The gelding of racehorses has been in the news this week after leading owner Kia Joorabchian (Amo Racing) claimed that Ralph Beckett had gelded one of his horses in error, nullifying any future stud value the horse in question may have had. Beckett has also achieved Group-race success with a newly gelded runner in recent weeks – Pride Of Arras, who landed the Great Voltigeur at odds of 12-1 on his first start following the operation (though was the return to York – where’s he’s now unbeaten in two starts – might have been equally important). But why are racehorses gelded? A quick google search produces the following results…
#AD 18+ New cust: Deposit £10+ in 7 days & bet on sports. Min odds apply. Reward = 4 x £10 Free Bets (2 x £10 Bet Builders & 2 x £10 Sports Bet). Valid 7 days. Free bets not valid on eSports and non-UK/IE horse racing. 18+. T&Cs apply.
Since the beginning of 2020 this is what happened to all the freshly gelded runners in Britain…
…798 winners from 6517 bets (12.24%) and a loss of £1268.47 at SP (-19.46% on turnover). However, at Betfair SP that loss became a small profit after 2% commission (+£86.25, or +1.32%).
In the past seven days there have been 27 runners in Britain who were having their first run since a gelding operation, with seven of them winning. Backing them blind would have returned a loss of £6.38 to a £1 level stake at SP but siding with those who were strong in the market was a profitable angle, with six of those to start as favourite winning for a profit of £7.63 (+£8.95 at Betfair SP after 2% commission)…
Backing newly gelded favourites in Britain has not been a good long-term strategy (-9.94% on turnover from 802 bets in the past five years) but is there any way to profit from gelding operations?
#AD 18+ New cust: Deposit £10+ in 7 days & bet on sports. Min odds apply. Reward = 4 x £10 Free Bets (2 x £10 Bet Builders & 2 x £10 Sports Bet). Valid 7 days. Free bets not valid on eSports and non-UK/IE horse racing. 18+. T&Cs apply.
1) Trainers (first run since gelded)
The obvious punting angle where newly gelded runners are concerned is trainer stats. Some handlers seem to specialise in scoring first time out after the gelding operation, including…
Archie Watson
Archie Watson’s runners have a good strike-rate (23.23%) on their first start since a gelding operation, and we’d have made a profit of £35.11 by backing them blind at Betfair SP.
The all-weather qualifiers were the ones to concentrate on…
…with 27 winners from 83 bets (35.23%) for a profit of £65.37 at BSP.
Alice Haynes
Alice Haynes has shown a good profit with her newly-gelded runners…
And like Archie Watson, the all-weather qualifiers were the most lucrative…
George Scott
George Scott has fired in ten winners (from 47 bets) on their first start since a gelding operation (expected winners only 4.21)…
…and backing them all returned a profit of £42.09 at Betfair SP. Splitting them by age makes interesting reading, with the profits coming from those aged three and older (albeit the sample size for two-year-olds is small)…
Michael Bell
Since the beginning of 2010, Michael Bell’s record with his newly gelded runners looks like this…
…splitting them by handicaps/non-handicaps is revealing…
…with the handicappers showing a good profit but the non-handicappers returning a loss.
#AD 18+ New cust: Deposit £10+ in 7 days & bet on sports. Min odds apply. Reward = 4 x £10 Free Bets (2 x £10 Bet Builders & 2 x £10 Sports Bet). Valid 7 days. Free bets not valid on eSports and non-UK/IE horse racing. 18+. T&Cs apply.
2) Trainers (second run since gelded)
John & Thady Gosden
The Gosdens don’t have a great record with newly gelded runners (since 2017), with the 33 winners (from 161 bets) returning a loss of £32.46 at SP (-£13.32 at BSP)…
…however, backing them blindly on their second run following a gelding operation was a profitable angle in the same period…
…eliminating the all-weather runners would have increased the profits further…
Grant Tuer
Since the beginning of 2021, Grant Tuer has done well with runners having their second start since gelded…
…a profit of £49.75 to a £1 level stake at SP (+£62.98 at BSP). Like the Gosdens, he too does best with the turf qualifiers…
…with seven of the 18 scoring (38.89%).
#AD 18+ New cust: Deposit £10+ in 7 days & bet on sports. Min odds apply. Reward = 4 x £10 Free Bets (2 x £10 Bet Builders & 2 x £10 Sports Bet). Valid 7 days. Free bets not valid on eSports and non-UK/IE horse racing. 18+. T&Cs apply.
Summary
Pay close attention to all-weather runners having their first start since a gelding operation if trained by Archie Watson or Alice Haynes.
George Scott’s newly gelded runners have a good record, especially those aged three and older.
Michael Bell’s newly gelded handicaps have performed well.
Turf runners having their second start since gelded, trained by the Gosdens or Grant Tuer are also worth following.
Looking For More Racing Info? Check Out Our Racecards & Top Tips Sections
Make sure you’re following us on all our social media platforms to keep up to date with all the latest horse racing news and the best tips.