What to Look for in a Horse

Experienced punters will look at a number of factors to try and work out which horse is likely to win a race:

Form of the Horse

‘Form’ is the information and facts about a horse's past performances. The Racing Post and other newspapers will give a brief summary on the form of a horse, as well as statistics on the horse and the trainer. The most important information you can gain from the form statistics is how well the horse has done over the distance and the going that is presented in the race you are looking to bet in. A good indication of a horse's success is to look at the weight (or handicap), and to see if it is reducing or increasing- an increasing weight will show the horse is being successful.

The Going

Each horse is individual and will have preferences on ground conditions. Looking back at the horses will help you see which ground a specific horse liked best (fastest time it ran a relevant distance). The different ground conditions for turf are : heavy, soft, good to soft, good, good to firm and firm. For All Weather Tracks (AWT) the goings are slow, standard, or fast.

The Distance

The distance that a horse prefers can be found in the form. There are two sides of the racing spectrum- stamina (abilities to go longer distances) and sprint (shorter distances at a faster pace). Like human athletes, horses running over a preferred distance will do better than a horse running a longer distance than their stamina threshold, or shorter distance than their speed ability. 

Weight

Handicappers try to make horseracing as competitive as possible. To do this, they aim to make all horses in a race equal to hopefully get a close finish. Horses that run consistently well will have a higher weight, and a horse that runs consistently bad will have a lower weight. These weights are dynamic and constantly changing.

The Course

Of the 60 courses in the Great Britain, each track has unique characteristics. Horses will prefer certain characteristics over others (e.g. ground conditions), which in turn will affect their performance.

The Trainer and Jockey

You will start to notice when looking in the newspapers and watching races specific trainers and jockeys consistently perform well at specific courses and/or generally have more success than others.

The Physique of a Horse

A good muscle tone, often called ‘condition’; a shiny coat, bright eyes, forward-pointing ears and an alert manner shows health and a positive mental state. How the horse moves can also show mental state as well as physique- a relaxed forward stride is ideal but look for signs of unnecessary agitation (shows concentration issues, anxiety and energy wasting).  For example sweating is not always a sign of nerves/anxiety as like humans, some horses just sweat more. This also goes for accessories- hoods, and blinkers are to stop the horse from a mental wide field of focus, so as long as they are effective they are not cause for worry.

 Print this page