Racecards are a quintessential tool to provide all the information you need to know about race. They are an invaluable resource for those attempting to pick out a winner, as they contain a number of important details that can give you a helping hand.
Some of these are about the race itself, such as the name of the race and what distance it’s being run over, whilst others provide details about the runners. The horses names, ages and the weights which they will carry, as well as trainer and jockey details are all provided by the racecard.
Types of Race
The main two types of racing internationally are Flat and National Hunt (Jumps) and there are significant differences between the two. Flat racing tends to be over shorter distances and there are no obstacles for the horses to get over. National Hunt races usually require the jumping of fences or hurdles.
Another key difference between the two is that horses start in stalls for Flat racing, whereas National Hunt racing begins with a starter who releases a tape which is stretched across the track.
There are numerous types of race in Flat and National Hunt racing, such as maidens, novices and handicaps. This information is always provided in the race name. For example, the Jal Roofing Mares’ Maiden Hurdle tells us that the race is for mares who haven’t won a race over hurdles previously.
Handicaps are one of the most common and the weight a horse is to carry in the race is dictated by the official rating that the handicapper has given a horse. Every horse that has had enough runs to qualify for a mark has one and it’s allotted on the evidence of their form.
A class scale denotes the quality of the race with Class 6 being the lowest and Class 1 being the highest. The races at the highest class level are Listed, Group 3, Group 2 and the very best ones are known as Group 1s. The same class system is largely in effect for National Hunt racing but the top races are referred to as Grade rather than Group.
Reading a Racecard
There are plenty of details on a racecard that could be important and aren’t necessarily thoroughly explained. We’ll go through those and provide a summary of what each one means.
Name Of Horse: perhaps the most self explanatory, this is the name with which the horse in question has been officially registered and what the commentator will call them during the race.
Age: This can be an important piece of information, especially where the ages of the horse will affect the weight they carry. For example, handicaps which are for three-year-olds and upwards often state in the conditions that three-year-olds will receive a weight allowance to account for their relative inexperience and the fact that they’re behind on their physical development.
Jockey/Trainer: The names of the jockeys and trainers are displayed on the race card. Some jockeys will have a number next to their name which tells us they have a weight allowance of that many pounds. This is an example of how it might look on the racecard:
J: Ethan Jones
T: Alexandra Dunn
Silks: The silks are registered by the owner and are worn by the jockeys during the race so that it’s easy to tell which horse is which. When an owner has multiple horses the jockeys will wear different coloured caps.
Official Rating: The handicapper gives every horse an official rating which is decided by their ability and it affects what races they qualify for and how much weight they carry in handicaps. The higher the rating, the better the horse is.
Form: A horse’s recent performances are usually displayed and the number will denote where they finished in a race. When a horse finishes 10th or higher, a 0 is noted on their form. Letters are also used such as F (fell), U (unseated rider), B (brought down), R (refused to race), V (voided race) or O (ran out). Hyphens denotes a change in season and a slash means two years have passed. For example, 753-1 or 111/P.
Saddle cloth number: This is the number on the racecard which will be displayed on the horse’s saddle cloth and it’s a useful tool for helping to spot the horse during the race.
Stall Number: Only used in Flat racing, the bracketed number next to a horse’s race number tells us which stall the horse will be starting the race from. This can be important at certain tracks which have a particular bias for horses drawn low or high.
Weight being carried: Weights aremeasured in stones and pounds in Britain and Ireland so ‘9-9’ for example would mean the horse is carrying 9st 9lb.
C/D/CD/BF: These may seem random but they carry some significance. C denotes a horse has won at the track before, D tells us it has won over that distance, CD means they’ve previously won over both and BF indicates that they were previously favourite for a race in which they were beaten.
Headgear: If a horse is wearing headgear during a race it is on the racecard as a letter next to the horse’s name. Common examples of this are p (cheekpieces), v (visor), t (tongue tie), h (hood) or b (blinkers).
Verdict: Most racecards will have a verdict at the bottom where someone has gone through the main contenders for the race and picked out who they think is the most likely winner.
Forecast betting: This is an estimation of what the runners odds are likely to be once the race has been priced up by the bookmakers.