The 2011 Kentucky Derby is here, and our own Matt Gardner has put together a guide for betting on horse racing that was nearly easy enough for me to understand. Gambling on horses has a lot of barriers for entry, from the means of predicting outcomes to things as simple as the terminology, the way the odds, the theories behind betting, and Gardner does a great job of attempting to explain it to people like me here.
An article like this isn't necessarily going to help you win money while betting on the Kentucky Derby, but it does a far more important thing, as far as I'm concerned: It keeps you from looking like an idiot. In all things, I attempt to look like someone who is minimally competent; this article should be enough to put you in that position while people are talking about exactas, trifectas, and other betting instruments that could reasonably pass for devices in a 1950s Sci-Fi serial.
For more Kentucky Derby 2011 coverage, check out our official preview and predictions.