Different Views At The Races... 

What influences your bets when you have a day at the races?

Many people have their picks sorted before they arrive at the course and stick to them, but many are influenced when they are actually inside the course.

Paddock Watching...

A lot of bets are decided when they are watching the runners in the parade ring, so…

What do you look for in a horse when it’s in the parade ring?

The way it’s behaving?...The way it walks?...Or something else?

Do you look to see if the trainer has made an appearance?

Do you check runners out on the way to post?

And then there is the one where an annoucement is made, very late, that there is "a jockey change", does that change your bets?

Here is a little insight from John who has a vast amount of experience in horse racing, and is a regular visitor to the race track…

Hi Paul...

Whenever I attend a meeting, I like to look at horses both in the paddock and going to post.

This is not always easy at tracks such as Wolverhampton, where most horses are covered in blankets till the last minute, especially in colder weather.
If you get a chance to see horses in the paddock, a shiny coat and hindquarter muscle definition are a sign of good health and fitness.

Beware of horses with a high head carriage in the paddock and those who appear
unmanageable to the handlers.
In races over 8f+ look for the leg overstep, where the rear legs overstep the imprint left by the front leg when walking in the paddock; this is not so important with sprinters, who tend to jig-jog around the paddock.
Watch horses going to post and beware again, of high head carriage and those who dip their heads to one side, which is often an indication of feeling a joint.

Beware of those who tear off to the start, almost in an uncontrolled
fashion.

In long distance races, horses need a warm up, so eliminate those who are walked or slow trotted to post.

Then John also added…

What I have told you are the basics that I have learnt over many years.

I have refined my technique over the last couple of years to incorporate more sophisticated watching.
At the end of the day it is not a science, and I have been caught out many, many times...

Available books are The Winning Look by Nick Mordin; Horses Talk by Trillis Parker and

Watching Racehorses by Geoffrey Hutson.

All the best

John

So...

What influences your bets when you have a day out at the races?

Or, like John so kindly has done, what bits of info do you think could help the less experienced with their betting, and make their day at the races more enjoyable.

Your comments and thoughts are most welcome and it would be great if you could leave a comment below, because maybe, just maybe, we could all learn something.