“I’ve done the math,” workout specialist, Bruno De Julio, says. “I figure that I catalog about 1,200 horses per week. That’s about 5,000 per month, about 60,000 per year. Over the course of 16 years, that’s close to a million horses.” Apparently, this is what it takes to be a leading workout specialist -- lots and lots of observations of horses.

“Workouts are the last frontier.” He says with enthusiasm. In the field of horse racing handicapping, De Julio has found a niche.

When asked how he came to focus on workouts, he replied, “When I first got into the game I got hooked up with a trainer. He taught me a lot, but also opened my eyes to my talent – recognizing horses, being able to look at them and know them.” 

For De Julio, recognizing horses is like recognizing faces or quickly judging a person’s character at the first introduction. It is a skill he has honed and hopes to share with other horseplayers in his book, Bruno on Workouts: Exposing the Mystery. “I can open (horseplayer’s) minds to things they don’t know. They think they know, but don’t. Handicappers see a workout in The Form [Daily Racing Form] and put it into layman’s terms. That numerical figure doesn’t tell the whole story. You have to consider that just because the horse worked well in the past, doesn’t mean it will run well today.” 

In describing his introduction to horse racing and path to being a horse racing handicapper, He explains, “I got hooked on the cerebral end…My girlfriend took me to the track in 1984. I saw the horses coming down the track and went ‘Wow!’ I dove right in. On my days off, I would go to the tracks. I read all the books: James Quinn, Andy Beyer, Davidowitz… When I first started, I was working security. I went from working as an undercover investigator to district investigator in Los Angeles. That was like putting a kid in a candy store because I was five miles from Hollywood Park. I would sneak out as often as I could. I decided I was going to bully my way into the racing field. Nobody is going to pave the way for you... I was not taking ‘No’ for an answer, developing my own niche. To other players I say, ‘go do it and if you do it well, people will notice’… I went out there. I got on the radio. I had an attitude that I was here to stay. I was not asking permission from anybody.” 

The decision to bully his way into the industry came at a price, “I wasn’t making squat at first. I was doing radio but I was making nothing, but I knew it would pay off in the long run.” Sixteen years later, he seems happy with his decision. 

Many handicappers struggle with decisions about how to wager. “People want to know how I bet… What my personal preferences are and how I bet may not work for another player. I’m an intuitive player. I often put it all together at the window. I know what I like and I kind of know what I want to do, and I calculate it then….. I always tell people to bet according to their own personality. My approach is to go after the ones I like and think are playable and try to maximize my money.”

When asked about his best personal score, he dodges, reframing the question in terms of satisfaction. “Let’s just say that whenever I go and win money, that’s satisfying to me. In a lot of ways, it’s a personal thing that keeps me motivated every day. Things that I’ve bought with a special score have special meaning for me when I look at them – for example, a special table of mine. When I look at that table, I’m reminded of that score.”

Still, De Julio insists that the scores are part of a larger framework. “The satisfaction of being able to (handicap and win), that journey, the process of being able to do that is what it’s all about for me….allowing yourself to enjoy the journey, achieving what you set out to do, that’s what is satisfying. And if it turns into a big score, that’s a damn fine day.”

De Julio attributes his success, in horseracing and life, to an approach of relying on and trusting in his intuitive judgment. “I generate my own information,” he asserts. “I see it before The Form does.”

The book, Blink: the Power of Thinking without Thinking, by Malcolm Gladwell has helped him develop a framework for his own approach. According to De Julio, “The book helped me understand my own intuitive approach. I rely on my gut; I rely on my instincts. My instincts are more in tune than my cognitive analysis.”

Regarding his thoughts about equine biomechanics, De Julio responds, “From my understanding, the biomechanics of a race horse is what makes it able to achieve. If a horse isn’t put together well, if it has an offset knee, for example, it’s not going to run well in the long run. If you are buying a horse for $25,000 but being valued over $100,000 on the track, biomechanically, then it’s appreciating in value. You don’t want the opposite.”

What advice would De Julio give to other players? “My advice would be to keep an open mind. Know your strengths and your weaknesses. Surround yourself with people who can retrieve the information you can’t retrieve yourself.”

He leaves me with a final retort to skepticism he has surely had to overcome to succeed in such a competitive field. With an evident flourish of triumph, he tells me, “Players ask, ‘If you’re so good, why are you selling (your information)?’ ‘Because I can!’ I tell them.”

------------