What role does intuition play in horse racing?
We have all seen the ads with 800 numbers and 900 numbers for psychics who can predict your future and solve your problems. It makes you wonder why these clairvoyants don’t just play the lottery, doesn’t it? The truth is that it is very difficult to predict the future and take advantage of it. On the other hand, that is exactly what handicappers do when they race horses.
Who wouldn’t want to be a psychic handicapper and simply gaze into a crystal ball or read Taro cards to find the winner of the next race? I think the closest most of us will get to that is to use our intuition in a useful way. There is still a lot of confusion as to what human intuition can be. Some say it’s a sixth sense that operates in a dimension beyond human comprehension. Others say it’s the subconscious mind picking up subtle clues that the conscious mind misses.
Whatever the case, the fact is that some people use it and claim to be able to use intuition to pick winners. When I am at a disadvantage I am aware of hunches. If I keep looking at a horse’s name in my past performances, I may wonder why I am drawn to that particular horse. If I can’t remember anything about it, like seeing him crash during a long race or being impressed with his latest performance in any way, I’ll credit my subconscious for being fixated on that runner.
I’ve had good hunches and bad hunches and, truth be told, they’ve probably evened out. I know people who seem to benefit from their intuition, whereas I will often ignore a hunch that will later win or play a hunch that will lose. Like I said, I think I’m about to bet on hunches. When you are tired or lack confidence, you may find that hunches come faster and are more numerous. If they really do come from the subconscious, here’s something you should know.
The subconscious mind is like a child. If you’re struggling to find an answer about which horse will win a race, your subconscious may provide you with a hunch, even if it’s just a guess, because it’s trying to please. This is why forensic hypnosis is so unreliable and many courts do not allow testimony from witnesses who have been hypnotized. On the other hand, I have personally seen it used to search memory to find lost objects.
The best advice is to know yourself. Only you can know if your subconscious hunches are trustworthy or not worth taking seriously. My experience has led me to believe that a good handicap should be at least ninety-five percent of your basis for forming race opinions.