This is because some bookmakers and racing websites do not label the form on race cards, and instead print form alongside other numbers unrelated to the horse’s recent performance. You’re probably reading this because you’ve bumped into the lines of numbers, letters and symbols that appear beside every horse’s name on a race card.īefore we explain how to understand horse racing form it’s important to explain what the numbers around the form mean. Try racing betting at William Hill, open an account and get a risk-free bet Horse racing recent form explained However, note that the type of form data presented, and how it is displayed, can vary considerably in other countries where horseracing is popular, such as the United States and Australia. This is because custom form displays are designed for beginners, and make form easy to understand and use when predicting how a horse will perform in a race.įor the purposes of this article we will be focusing on the quick UK horse racing form format, which is also used by major British and European bookmakers. These will usually be more self-explanatory than quick or comprehensive form. Custom form: some betting and racing websites may have customized ways of presenting form.This form is printed next to the horse’s name on the race card and provides a brief overview of its performances over the course of its last five or six races. ![]() Quick/recent form: quick form is the type of form you’re most likely to encounter when betting on racing.This type of form is only available online, as it is not practical to display this much information on a printed race card. Comprehensive form: this allows you to review all of a horse’s performances for every race it has run across a variety of race formats over the course of its entire career.This can be tracked and presented in a few different ways: What is form in horse racing?įorm in horse racing refers to a horse’s performance record. You’ll need to understand how form data is likely to influence each horse’s performance in the race you’re planning on betting on. Once you’re able to understand what form data means, the challenge you’ll face next is a bit trickier. You’ll feel like the card is packed with codes and jargon that make little sense, but conceal important secrets about what is likely to happen in the race.įortunately, it’s quite simple to read racing form once you are equipped with the meanings of the codes and numbers on the cards. Let me know what gems you find buried deep in the archives.However, if you’re new to horseracing, navigating a simple race card can be daunting and even overwhelming. Marvel at the writing of Exile and other storied turf writers as you hunt for more on the horses you love. Take a deep dive into the history of racing through the Daily Racing Form archive. So far, the archive covers most of the first part of the 20th century, so if you want to find Man o’ War’s form charts, they’re all there if you want to find Secretariat’s, those issues have yet to be scanned. Now, for racing fans, this resource opens up the past, giving anyone the chance to find out more about their favorite racehorse. I was able to save every article I needed and return over and over to find more. As a writer, this resource is invaluable: it allowed me to conduct searches for information on Sir Barton and his connections from the comfort of my home. I was able to write about each of his races with the form charts and articles from the archive and then understand where the gaps in my information were so that I could continue my research. ![]() The archive also has pages collecting the form charts and articles for the Triple Crown races covering nearly 60 years of racing history.įor me, the archive was the starting point for writing the first draft of Sir Barton’s story. The best part? It’s FREE! As long as you have access to the internet, you can read about everything from Colin or Sysonby’s dominant careers in the early part of the 20th century to Exterminator’s surprise Kentucky Derby victory in 1918 to all 31 of Sir Barton’s starts from 1918-1920. Once you find what you need, you can even download the article and save it as a PDF. You can look at issues by date or use the search to find a specific horse or human. The archive houses digital scans of the DRF, a collection of 78,000 pages and 305,000 articles going all the way back to issues from late March 1896. The only problem? The Keeneland Library is five hours away! Yikes! How was I going to do this research? Cue the Daily Racing Form archive. The best place to find all of the details of his starts was the Daily Racing Form, the source of form charts and articles about the previous day’s races and other news going back to 1894. When I started researching Sir Barton’s career, I knew I had to start with the individual races themselves before I worked to connect the dots between them.
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