How Horse Races Form
June 23, 2008
I run into a lot of people who think they know a lot about betting on horses and how things work but then I come to find out that they have no real clue as to how the process of filling a race comes to fruition. This is a thing any horse bettor who calls himself an expert should know about.
What normally occurs is from 24 to 72 hours before a race, the trainers get together at the Racing Office and the races that are in the condition book for that day are drawn.
The post positions are drawn randomly. If there are 8 races in the condition book for the day, then each potential errant of the race will be given their post position by a corresponding pill that is then drawn froma cup.
An assistant secretary or other designated person will pull a horse from the first group of races and at the same time another person, usually a trainer or jockey will pull a pill from the cup with a number and that will be that horse’s post position.
A race can be won or lost from the post that a runner draws. Generally, unless a horse has commanding speed, drawing an inside post sprinting is not a good thing because the runner will likely have to be used very hard from the sound of the bell to gain position or run the risk of getting shuffled back and blocked in.
On the outside, tactical speed horses love bing out here because the rider can get into the race at his own pace and he doesn’t have to ask for everything the horse has at the break.
In routes, there is usually nothing wrong with inside speed but the worst posts for routers that have only middling speed is the outside.
Once drawn toward the outside, if a runner can’t clear the other speed, and doesn’t have the natural style to just settle, get to the rail and save ground, he is in the worst possible spot in that he will likely just get strung along chasing early and losing ground.
After all the races are drawn, equipment changes, Lasix and Bute information is gathered and then an overnight is made up.
An overnight is the list of the races in order with the post position, the rider, the weight, the sex, the medication, the owner and the trainer and it is copied and available to the public.
Once that overnight is sent out, it reaches Equibase where that company will build the races from the first out. They will follow the overnight with all of the information and formulate the past performances, which will then be published in the Daily Racing Form and handicapped immediately so that paper can be published that very day, 48 hours from the post time of the race.
Also on this overnight is information for trainers, like new jockey agents for riders and those contact numbers.
One of the best things California has done in the recent months is add a very important feature to the overnight.
They now have a designation of FTG, which means first time gelding and is one of the most important things cagey horse bettors can zero in on.
Obviously, if a runner is no longer distracted by the opposite sex, he has a tendency to have his mind on racing.
Horse bettors that play just certain tracks, maybe just one or two ovals, should familiarize themselves with the overnight process and try to ascertain which runners are likely to show up in which races.
When this is done, it will greatly improve the ability to figure out when a runner is in a perfect spot to win.
