the first thing i do when i get the paper is decide on what races i am going to work with.....it is best to find the races that you have the most success on if you try and bet them all you will go broke in the end.....i try to work on open races and higher i won't bet on 2yo or 3yo only races unless they are of Group type races and avoid and restricted races this will give me about 12 races in 5 states more at carnival time....if you cut out the short priced runners and large fields of 17 or more you can reduce this number to about 8 thats plenty of races......if you need more action than that then try this...if you have a bank of say $200 for the day and have say 7 races that you want to bet on devide the bank in to 8 this gives you 7 bets of $25 and $25 left over for your other bets....you won't have much to bet on extra horses say $1 or $2 the win but atleast if they all fail you main bets should get your money back....if you can't handle this maybe you should not be betting