There is no doubt that sport is a crucial part of society and something which most of us love to watch or play. Football, for example, offers plenty of drama – on and off the pitch (as Thomas Tuchel’s benching of Christian Pulisic at Chelsea showed). One of the most popular sports around the world is horse racing. From the UK to the USA, Australia, Hong Kong, France and more, this is a sport which attracts many fans.
Of course, many people love to get more involved with racing by betting on the outcome of races. This is not only exciting but can also win some extra cash to put in the bank or treat yourself with. Betting is a serious business though and something you should take care to find out more about before rushing in and risking money. One key thing to note is how important it is to do your homework on a horse before backing it in a race.
Why should bettors study form?
In simple terms, researching any horse before you bet on it means you will be making a more informed decision. This is key to long-term profitability, as you will pick out more bets which have a better chance of being profitable. If you do not take the time to do your homework about a horse’s form, you are effectively betting blind and relying on pure chance. It is therefore unwise and makes it very hard to be successful – without doing any homework, you will probably see your betting bank dwindle pretty quickly! But what are the important nuggets of information to look out for?
Previous wins in same race
While doing your homework on a horse is crucial to check out its general form (as explained in more detail below), it is also essential to drill down into races they have won in the past. It might seem strange but many horses will have certain races in which they perform well. With this in mind, you should always do your homework on a horse to see how they have performed in the same race previously.
An example of this is a horse which always runs well at a certain race in the annual Cheltenham Festival each March. By looking at a horse’s record from previous Festivals, you can easily see how they might perform in the next one. If this sounds too daunting to do alone, why not get expert help from GG.co.uk? They are a team of UK racing experts who do the homework for you and provide quality tips for big events like Cheltenham. They even bring together Cheltenham free bets and offers for you to bet with!
General form
Form is key in horse racing and this is another reason why looking a bit deeper into the field of horses running is essential. Horses can simply get into a bad run of form and not perform to their best until later in the year or the next season. Checking out a horse’s recent form (most people will look at the last three races) gives you a decent guide on how it is running right now and how it might perform.
If a horse seems out of sorts, then this is a key piece of information to consider. A horse that has won and been placed in each of its last three starts may be one to keep on your radar as you look through the card. If you do not take the time to do this, you would be betting blind and could end up backing a horse that is in poor form.
Find out which courses they like
One of the key pieces of information you can pick up is finding out whether the horse in question likes the course where it is running. This may sound odd, as many people think that horses do not have preferences for tracks and perform the same at any. However, horses do seem to have favourite courses. By taking a look back at the racing record, you can easily see if a horse has run at the track in question before and how it got on previously. If they have done well every time they have appeared at the course, then it is a good sign and something to factor into your betting. Tiger Roll chasing a Grand National hat-trick at the 2021 event is a good example of this and shows that he obviously likes running at Aintree.
Ground and distance
When looking at why doing your homework is important on any horse, ground and distance come into play. Put simply, all horses will have going they like and will run well on. By the same token, they will have ground they hate and which they do not do so well on. By studying the racing history of a horse, you can work out the going they prefer and on which they perform best. It is then easy to compare this to the ground conditions of the track that day and make a rational decision on how the horse might do in the race.
This also applies to race distance, with horses performing better over some and less well over others. If a horse does not have great stamina, it will not enjoy running longer races. If not particularly fast out of the gate, shorter distances may not suit a horse. Horses are also creatures of habit and get used to racing over certain distances.
Studying a horse’s history is crucial to success
While betting on horse racing is popular, it is not easy to make a long-term profit from doing so. If you are looking to improve your chances of winning, doing your homework on a horse before backing it is essential. As the above shows, this will give you hard evidence and key facts to use, so that you are better informed before placing a bet.