John Lindley prepares Parker’s selection sheet, which has been sold at Emerald Downs in Washington State since 1985. He also provides daily trip and trouble notes to Emerald Downs for distribution around the track and on its website. To help newcomers to the track, he created a pamphlet, Exotic Wagering Guide.

Lindley appears regularly on Emerald Downs’ weekend radio show, Win Place and Show, broadcast on a Seattle sports-talk radio station, and has been a frequent guest on Emerald Downs’ daily in-house television show, Handicapper’s Corner.

Every year he educates the track’s customer service staff on the basics of racing, handicapping, and wagering.
He has taught basic and advanced handicapping classes at Emerald Downs and at the University of Washington Experimental College and has hosted handicapping seminars at Emerald Downs with Daily Racing Form guests such as Tom Brohamer, Jim Kostas, Byron King, and Mark Schramm.

An active owner since 1988, Lindley also manages a partnership that races and breeds Thoroughbreds.

You’re a professional handicapper. Tell us about your chosen career. How did you decide to make a living betting the races?

First, I should clarify what I do -- my main source of income is from the tip sheet I sell (Parker’s) at Emerald Downs and the contracting I do (regarding Fan Education) with Emerald. I supplement my income by betting on the races, and while it can (on any given year) be a significant part of my overall income, my main source is selling the tip sheet.

I first went to the track in 1980 as part of a group (I was a paperboy for the Seattle Times, they had their annual awards banquet at Longacres the morning of a racing day). I won an award that day and the winner of that award was asked to be in the winner's circle for the second race. Since I had to stay, I decided to bet, and knowing absolutely nothing, I picked out a Daily Double. My horse won the first race of the day and I was alive in the Daily Double. Prior to the second race, we were taken down to the winner's circle and introduced to the fans as Seattle Times carriers. Then, we watched the second race from the winner's circle (which was right on the finish line and just a few feet from the track). As the horses came down to the finish, my horse was right there, but at the wire, another horse just edged out my horse and beat me by a nose. Even though I lost, I thought this was a pretty cool sport and wanted to come back.

I didn’t go back to the track till the next year and then I started going to the track on a regular basis in 1982. After the season ended in 1982, I thought there would be a market for a computer program that would help pick winners. I wrote a computer program (with a partner) and sold the program beginning in 1983. I also noticed there was opportunity to provide more information about racing to the general public, as publications at that time (mainly the track program and Daily Racing Form) did not provide much information (such as useful speed figures, trip/trouble information, information on medication, such as Lasix). So I decided to start a daily report (called the Parker Page Report) that I sold at local 7-11’s, which gave this information about each horse racing on that day. I then contacted Longacres about the possibility of selling this report. The management of Longacres wasn’t really interested in the Parker Page Report, but they were interested in adding another tip sheet. I was able to get a contract to sell a tip sheet in 1985. Soon after I started doing classes on handicapping at the University of Washington, through the U of W’s Experimental College and also started claiming horses for my partnership.

Why did you want to write a book on handicapping?

After hosting many seminars and classes on handicapping/horse racing and listening to the players around me at the racetrack, I noticed that many of the fans over the years asked the same questions. Those questions were about the more popular areas of handicapping (such as speed figures, trouble/trips, form-cycle analysis, equipment, the claiming game, etc.). In addition, I had not really seen anything written in other books about how to pull together the large amount of handicapping information available as much of handicapping involves evaluating information. A majority of this book discusses those areas of handicapping/betting and some of the drawbacks associated with each area. It also shows how to effectively use the vast amount of information that is available to handicappers. Hopefully, after reading this book, readers will be able to improve their success at the racetrack.

How can Handicapping for Bettor or Worse help the intermediate or experienced bettor? What about the novice handicapper?

The book is not really written for the novice, but it easily explains the more important areas of handicapping and betting, which beginners could use to help in their start of understanding handicapping.
As for experienced or intermediate bettors, many regular handicappers are probably familiar with most of the areas of handicapping that are discussed in the book. But the book pulls together many of these areas of handicapping, explaining how they are related and also the advantages and disadvantages of each area. In addition, it adds some new concepts/thoughts in handicapping that could help the reader have more success at the racetrack. Also, the book covers many areas or horse racing/handicapping and different readers will get different things from the book, depending on their background.

What sets your book apart from other handicapping books out there?

1. It brings some new thoughts regarding horse racing/handicapping that haven’t been discussed in other books and offers a different view of some older concepts in handicapping.
2. It helps simplify important areas of handicapping in a way that day to day players can use.
3. It offers a discussion of how to incorporate the concept of “value” into your
wagering strategy.

How has being a horse owner contributed to your enjoyment of the sport and your success as a handicapper?

I have learned a lot about racing from the trainer’s point of view. I have also learned by owning horses the physical impact of racing on the horse, which has led me to a better understanding of horse racing overall. This better understanding of horse racing has helped me to become more successful as a bettor. Also, by owning horses, the excitement of watching your horse win a race is even more fun than cashing a ticket.

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