Reading the horse racing form, which also goes under the name Daily Racing Form (DRF) is a key factor if you’re interested in actually winning some money. As a beginner, you may feel the urge to skip this paper full of technical writing but relying on your beginner’s luck won’t last you long. From the text below you can get a basic idea about reading a horse racing form, however if you require detail information please refer to this horse racing blog.
Here’s how to read the most important information out of a horse racing form.
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Start with reading the race information.
All the race information will be put in the upper part of the form. There would be a line clearly dividing the race information from the rest of the text. On the left side, you’ll notice the race number – expect it to see it written with a large font. Right next to it, you’ll see the track name. On the right corner of the paper, the track diagram – use this data wisely as different horses perform differently on different tracks. The race conditions (the pursue, the record track as well as the length of the race) will be stated underneath the track name.
- Move on to read general information about an individual horse.
Right underneath the header line is all the information about a specific horse. You can read information about this race, alongside with past performances and horse background. The far left column will have the horse’s race number in larger letters and underneath that are the standing odds. The first row of the column will include the name of the horse, followed by the name of its owner, as well as the silk color and the name of the jockey.
The middle column will contain all of the psychical and pedigree information about that specific horse. The column on the right, next to the middle one, shows career averages as well as the best Beyer speed of that horse.
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Read about recent performances.
Right underneath the general information, you can read all about recent performances in past races. Here, you can find past race information (pay attention to the abbreviations used for the condition of the track!), the distance measured in furlongs as well as the fractional times. Next to them, on the right, are the horse positions on the first call, second call, third call, stretch call, and the finish during that particular race. Here you can also get some valuable information about the weight of the horse, the jockey, as well as the medication and equipment.
Reading and analyzing all of the data on the horse racing form will help you place your bets more strategically.
