Welcome to Horse Racing School.com!
If your aim is successful wagering, then the first thing you will need is a copy of the past performances. The Daily Racing Form has been the industry standard since 1894, and although other publishers such as Equibase and Brisnet also offer past performances, the Racing Form is the most widely used, and is probably the best one to start with. If you don’t have a friend who can teach you the basics, the Daily Racing Form website has a great flash tutorial along with plenty of literature on getting started.
Many successful handicappers watch the replays of the important races run by the top contenders in a race to find any irregularity in the race, or something that isn’t reported accurately in the past performances to give them an edge on a particular horse. Racereplays.com provides a variety of subscription options that allow the handicapper to view any race in a vast video library dating back to 2002.
The amount of data to be deciphered can sometimes be overwhelming and does take time to absorb it all, but some of the basic things to look for in handicapping a race are
Recent form: has the horse run well recently or has he gone off form?
Speed figures: does he match up with the figures of the other horses in this race?
Connections: who are his jockey and trainer? Does the trainer have a reputation of getting horses dead fit off a long layoff or is it the type of trainer that likes to “race them into form”. And is the jockey the type that likes to lay well off the pace or be more forwardly placed?
These are important considerations when evaluating a horses chances, but this only scratches the surface of the basics.
We cover the type of wagers available to bettors such as win, place, and show bets, as well as the “exotic” bets like exactas, trifectas, and superfectas.
Even the wagers such as win which most beginners think they understand sometimes can lead to confusion. For example, many beginners think that a 5-1 shot will return them $10 on a basic $2 win wager, but actually they get back $10 plus their initial $2 wager, for a $12 payout. This is your resource to learn all the intricacies of the various types of bets available to the handicapper.
For the prospective horse racing enthusiast who is interested not in the gambling aspect of racing but rather in simply enjoying the day at the races, we have alot of information that can help make your day at the races enjoyable rather than frustrating and confusing. Which websites have the best horse racing news and editorials (besides our site, of course)? Which are the best days of the week to go out to the track? Where can I buy past performances? How much is admission and parking at the tracks? Do I need a racing program? Find it all out here!