A Quick Overview On How To Bet On Horses

Horse racing is one of the oldest gambling forms around the world, and with the option to enjoy placing bets on races that are held around the world, it’s easy to get swept up in the excitement and bet as you see fit. However, there is an art to it which can help you start to weigh up the odds before putting your money down. The below guide will give you all you need to consider before making your next horse racing wager.

Read The Race Day Program

Rule one is to read and understand the race day program. The ability to look at and see exactly which horses have exactly what handicaps will greatly enhance your ability to bet and bet well. There are almost always all kinds of useful snippets of information tucked away to help you make an informed decision – though admittedly, learning the lines of numbers and shorthand can take a bit of time. However, it’s well worth it in the long run. Pay attention to which horses are blinkered too, since this can affect the way in which they compete.

 Class Levels For Horses

Each horse race has competitions and classes set at varied levels. As the classes go up, so do the bets, since the quality of the horses performing is at a greater ratio. The various classes found are stake races, claim races, allowance races, and maiden races. Horses often move between classes at intervals through the year, which will also affect their winning chances in a class. I.e.: A horse moving from a low class to a higher class may not perform as well at first as horses which consistently perform within that class.

Surface Type

A dirt track is only one of the types of surfaces which horse racing takes part on. Nowadays, many tracks have grass and dirt, while other tracks have dirt and man-made all-weather turf. While some horses perform well on artificial grass, others hate it and prefer dirt tracks. This can profoundly impact a horse’s performance for any given race.

Jockey’s Past Performances

Though it’s hard to spot for beginners, seeing a jockey who can place first, second, third, or fourth regardless of horse in a competition bodes well for their talent with horses. Savvy betters sometimes place bets purely on top performing jockeys who are testing out new horses, seeing as they can often coax a horse to up their game with them. Likewise, if a jockey and horse consistently place in the top spots, they’re often a reasonable bet due to their past performances together.

What Are The Odds

Pay close attention to the winning odds given next to each horse’s name in the programme, as the favourite to win is usually the horse with the lowest odds beside it. Remember though, how a horse has performed in the past plays very little bearing on future wins in a new race. It is, however, a fairly good indicator that the favourite may place well in upcoming races and makes a reasonably safe bet for beginners.