Horse Racing is made for betting like nothing else. However, it can be tricky to nail racing betting strategy, especially for beginners. Here are some simple tips to enhance your horse racing betting.
Be sure to check out Betseeker’s free racing tips for best bets each day of the Australian racing calendar.
Horse Racing Tips
1. Look For On Pace Runners
Leaders and horses that sit on the speed win the vast majority of horse races. It is easy to fall into the trap of looking at horses that fly home late and think they were unlucky. Even at big spacious tracks like Flemington and Randwick, on pace runners win far more often than not. Find the horses, and jockeys, who like to race on the speed.
2. Know Your Gear Changes
Gear changes tell you lots about a horse. They may suggest an excuse for last start failure (tongue tie on), to have been targeted for a specific race (blinkers first time or blinkers on) or that you should not touch them with a barge pole (glue-on shoes on). Trainers use many kinds of gear on their horses and knowing what they do and how it can affect performance is significant.
3. No Shoes No Horse
As a rule of thumb, stay away from horses running in anything other than standard race plates. Any other type of shoeing, such as bar plates or glue-on shoes, suggests that a horse has some kind of foot problem, from minor, right through to career ending.
4. Jockeys Are All Important
The best jockeys in the world understand, pace, timing and know how to extract the maximum effort from a thoroughbred. The worst are little more than dead weight. Horse racing is a unique sport in that the best riders in the world can often be competing with rank amateurs. The best jockeys also tend to get on the best horses.
5. Distance Makes a Difference
Horse races in Australia are generally run between 900m and 3200m. Different horses are better suited over different trips. Races run over sprinting trips can be won by horses with very little recent racing, but to win races over longer trips usually requires a build up of race fitness.
6. Time Between Runs is Critical
The number of days since a horse has last run is a vital piece of information. Horses can win first up but they usually need a big talent edge or fitness from trials. Most trainers have their horses peak at their third or fourth run back from a spell. Backing horses that have had between 1 and 7 days off (the quick back up) can be a profitable strategy as well.
7. Know Your Track Conditions
Track conditions in Australia are as follows: Fast 1, Good 2,3 and 4, Soft 5,6 and 7, Heavy 8,9 and 10. However, a Heavy 8 at Randwick can race much differently to a Heavy 8 at Flemington. Certain horses are much better suited than others to wet ground. Some horses will not stretch out if the ground is too firm. Breeding has a big influence on what kind of track conditions a horse prefers. Check out a horse’s record on different track conditions in your betting site’s form guide prior to betting.
8. Betting Early Can Be Profitable
Early markets posted by bookmakers can have glaring errors in them. That is not because the people putting them together are incompetent, just that it is a massive job that requires considerable time that the bookies often simply do not have. By race time though, every punter and bookmaker has had the opportunity to bet into or adjust these markets, and they will often be a very accurate representation of the respective chances of each horse.
9. Exotics are Hard to Win On
Bookmakers’ most competitive odds are found on the win market, because they are the odds that are most easily comparable between bookmakers, and across different products including tote, fixed odds and exchange betting. As soon as you go away from win odds, to place odds, then exotic odds, the margin for the bookmakers and on the totes becomes much higher. Tread carefully with exotics and same race multis.
10. Winners Pay the Same at Casterton and Caulfield
Don’t be afraid to go far and wide in search of a winner. Often the markets put up on provincial and country races can have glaring errors in them, and time spent analysing these markets can often be more rewarding than putting in the same amount of time on a metro meeting, where every smart bookmaker and punter is trying to find an edge.
