Horseracing Explained: A Complete Beginner’s Guide to Racing

Cause of Causes, half brother to 2003 Epsom Derby winner Kris Kin, goes off as the 3-1 favourite, Last Samurai follows him in the betting at 7-2. Nube Negra starts as favourite in the penultimate race of the day. This is never a race to be confident of solving as there is always so much untapped talent waiting to appear. Acey Milan has plenty of experience and has shown smart speed for a bumper horse. The Irish have won six to Great britain’s four in the past 10 years. Blackbow and Felix Desy look their principal hopes this time around.

All of Ireland will be screaming for Samcro – and there’s no Cheltenham thrill like it

He’s by Galileo out of the star mare Annie Power, which perhaps explains the ownership triumvirate – or at least two-thirds of it. He’s three from three to date – a bumper, a novice at the Galway Festival, and the Grade 2 Moscow Flyer in January. Winners of the Moscow Flyer include Douvan, Vautour, Min, and more recently Impaire Et Passe. While the form of this season’s renewal has yet to be franked, Mystical Power bolted up by seven lengths and he is yet to be extended.

Types of horse race bets

I’m not keen on backing Appreciate It at around 6/4 in the ‘without’ market either, nor the untested in Grade 1 or on fast ground Teahupoo, or any of his five-year-old contemporaries. No, if I was having a swipe right now, it might be Not So Sleepy without Honeysuckle at 33/1+ each way. He was 5th last year at 125/1 outright, and has dead heated with Epatante in the Grade 1 Fighting Fifth this season. It looks like this year’s Champion Hurdle may be run at an even to quick tempo, with both Appreciate It and Teahupoo generally going forward. However, both took a lead on their most recent starts so perhaps we’ll be erring towards just an even gallop, in which case all should be able to run their races. I also didn’t mention Tommy’s Oscar in that earlier preview, Mrs Ann Hamilton’s flag bearer well worthy of the name check having waltzed away with the Haydock Champion Hurdle trial shortly after publication.

• That was his only visit to Cheltenham so he is unbeaten in one both at the track and at the Festival.
• Making prudent decisions based on a combination of research, intuition, and rational thinking is pivotal in navigating the unpredictable nature of horse racing.
• Continuously educate yourself with horse racing tips, engage responsibly at various racecourses, and exercise patience in wagering decisions to achieve consistent and rewarding outcomes.
• Just when you think you have a race sorted, a horse you hadn’t even considered might surprise you.
• There will be plenty of interest in Black Corton, the mount of Bryony Frost.
• The ground has now eased to Soft with Heavy places for the hurdlers.

Breeders’ Cup sign up offers and deals as City of Troy chases history

Although GALOPIN DES CHAMPS has to prove himself over an extra two and a half furlongs, he has a touch of brilliance about him suggesting he can prevail in a Gold Cup. Bar an agonising fall at the final fence when well clear in last year’s Turners Novices’ Chase, he would be heading to Cheltenham looking for a third festival success, and he relishes spring ground. Still only seven years of age, he is also versatile regarding tactics and there is an awful lot to like about his credentials. Hunters Yarn is a horse that jumps off the page in this race. The stable have won this twice in the last 3 years and tend to have a good horse in it.

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Decent day of racing ahead with three Grade 2, one Grade 3 and a listed races from Newbury and Warwick this afternoon. Plus we have Uttoxeter  who are subject to a third inspection. With form horses Coo Star Sivola and Global Stage having disappointed on their latest starts – a difficult race to assess. Theatre Guide is expected to go well in a race he won last year.

More Royal Ascot previews, tips & features

• Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 20 renewals there have been 4 winning favourites in the race.
• That doesn’t mean Ireland doesn’t have a say in the race, though, as Irish-bred horses have been responsible for the last five winners and ten of the last 11 (exception French-bred).
• William Henry beat Topofthegameinto fourth place at Kempton in January but that fast track and a lack of pace in the race were against the selection and he should turn the tables.
• He’s won them all, but that might be something to keep in mind if you’re tempted to pile in at cramped odds.
• And, from a value perspective, especially if that horse is returning to optimal conditions today having recently run under less suitable criteria.
• With its own private patio and a fabulous hot tub, it also has a bright and spacious feel with an open-plan kitchen-dining-living area, and a breathtaking mezzanine bedroom.
• Their French form suggests both will be waited with to varying degrees.
• So far he’s been beaten in two maidens before getting off the mark in a third such race, and that doesn’t fit with this race.

The NAP was finally back in the winners enclosure yesterday so hopefully we can put a run of winners together now. We head to Beverley on Tuesday afternoon and GOLDEN WAR can open his account. This son of Churchill ran his best race to date when beaten a length over C&D last month and given that form has been well advertised since I think he can go one better here. He’ll need to improve again probably but he’s been gelded since and the hood goes on too which should sharpen him up. Sydney Street left his debut run behind to finish third at Ffos Las last time and will be the danger if building on that again. Rich King also looks to have a future and he should do better at some point too.

Cheltenham Festival 2024: Day One Preview, Tips

• All results for the 48,094 Betfair markets traded are here and the charts are here.
• He’s pretty exposed is this chap and he’s shown very little.
• Nevertheless, when the media cries “certainty” and the market posits 4/6, punters are well served to beware.
• Irish runners finished 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 10th and fell.

To frame this year’s expectation, we need to look backwards. Below is the same information but with the key metrics ranked, e.g. Mullins’ 2020 Festival win percentage was his second best of the past five Festivals; it was his best of five Festivals on each of EW%, PRB, IV, and A/E. So we’ll use IV, PRB and A/E as way points to navigate to a conclusion; but against which period(s) should we measure performance?

Cheltenham Festival: The 15 year View

The table above shows the performance in handicaps of four to seven runners over the last five years. It includes all-weather, flat turf, hurdles and chases, UK and Ireland. Unless there are two or more front-running types in the field, the balance of probabilities is that the race will be steadily run with an acceleration in the latter part of the contest. That suits horses which are able to change gear, i.e. accelerate, late in the play. Many horses cannot, and for these more galloping types, field size truncation is not good. The final component in my facilitation/differentiation quintet is field size.

Futurity Trophy Weekend 6f Handicap Trends

Trainer Charlie Longsdon is bullish about his chance and, on the evidence of the book, he’s a place possible at least… Last year’s Triumph Hurdle winner, Lossiemouth, made a highly impressive return to action here on Trials Day. While she’s the clear favourite and the most likely winner, stepping up to 2m 4f poses a question mark on her stamina. It’s possible that Luccia could be sent on in a bid to force a stronger pace, she herself having made all in the race when her barn mate Iberico flopped; but that’s not her normal run style. And nor should a 140-rated mare be in the same conversation as a 165+ gelding. I retain the faith in him and think he has an excellent chance at a decent price.

• They have incurred losses of £116.97 (ROI -8.3%) over the period of study.
• DOUVAN Suffered serious injury in this race a year ago and not run since; hugely talented but remains to be seen if he can recover that level of form.
• Rare Edition was very disappointing when only second in the Sidney Banks at Huntingdon, a race won in 2020 by Shishkin en route to Supreme glory.
• The answer, of course, is trajectory; and that is the byword for attempting to solve this wagering puzzle.
• Both the jump and Flat trainers’ championships run at the same time as the jockeys’ championships.
• The course has provided an early hunting ground for a number of national hunt legends.
• That was in the November handicap last year in which the heavyweights Delta Work and Galvin both went missing, presumed not off.

They’re off in the Cross Country Chase

In this case, 2nd of four beats two horses and loses to one horse, so has a PRB score of 67% (or 0.67) for beating two out of three of its rivals. Impact Value (IV) is a measure of how frequently something happens for x in relation to how frequently it happens for all. For instance, how often the going is good to soft on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival compared to how often the going is good to soft over all days of the Cheltenham Festival. Protektorat has been Pricewise’d in the last couple of days, that value vacuum cleaner meaning he’s a rum price for us Johnny Come Lately’s, but he’s not really one I’m yet persuaded by anyway. And so, enfin, let us peruse the past performances, in approximate market rank order.

Altior wins the Champion Chase

The average winning SP since 2012 has been 27/1, and there have been nine winners priced 20/1 or bigger since the race’s inception in 2005; so the market doesn’t have a clue who wins either! The suggestion, then, is to ignore anything shorter than 16/1 and try to make a case for two or three darts, win only, for small change. The win market is all about Constitution Hill, who better ratings judges are suggesting is the best we’ve seen in a very, very long time. If that’s right, he’s a fair enough price for those who like playing big at short.

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The Glancing Queen will no doubt be well fancied for the feature race, but she hasn’t been the soundest jumper over hurdles and is worth opposing on her chase debut. Donald McCain is on a tremendous run of form (35% Strike Rate last 14 days) and there is every reason to believe she could add to the stables recent successes. If Chacun Pour Soi runs and wins at the Dublin Racing Festival this weekend – he’s currently a best priced 4/9 so to do – he’ll be shorter for the winning margin bets and odds on for the Champion Chase. If he doesn’t run, he’ll be circa evens on the day assuming he shows up. But, like I say, I think he’s a more robust animal this season, and I’m prepared to back that perception.

International Races

Make 20/1 your cutoff in all-age handicap hurdles, and beware the shortie. This time, 84 horses have worn them without a win, and just six places. Conversely, 11 of the 84 blinkered horses (one also wearing a hood) made the frame, and four won. Two of the 45 hood wearers also won, another eight placing; while the visor went 0 from 21, no places. The fairer sex have recorded just one placed effort from 27 starters in the ten year review period. That 3.7% place strike rate (and 0% win rate) compares with a 16.4% place rate for the boys.

Then, more recently, Chacun Pour Soi was returned 8/13 but could only return to the 3rd place area in the winners’ enclosure. Since then, Energumene was sent off at 5/2 and 6/5 in his two recent winning years. A Champion Chase that has been El Fabiolo’s to lose for much of the season. And in the absence of his Closutton mate and reigning champ of the past two years, Energumene, he shows at odds on to register a third victory in a row for that man Mullins, who – let’s not forget – had never won the QMCC prior to 2022.

• You may also be interested in other preview blogs that we have packed full of information, head down to the Other Principal Races at Doncaster Racecourse section for links to these.
• The County Hurdle is often won by a Graded performer, most notably last season’s subsequent multiple Grade 1 winner State Man.
• He’s officially top rated in the line up, on 161, and this season has run 3rd in the Munster National, won the Troytown, been 2nd in the Becher Chase and bolted up in the PP Hogan Cross Country Chase at Punchestown.
• Haut En Couleurs has plenty of untapped potential and could usurp the finishers from that race if standing up.
• Three runs, three wins, in Grade 2 and Grade 1 (twice) company, beating the right horses with nonchalance.
• KARMOLOGY looks the solid option in this competitive fillies’ handicap.
• In accounting for stablemate Haatem in the Irish Guineas he as expected got back on track, and duly lined up against a very deep field in the day one highlight at Royal Ascot.

Relegate makes it nine Champion Bumper wins for Willie Mullins

• In 2008, Fiveforthree bridged that class chasm as a 7/1 chance in the Ballymore – now Gallagher – i.e. this race.
• “It was of no consequence and when he wasn’t winning round the last bend I wasn’t about to start using that as an excuse.
• If Energumene and Allmankind lock horns on the speed, they may both pay for those exertions in the manner that Saint Calvados and Petit Mouchoir did in the 2018 renewal of this race, setting things up for a 14-length rout for Footpad.
• For all that iffing and butting, A Plus Tard is the right favourite and almost certain to offer a run for the pennies.
• With just two months to go until the Cheltenham Festival 2022, thoughts begin to turn to those high class clashes, none more so perhaps than the Blue Riband itself, the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
• Data on the Timeform website is protected by © and database rights and may not be used for any purpose without a licence.

And, of course, that’s absolutely fine because – remember – the number one takeaway from these million words is, Choose Your Battles. Play where you know most, and where you’re as comfortable as possible with what you don’t know. Like which trainers, and which of their horses, might leap forward on handicap bow. Even at relatively short odds of 7/2, there may be a losing run of 27 or 28 bets in a 1000 race sample; so we have to be set up, emotionally and financially, to deal with that. Betting is fun, perhaps more so on horses than most other sports because of the speed with which the result is known; that rapid production of endorphins induced by the short duration of a race compared with, say, a football match. This doesn’t look to be the deepest Novice hurdle so UNIVERSAL DAVE may well be able to shoulder a penalty and land a second career success.

If any horse can stop State Man’s procession to glory it might be Irish Point, in the Robcour colours and trained by Gordon Elliott. This time last year, while State Man was getting closest to Constitution Hill, Irish Point was winning a Grade 3 novice hurdle at Naas. He’s since won the 2m4f Grade 1 Mersey Novices’ at Aintree, and then this season he’s added a Grade 3 at Down Royal and the Grade 1 Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown. But that Leopardstown race is contested over almost three miles and, as the name suggests, it was contested at the end of last year. It was a terrifically convincing score there but in a slow time beating (relatively) slow horses. I don’t see how that makes him second pick for a Champion Hurdle.

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William Buick winners have been with Bohemian Melody (2011) and Jamaican Bolt (2014). Silvestre De Sousa winners have been with Thunderball (2012) and Aberama Gold (2020). As with all the reports, you can set parameters at the top to filter the day’s qualifiers. And there are various other filtering options – for instance, I’m looking at the Course 5 Year Form view here, which tells me Harry Fry has run two handicap debutants at Plumpton since 19th December 2017.

We work with the belief that every race and every meeting is important, so we’ll give exactly the same coverage to a Monday night meeting at Windsor or an ITV Racing covered race at Newmarket. I still think a mark of 67 somewhat underestimates BRAZEN BOLT and back over this track and trip he looks to have plenty going for him. He travelled notably well before winning convincingly on penultimate start and I can see a similar scenario panning out here.

FAMOUS CLERMONT is a tentative selection in a wide-open affair, following an effortless 18-length romp at Haydock. The winner of that contest in 2022 went on to follow up in the Albert Bartlett, as The Nice Guy improved hugely for the rise in distance at Cheltenham. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that Seabank Bistro repeats the feat this time around and is worth a small each-way wager. The course which has produced the most winners of the Ayr Gold Cup is Goodwood, there has been a total number of 5 winners of this race who ran at Goodwood last time out. The next best courses which have produced the second most winners are Ripon and Haydock, there has been a total number of 3 winners from each of those courses. When looking at the over-rounds for the last 20 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2006 when the race had an over-round of 122%.

His pre-race RPR is 7lb superior to anything else in this race and 10lb clear of the top rated in the Supreme (Slade Steel, who he comprehensively beat last time). He’s got an almighty engine on him, and seems to be pretty versatile ground wise; the trip Bolts Up Daily is fine and he can lead or race handily; and he’s jumped very well in the main. Horse racing in the UK is hotly watched by numerous parties, and since events happen all year round it is definitely worth looking into if you want to place a few bets.

Much has been made of the wind operation that prevented him returning to racecourse action until Newbury last month, but it was a minor procedure that he underwent. Altior showed the problem was behind him when soon putting Politologue to the sword that day and winning by four lengths. This was a fine display – close to his best previous form – as Politologue had been in the ascendancy with three smart wins in top class races to his credit.

Azzerti is a best price 12/1 at present, which looks a bit of value. Interesting cards at both Fakenham and Sandown this afternoon. We are going to look at two races from the latter where the going is on the heavy side of Soft. Last seen on the track when second at the Kempton Christmas meeting in another valuable handicap. Will prove to be a highly informative race for the future. Plaisir D’Amour runs from the Venetia Williams stable, who are in great form.

The horse’s trainer and the jockey at the time of winning the Ayr Gold Cup are also displayed, along with the starting price at which the horse was sent off. Looking at the winning odds over the last 13 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Muntadab in 2016, winning for Roger Fell at odds of 33/1 under the guidance of P J McDonald. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 13 renewals there have been 2 winning favourites in the race. Remember to use the best racing tipsters along with the information on this page to find you a bet on the 2025 Futurity Trophy Weekend 6f Handicap.

On ratings she has a few pounds to find with some of these but her trainer is making optimistic noises (for whatever that is worth). It will be quick and there will be some trouble in transit for a few. Hopefully Frodon gets them spaced out behind and all have their chance. Saint Sam and Magic Daze are the most likely leaders, but Blue Lord and Riviere d’Etel have led or pressed the pace in at least two of their most recent four starts as well.