Began as a thesis by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in the early 70's. Who since then has created models for people to learn from the successes of people like hypnotherapist Milton Erickson and family therapist Virginia Satir to name just two. What is NLP? My definition is: the study of the structure of models of behaviour that work. The "how" a specific behaviour is useful in a situation instead of the "why".
Mall, you begin to identify some of the structure of your experience of what you and others see, hear and then feel on the days when we are in the zone at the track. And Nunzio expands this based on his experiences and to me adds useful advice about going to the track solo to help eliminate distractions. Some of my most sucessful days have included similar situations you both mention. My days of being "in the zone" includes being at the paddock still needing to narrow the field down to one or two horses because I'm generally a win bettor with an occasional exacta wager. And based on how I see and sometimes hear the horses behaving in the paddock and during the post parade my focus and confidence in my handicapping increases. I won't right now share any details of what I look for in the paddock and post parade unless someone expresses an interest in wanting to know more. I believe pre-race analysis of horses behaviour is one of the few frontiers still to be modeled and shared in this game so others can use this as another handicapping tool. I'm sure there are others on the BB that can add more to this discussion by detailing what they have experienced. Lets hear from you.
Phil Mandl