Horse Racing Form Guides Tools of the Trade

Using form guides to support horse racing winners.

It’s important to use a form guide and do your homework when supporting racehorses. Using the information available in the daily newspapers is fine, but information on each horse’s recent race records is unavailable and a lack of knowledge can cost you dearly at the races. A good example of this is the 2019 Royal Ascot meeting when progress was slow for all five days of the meeting. I had weeded out a few likely candidates, but realizing that they had never won soft-going before, I decided not to endorse them, which saved me some money as they didn’t live up to their form line.

Class is also an important factor that doesn’t appear in your daily newspaper. It’s all very good to bet on a horse with an impressive form line, but what was the class of those races? There can be a big difference between a listed race and a Group 1 race in terms of ability. A 3rd or 4th place finish in a Group 1 race can be a more reliable guide to form than a win over lower rated opponents. Ditto for a horse competing in cheap races out in the country. Such horses often get a rude awakening when they meet urban competition for the first time.

If you are unsure of the class then simply check the stake amount from the last race and then compare it to today’s race. If the horse is competing for a higher stake today, then it is more than likely to be competing against an easier class.

Other information such as course and distance stats are handy, although daily newspapers will indicate whether a horse has won course and distance. However, you can quickly find information on how many times the horse has started on the course in the statistics of form guides such as the Racing Post newspaper in the UK or Best Bets in New Zealand. You can often find one who has only had one start on the track for a win.

Then there’s weight; it is important to know if a horse is carrying more or less weight than in the last run; in fact, a horse ridden by a demanding apprentice can have an advantage over one carrying his carded weight.

Thanks to Robert Alan Stewart | #Horse #Racing #Form #Guides #Tools #Trade