book

FREEThe Track Notebook
+
FREEThe Ticket Cost Card

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Plus 2 printable bonuses

free $24.

I. The problem

You remember the trifecta that paid. You don't remember the forty tickets that paid for it.

Ask ten horseplayers how they did last year and nine will say they about broke even. I said it for years. Then I started writing everything down and found out I hadn't broken even in any year I could remember.

That wasn't bad luck. Every pool loses its takeout before anybody is paid, up to 26 percent at the big tracks, and usually more on the exotics than on win bets. Breakage shaves the winners. The odds you see aren't the odds you get. A five-horse trifecta box costs $60 at a dollar. And in 2026 the tax rules changed so that a year where you break even can still leave you owing.

"You're not trying to beat the track. The track has already been paid. You're trying to be a little less wrong than the crowd, by more than the track takes."
II. What's inside

31 chapters. Six parts. Where every dollar goes, from the window to the tax man.

Every chapter has a story from my notebook, the numbers, and what I'd tell you at the window. The numbers come from the tracks' own wagering pages, the IRS and the law, a study of more than six million American horse starts, and the Hall of Fame records, not from my memory.

Part 1 · Where the money goes (6 chapters)

Who you're really betting against, the takeout at the big tracks, breakage, why you get the final odds, what six million starts say about favorites and longshots, and what it took the one man who beat the races.

Part 2 · The notebook (3 chapters)

Why I write down every bet, how my notebook is laid out, and how to read your own numbers against the one yardstick that's fair.

Part 3 · The bets, one by one (8 chapters)

Win, place and show, the exacta, the trifecta, the superfecta and the dime ticket, doubles and the Pick 3, the Pick 4 and Pick 5 without going broke, the Pick 6 and the jackpots, and nine bets I stopped making.

Part 4 · Money for one afternoon (4 chapters)

The bankroll, how much to put on one race, chasing in the last race, and the races I don't bet.

Part 5 · Before you bet (4 chapters)

What the morning line really is, the program and past performances the bettor's way, scratches, inquiries and the word "official", and the 2026 tax rules: the W-2G and the 90 percent rule.

Part 6 · What history teaches a bettor (6 chapters) and appendices

Secretariat paid 20 cents, Man o' War and a horse named Upset, the Derby longshots, 99-1 on the board, the Fix Six, and the thirteen Triple Crowns. At the back: what every ticket costs, a notebook page to copy, the takeout table and where to get help.

III. What this book isn't

No system. No picks. No promise that you'll win.

I don't have a system and I don't believe in them. The economists who went through six million American starts found that betting every favorite lost about 5.5 cents on the dollar, and betting 100-1 shots about 61. None of it was a profit. What this book does is show you what each bet costs before you make it, so the money you spend at the track goes on races you care about.

How it usually goes
  • Box five horses and hope
  • Bet every race on the card
  • Re-bet every winner the same afternoon
  • "About even" every December
What this book shows you
  • What every ticket costs, before you buy it
  • Which pools carry the biggest cut
  • How to pass the races that aren't bets
  • A notebook that tells you the truth, and that the IRS wants anyway
IV. Who wrote it

Not a trainer, not a bookie. The guy who puts the money in.

I never worked at a racetrack. I never trained a horse or took a bet. For forty-eight years I've been on the other side of the window, mostly playing exactas and trifectas, and for most of that time I've kept a notebook of every ticket. I've lost more than I like to say, and I've learned more from the losing pages than from the good ones.

This book is what those notebooks taught me, written down once.

V. The ebook

Pay once. Read it on any device, today.

$49.99$27

$49.99 is the regular price. $27 is the launch price, while the book grows.

This is an ebook, a digital download. Nothing is printed or mailed.

  • 31 chapters in six parts, plus four appendices
  • Plus 2 printable bonuses, free (worth $24)

  • A PDF laid out like a book, and an EPUB for e-readers, tablets and phones
  • Delivered by email right after payment
  • No copy protection, on all your devices
  • Pay once. No subscription.
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VI. Questions

Before you ask

Is this a printed book?

No. It's an ebook: a PDF and an EPUB that you download right after you pay. Nothing comes in the mail. You can print the PDF yourself, and the two bonuses are made to be printed and taken to the track.

Is this a betting system or a tip service?

No. There are no picks and no system in it, and it won't tell you which horse to bet. It's about what your bets cost and where the money goes, so you can spend it better.

I only bet a few races on Saturdays. Is it for me?

That's who it's for. Most of the book is about the bets a weekend player makes, exactas, trifectas, doubles and Pick 4s, and how to make the same money go further.

Does it cover taxes?

It explains what the IRS and the law say for 2026: the W-2G threshold, withholding, the new 90 percent limit on deducting losses, and the records the IRS asks for. It's not tax advice: for your own return, talk to whoever does your taxes.

What format is it?

A PDF laid out like a printed book, and an EPUB for e-readers, tablets and phones. Both arrive by email right after payment, without copy protection.

What if I don't like it?

Write to me at the address at the bottom of this page within 48 hours of your purchase and you'll get your money back.