Betting On Horses – How To Pick The Winner
When it comes to horse racing, majority of the spectators are there for betting.After all, nobody wants to spend their money just to watch horses running around the track. However, not everyone who places a bet gets to win. Although there are thousands of sources that suggest tips and tricks to pick the winning horse, you might have noticed that they all differ from one to another. This is because the strategies that are used are quite subjective. This is why this article suggests some of the most basic techniques that will enable you to handicap the best horse in the field.
Read the Program
Those colourful programs you get are not printed to fan yourselves during the game. They contain useful information about all the horses, riders and owners who are participating in the event. Moreover, it also contains detailed statistics about the history of the participating horses that can be used to analyse and pick the winner. Reading this program and understanding the details given requires some skill. Using it on a regular basis will help you get used to making these calculations. This way, you can make smarter bets that are based on actual facts and details.
Keep an Eye on the Classes
In horse racing, there are different levels of classes (competition). The higher the class is, the better the horse will be. The four main race classes are maiden, claiming, allowance and staking races. Let’s say that you are betting your money on a horse for an allowance race. The program states the horse that continuously finishes first or second – but, only in claiming races. Although being promoted to a higher level does mean that the horse is a strong one, it can be easily outclassed by other experienced horses in the allowance class. Therefore, keep an eye on the level of class when assessing the performance of your pick.
Surface Type Matters
This is one of the horse racing tips that many choose to ignore. The surface of the racing track can influence your chances of winning to a great extent. This is because the way your horse reacts to the race track can differ according to the surface type. For instance, some horses love running on dirt tracks and thus do not perform as well on artificial tracks. Thus, if a particular horse has a bad performance record in artificial tracks and if the race is taking place in an artificial track, it is better to cut it off your candidate list when selecting your pick.
Jockey + Horse Combination
The performance history of the jockey is important to determine the winner as well. See how the jockey has performed so far with the horse. Some jockeys always end up first regardless of the horse that they are riding. In this case, you can place your bet on a mid-range horse since the bet is based mainly on the jockey’s talent. However, it best not to rely on one particular party. Make sure that both the horse and the jockey are of high standards since it increases your chance of winning.
Instead of carelessly picking the horse that is wearing your lucky number or your favourite colour, base your decisions on the horse’s racing strengths and performance history since they are much more accurate than superstitious techniques.