Calculation or Sentiment

[Raven]

Do you find that betting with your head you're more successful than betting with your heart?
In my case, my handicapping system works ,I would venture to say,about 40% of the time.
But when I bet my favorite horses it's easyly twice that much.

Case In point. The other day I was doing the pick 4 at AQ. and when I turn the form to the 8th race I saw a horse that I didn't even knew that was running that day. So I keyed him in that race without looking at the rest of the field
He won at fairly long odds and made my pick four
When I looked et the rest of the field,I thought that I made a mistake by single him. But it worked!!!
Any thoughts?   

[Senator L]

I find I do well that way myself but from horses I put in my
virtual stable. Usually it is horses who had a bad trip or a troubled ride.
The worse part is I usually forget to bet them.
Had one yesterday called Ramble wrote needs new jock 12/14
next out got Johny v finished 6 as favorite, next two times after
that she won

[peeptoad]

Do you find that betting with your head you're more successful than betting with your heart?
In my case, my handicapping system works ,I would venture to say,about 40% of the time.
But when I bet my favorite horses it's easyly twice that much.

I am almost the opposite, raven (just from personal experience):

Without any sort of hesitation at all: if I bet with my head I have a much better chance at the windows. Sometimes head and heart intersect and sometimes it's difficult for me to keep my heart out of the equation, but largely head over heart for me is what works. And I could say that about the vast majority of my life experience as well, above and beyond horse racing.

Now, having said that, I do have a fairly keen sense of intuition, which I do not equate to "heart". E.G. I can forecast what other drivers on the highway will do (changing lanes, etc.), and I am usually correct about 99% of the time.
So, my intuition can come into play when 'capping a race (or more commonly as I watch the horses warm up, since usually seeing a horse in the paddock or post parade is normally where intuition kicks in). And I have hit some good priced horses just from seeing them warm up, regardless of what they look like on paper. To me that's not the same as "betting my favorite horse" or a horse that I follow....
Generally speaking, my biggest scores have come in races where I did not have a "favorite horse" running. Though sometimes my favorites do run big at long odds, that's the exception rather than the rule.

[peeptoad]

I find I do well that way myself but from horses I put in my
virtual stable. Usually it is horses who had a bad trip or a troubled ride.
The worse part is I usually forget to bet them.
Had one yesterday called Ramble wrote needs new jock 12/14
next out got Johny v finished 6 as favorite, next two times after
that she won

I also do this occasionally, senator. The next time you add a horse like that to your stable write a note in the comment line about the troubled trip. That usually reminds me to play the horse (or at least watch them) next time out. And it has worked for me with longhosts a few times in the past.