10 Basic Horse Racing Betting Tips

Here are some initial tips to get you started with our E-Z Win® Form.-- Horstradamus

1. Follow The Tiers

This is the most important concept when reading our E-Z Win® Form. The horses are grouped into color-coded tiers. The tier colors are displayed as the background color of each horse's program number circle. There are five tiers: Tier 1 (green) is the strongest, followed by Tier 2 (blue), Tier 3 (gold), Tier 4 (orange), and Tier 5 (red).

Horses marked NA (grey) are unrated, which means we did not have enough data to rate that particular horse. This DOES NOT indicate that it is a bad horse. It is a rare occurrence, usually due to a lack of data for foreign horses. Examine these horses manually to see if they pose a threat.

Within a given tier, the horses are ranked from best to worst. However, usually the horses within a tier are close in ability and it is difficult to choose one over another. For single race bets (e.g. Exacta, Trifecta), key or box the horses in Tier 1. For multi-leg bets (e.g. Pick 3, Pick 4), take all the horses in the top tier. Sometimes, depending on the circumstances, add one or two horses from Tier 2 or from the unrated horses.

2. Handpick Your Races

Although we are successful at predicting many races, it is common sense that you must be selective when choosing the races to bet. You will not be as successful if you bet every possible race. Typically, look for races with smaller top tiers (one or two horses in the tier). Also skip races if there are one or more unrated horses.

3. It Takes Money to Win Money

While you should handpick your races to conserve your bankroll, be prepared to commit enough money to make a proper bet when you find a race you like. Exotic wagers such as Pick 4s, Pick 6s and Superfectas usually require a significant outlay to have a realistic chance of hitting the bet. Eliminating one or two horses from your combination to try to save a couple of bucks can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars in lost winnings. If you cannot afford to outlay enough funds for the more exotic bets, stick to simpler bets such as Win/Place/Show, Exactas/Quinellas and Doubles.

4. Workouts, Workouts, Workouts

Besides our ratings themselves, workouts are the second most important gauge of a horse's ability. Past performances indicate a horse's basic ability. Recent workouts are an indication of a horse's current form. When choosing between two horses with similar past ability, the horse in the best current form will often prevail.

We analyze the quality of workouts for you. Workouts highlighted in red are quality workouts. In addition, if you see the Monster Workout icon for a horse, keep an eye out!

5. Turf vs. Dirt

Horses are either main track horses or turf horses, not both. It is very rare that a horse will run well on both surfaces. Breeding plays a major factor here, as there are physical aspects of a horse which make the horse better on the turf or dirt.

It is enough to know that if a horse looks terrible on the dirt (but has shown some promising short distance workouts), there's a good chance the horse will perform well on the turf. A horse that is predisposed for turf can look like a completely different horse when moving from the main track to the turf. The same goes for horses that are terrible on the turf. They may prefer a dirt course. For first time turf starters, we incorporate a pedigree analysis and rate these horses accordingly.

Another way to gauge if a horse will like the turf is to see if the horse ever ran on a wet dirt track (Good, Muddy, or Sloppy). If the horse ran significantly better on the off track than a Fast track, the horse may take well to the turf.

6. Track Condition

It always amazes us that most handicappers never take track condition into consideration. This is a HUGE factor. Similar to the dirt vs. turf issue, some horses prefer a dry track while others prefer a wet track. This applies on the dirt as well as on the turf. In fact, this is often the case with European turf horses. The turf courses in Europe are frequently soft, and European horses usually don't run as well on a firm course here in the States.

A simple way to determine if a horse likes an off track is to check the horse's Wet record on the form or look at the horse's individual past performances on a wet track. We do the analysis for you for all track conditions. We also analyze turf races for the dirt (just in case they come off the turf due to inclement weather).

Use the Surface and Condition selectors on the E-Z Win® Form to reflect the current conditions. On live race days, the form automatically picks up real-time condition and surface changes and updates the ratings accordingly. You can also use these selectors manually to preview "what if" scenarios, like checking how the field would rate if rain turns the track Sloppy later in the day.

If turf racing is moved to the main track, you can override the surface for individual races. Simply set the surface to Dirt for the races that came off the turf, while leaving it on Turf for any races that remain on the grass.

7. Class Dropdowns

Another thing to watch for are horses that are dropping in class. Horses that are significantly dropping in class from their last race are usually a threat. Some examples of significant class drops are: Maiden Special Weight to cheap Maiden Claiming, Claiming to another Claiming with a significantly lower claiming price, Allowance to Claiming and Graded Stakes to Allowance or Claiming.

To determine if a horse is going up or down in class, look for the Drop in Class or Raise in Class icons on the horse's entry. The class comparison is based on the horse's last race on the SAME surface as the current race. You can also see the class of the last race run by looking at the LR (Last Race) line on the form. This shows the track, surface, class, and finish position of the horse in the last race (e.g. 3/7 means the horse finished third out of 7 horses). Of course, if you want to see the past performances in detail, click Expand PPs on the horse's entry.

8. Layoffs

Layoffs are important in the following two ways:

If a horse hasn't raced for more than 45 days since the last race, the horse is currently laid off. Horses that are significantly laid off tend to not perform to their normal standards because they need a race to get back on track. However, the importance of layoffs varies from track to track. At tracks with better horses (e.g. Aqueduct, Gulfstream Park), even a short layoff can transform a horse from a contender to a loser. However at tracks with cheaper horses, horses can win their first race back from a long layoff.
If a horse's last race was coming off a layoff, the horse is bound to improve this time out. The past race was "needed" and will usually not indicate the horse's true ability. In the past performance section, if a race was coming back from a layoff, the date of the past performance is highlighted in red.

9. Medication Change

There are essentially two kinds of medication given to racehorses, Lasix and Bute. Bute is only legal at certain tracks (typically on the West Coast).

Any horse that is using Lasix for the first time will almost always improve. We indicate this on the form with the First Time Lasix icon.

On the other hand, Bute is very different. A horse either needs Bute to run well, or can't run at all with Bute. By looking at a horse's past performances, you can tell if they run better with or without Bute. The medication column on the past performance is indicated by a 'B' if the horse was using Bute. If a horse runs well with Bute and is now off Bute, the horse will typically run down and run a terrible race. However, if a horse has always run with Bute and didn't do well, the horse may run a big race the first time running without Bute.

10. Jockey/Trainer Change

Many racing enthusiasts make the mistake of betting a particular jockey. It is true that jockeys may have significantly different winning percentages. However, these people do not realize that the most popular jockeys also get the best mounts. A jockey cannot make a horse run better than the horse's natural ability. Conversely, a jockey can ruin a horse's chance to win by giving the horse a bad ride. It is the case, however, that some jockeys "know" how to ride a particular horse better. By looking at the horse's past performances, you can see which jockeys typically rode the horse well.

Keep this in mind: If you give the best jockey the worst horse, he/she won't hit the board. However, if you give the worst jockey the best horse, chances are he/she will hit the board and possibly even win the race.

When there is a jockey or trainer change, we highlight it on the E-Z Win® Form. The previous jockey or trainer is shown with a strikethrough, and the new one is displayed prominently alongside their meet statistics. Click on any jockey or trainer name to see detailed performance breakdowns.