Pick up the Daily Racing Form at a newsstand before you go. If nothing else, it has the Beyer speed ratings in it, which will help you sort through some of the clatter.
My strategy (depending upon how much money I'm playing around with) is to have three bets going every race. My main bet is to hit the winner, or at least hit the horse whose odds are most favorable compared to what I think his chances of winning are. So, for example, if horse 5 is 2-1 and horse 8 is 15-1, but I think that horse 8 should actually be something like 6-1 and horse 5 should be 4-1, I'm probably betting hore 8, even if I think that horse five will win.
My second bet is to have a daily double/pick three/pick four going. There are parlays where you have to pick the horses in 2 or three or four consecutive races. Even the minimum bets ($1 or $2, depending on the bet) have big payouts (usually in the $50 range for daily doubles, $150 range for pick threes and $600 or so for pick fours)
My third bet is an exacta or trifecta. An exacta is where you need two horses to come in first and second in a particular order. Trifecta is three horses. You can box those as well, meaning that they can come in different orders so long as the horses come in first, second, and third, but I don't usually as they cost more money and the chances are slim anyway.
That way, in every race, you have a chance to win enough money to more than break even if you pick the winner, and you have something to cheer for that will win you big money as well.
General tips for Arlington: I think that turf horses have been having a tremendous go of it on the new polytrack surface, so if you see a horse going from the grass to the track, you may want to take a second look at him. Closers have also been favored on the polytrack, though why this is is not clear to me. Also, some of the cashiers are jagoffs, especially the two-faced guy at the $10 minimum booth (you'll know him if you see him) and the big pasty tub of goo who processes bets at the rate of about three per race who usually sits in the middle. My preferene is to go to the old women, because they at least pretend to be happy for you when you win (the two-faced guy once called me a punk for collecting on a $280 bet at his booth and celebrating with my friend... asshole.)
Guys like Hawkeye Vince and Retard know a lot more than me, so if anything they say contradicts me, listen to them. Have fun!
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