There are many factors that determine how successful you will be when betting on horse races.
The most important of all is your understanding of past performances, which is also commonly known as the form. How can this help you to bet more wisely?
What Do You Need to Know?
The past performances details tell you how horses performed in past races, giving you information such as the position they finished in, their timing, and what the conditions were like. The basic theory is that you compare these details to the information for other horses in the same upcoming race and decide which one is most likely to win.
It’s a lot of information, but there are plenty of websites and online tools that set the details out in different ways.
Find a type of presentation that you like and it’ll become a lot easier to understand what you’re looking at.
You might think that the more information you have the better, but sometimes you might need to take a step back and look at the overall situation without getting too bogged down in numbers.
How to Get Started
The arrival of internet sites filled with detailed horse racing information now makes it far easier to find out about the latest results and free past performances of any horse anywhere in the world. However, with so much information at your fingertips, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed.
The best starting point is with a look at a certain horse. For instance, you may want to find out if the favorite is as likely to win as the odds suggest.
Alternatively, you might like the look of an outsider and decide to carry out some research to find out more about their recent races. Remember that the likes of Mine That Bird and Giacomo have produced some huge upsets in the Kentucky Derby in the past.
Remember to take into account factors such as the type of surface and the weather conditions. The performance of some horses can vary widely according to these issues. Is there another horse that might be better suited to the race than your pick? Try to get as wide a view of the race contenders as you can.
How Does Checking Past Performance Compare to Following Tips?
One of the most popular ways of deciding which wagers to place is by looking online for tips. This is a simple, fast method as you only need to find a tip that you like the look of and then place your bet on it. You can find tips easily for any race, but they are more easily found for big races like the Kentucky Derby in the US or the Grand National in the UK.
Whether you prefer to check out past performances or follow online tips is simply down to personal preference and how much time you want to dedicate to finding the right horse. With tips you are just following someone else’s recommendation, while you’re relying on your own work when you check the past performances of horses.
For some bettors, using both techniques could be the perfect approach.
For instance, you could look at the latest tips to spot a horse that you like, and then carry out the research needed to more fully understand their chance of winning.
Will This Approach Improve Your Chances of Winning?
There is no guaranteed way of winning your horse racing bets, as unpredictable outcomes mean that even strong favorites don’t win every time.
However, by taking the past performances of the horses into account you’ll be giving yourself a better chance of choosing the right horse and potentially winning some money on it.
