How To Pick A Horse To Bet On – 7 Points to Remember

What is the Best Way to Bet on Horses?

The best way to bet on horse racing is to be informed. You can predict the outcome of a race if you know what to look for, but as much as you can try and foresee the future, in this sport, there are always surprises that keep the game exciting.

Many punters will pay close attention to the horses when they’re parading, assessing a horse’s mood, movements, and behaviour. You can see whether a horse looks jumpy with too much energy, if they’re healthy with a shiny coat, or if they’re restless. Whilst these can provide clues when choosing a horse to bet on, it’s not a failsafe way to bet on the ponies.

These are the 7 main points you’ll need to look out for when making a bet:

• The pedigree
• The type of horse race
• The going
• The form
• The connections
• The racecard
• The type of bet

1. The Horse's Pedigree

Some horses come from a longline of winning horses. For example, Baaeed was sired by Sea the Stars, who won the 2000 Guineas, the Epsom Derby and the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe in 2009. You can get a hint of a horse’s lineage sometimes from looking at certain racehorse names, like Kauto Star (one of the Cheltenham Festival) greats was sired by Village Star and his dam was Kauto Relka. This can give an idea of whether the horse has potential.

2. The Different Types of Horse Races

Handicap races – a handicap race allows horses of different weights to compete on a level playing field. When handicapping a horse, a horse’s speed, form, pedigree, and jockey are taken into account when adjusting weights to their saddle.

Non-handicap races – a non-handicap race means that horses are not required to carry extra weight on the saddle.

Flat races – a flat race is a 1-3 mile track that doesn’t have any obstacles, like at the Oaks, the St. Leger, and the 2,000 and 1,000 Guineas. These types of horse races test a horse’s speed and stamina.

Jump races (aka Steeplechases) – a jump race is a race that does include obstacles on the track. For betting on jump races, you’ll also have to consider a horse’s ability to jump and a jockey’s technique in riding their horse. Hurdle races have horses jump over fences, water, and ditches.

Maiden races – a maiden race refers to the type of horses in the running rather than the actual racecourse itself. A maiden race involve horses that still haven’t won a race yet, and so with little information to go off of on a maiden horse’s performance in previous races, it can be difficult to predict an outcome and place a bet on these types.

Stakes Races – like maiden races, this refers to the type of horse on the track. These races involce horses that have won other events and because of this, stakes races are considered to be the highest level of horse racing, often with big prizes for the winner.

3. The Going

Most racecourses are turf, but there are others like the Chelmsford racecourse made of polytrack, or from tapeta, or fibresand.

Just like tennis players, horses will prefer and perform better on certain types of ground. You can check the going of the ground (the ground conditions) on the day of the race to see if it’s firm, good to firm, good, good to soft/yielding, soft, or heavy.

4. The Form

When you pick a winning horse, it’s important to look at it’s recent form. Past performances are important to keep track of so you can see how many wins a horse has under their belt and depending on the type of race and its distance, you can see whether the horse has a good track record with proven stamina round the racecourse.

5. The Connections

The people involved in a horse’s life can determine the amount of success it sees. On a racecard, you can see a horse’s jockey, trainer, and owner(s).

Depending on the jockey, in the saddle, there can be a big difference in a winning or losing horse and an experienced jockey goes a long way when they’re the ones taking the reins – especially when it comes to jump racing, which requires a bit more technique compared to flat racing.

Along with the jockey, you can see the trainer – another detail to keep an eye on. Horse racing trainers ensure the horse has the correct training regimen and that they’re ready to race. These are the people that assess a horse’s ability, and with a good trainer, you may have a good horse to bet on.

6. The Racecard

If you want to know what horse you’re betting on, you’ll need to know how to read a racecard. All of the points mentioned above can be easily seen on the racecard, you just need to know where to look.

You can identify horses by their saddle cloth number and you can pick out the horses by the jockey’s silks. The age is often shown next to the horse’s name and in a handicap race, you’ll see the weight the horse is carrying. You can also see the trainer and the jockey, and underneath that in our odds at Parimatch you can see the horse’s form. This number is one of the most important pieces of information on the racecard to consider for gamblers. You read the form number right to left, with the most recent race on the right.

• The numbers go from 1-9 and indicate the position the horse finished in the race.
• The number 0 means that the horse placed outside of the top 9 horses.
• The – shows a separation in seasons
• The / shows if a horse has missed an entire season.
• The letter P means that the horse was pulled up by the jockey.
• The letter F means the horse fell.
• The letter R means the horse refused.
• The letters BD mean the horse was brought down by another runner.
• The letter U means the horse unseated the jockey.

You can get more information on racecards and reading form from Racing Explained.

7. Picking a Type of Horse Racing Bet

Now that you’re up to speed on what to consider and know you’re way around the track, here are the many different ways you can make your bet on the ponies:

Straight Bet

Win – a bet on the horse you think will win outright

Place – a bet on a horse to place 1st, 2nd, or 3rd

Show – a bet on a horse to come in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th place

Each-way – a bet on a horse to come first and a bet of the same amount for the horse to place.

Exotic Bet

Exacta – pick the first 2 to finish in the exact order you think they’ll finish.

Trifecta – bet on the exact order of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd horses.

Quinella – bet on two horses to come 1st or 2nd, in no particular order.

Superfecta – bet on the first 4 horses to finish and guess the order correctly.

You can also go for betting without favourite, where you can choose to bet on the next horses to place after the favourite.

Horse Racing Betting Strategies

When it comes to betting on horses, there’s lots of factors to take into account. Horses will normally start racing at the age of 2 or 3 and most horses will reach their peak performance at around 4 or 5 years of age before they retire.

Use your horse racing betting strategy and our betting tips to place the wager you want at Parimatch. You can get betting markets for the Cheltenham Festival 2023 and the Grand National 2023, with Ante Post odds available as well.

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