Horse racing is the oldest form of any sports betting that we know of and has kept its prestigious value in the betting community. It’s a fantastic sport for beginners and professionals alike to make their next winning bets. Below, we will cover a few tips to help you make the most of your bets on horse racing.
Use Racing Forms
Racing forms also known as form guides are invaluable when it comes to betting on horses. It’s a simple-to-understand and quick way to do the majority of research that you would need to do on any racing. The most important information on the racing form would be the historical position, which is quite simple to understand.
The historical position will consist of usually six digits, which can include numbers, letters and symbols. Below we will go over what the most frequently used of these digits to better explain what is meant by them. Keep in mind that the form is read left to right. Meaning, the far-right number will be the most recent result.
- Numbers 1 to 9 – A number from one to nine will signify the position a horse has achieved in one of the last six races it has attended.
- Number 0 – Zero indicates that a horse has finished outside of the top 9 positions. This will be less prominent as the majority of horse races are limited to 9 horses.
- Dash (-) – A dash indicates a separation between racing seasons. Any races from before a dash would have taken place in a previous season.
- Slash (/) – A slash indicates a longer than usual gap between races. The horse may have even missed a whole season. It is worth looking deeper into the cause of a horse missing races for an extended amount of time.
- PU – PU stand for pulled up. In this case, the jockey would make a decision that it is no longer wise or safe for the horse to continue the race and intern forfeits the race.
These are not all the abbreviations available, but they should allow you to accurately read a horse’s racing history. Additional information that could come in handy is the RPRs and ORs. Both are useful rankings of the horses, but should take not precedent over your own perceived outcome from the information given
What Else To Research?
While the racing form is an incredibly important tool to be used when making your bets, it unfortunately does leave out some information which could greatly aid your betting wins. A few more key factors you should be taking into consideration for every race are:
- Surface – The track surface, while not highlighted on the racing form, is an extremely important element to know before making your bet. Be sure to check hot the front-runners preform on the surface of any given race
- Length – Another important note left out on the racing form is the length of a race. Different lengths can favour different horses. Be sure to know how you favourite horses preform in different length races
