Exit Lessons for Business and Stocks from Horse Racing

A mark of etiquette is to know when to leave a party. It is the same in the commercial world. Entries are enthusiastic and full of dreams. Expectations are often exaggerated. Disappointments are nearly inevitable. How long should one hang on to a business or a stock?

A cash crunch may force an exit. The benefits of predicting the course of events are clear. A professional business manager or stock investor is like a reliable astrologer or a meteorologist. You have to be able to predict the future. The latter holds only possibilities and no certainties. Does this make business and stock investing forms of gambling?

President Bush has distinguished horse racing from online betting. His administration banned people from gambling online, while steadfastly refusing all requests to extend this bad habit to horse races. This discrimination was not because of any personal gains, as democrats and communists may like to suggest, but for world freedom and security. What can we get out of this?

Observe the ways of a successful punter. He or she will not bet on each and every race. Weather, turf, lineage, and the rider, must all be weighed before you double your bet or call it quits. You can also learn when to exit a stock or a business by finding out why the damned have lost fortunes on race tracks.

Motivated rumors, crooked jockeys, sick horses, and oddly-shaped race courses, may turn jackpots in to baskets of disaster. However, bookies never lose. They are only brokers. Similarly, publishers of racing forms make their bucks even before a race starts.

Please post or email StockWay.MyView@gmail.com if you are a horseracing enthusiast. We need your help with business moves and stock picking for the week that starts today.