The Basics of Betting: 4 Signs That a Horse is a Champion

Just like any other sport, there is no accurate way for you to predict the winner of a horse race. However, through researching, you can give yourself a chance to have an informed guess as to which horse will win the race. It’s certainly better than just randomly picking a horse and betting on it.

Researching a horse’s track record, behavior in the field, etc., can at least give you a clue on how the horse will perform during a race. There are telltale signs that a horse will win when you know how to look for them. For example, if you look at the racing form and see that the horse has finished top three in most of its recent races, it has a decent chance of doing it again or ultimately winning the race itself.

Here are the telltale signs that a horse is a winner.

Track Record

Generally, looking at the horse’s track record is a good way of starting your research. As mentioned earlier, if a horse finished in the top three in its last two or three races, then it has a good chance of doing it again or winning the race. But you have to make sure that those races are recent, or the information will be irrelevant.

Also, in those races, you have to look for other factors that made the horse finish close, like the race type, horse breed, and even the track surface. For example, if the track surface is synthetic, the horse probably won those races because it’s heavy-footed.

Why is that important? Heavy-footed horses have more power in their strides. Hence, this means it would be very difficult for them to run on the dirt, especially when it’s raining. With their powerful steps, their hooves would burrow into the ground, affecting their speed.

On the other hand, if they run on synthetic track surfaces, their hooves wouldn’t be burrowed; thus, their powerful stride would ultimately increase their speed. For light-footed horses, however, it’s the opposite. With less power in their steps, running on mud is no problem. They’ll still do fine on synthetic track surfaces, but don’t expect them to be as fast as those horses that are heavy-footed.

Repeat Contestant

This one correlates with the first tip regarding recent races. A horse will have a good chance of finishing close or winning even if the horse itself finished in the top three in its recent races. Of course, this goes along with some factors. Remember, the saying goes, “Never expect a horse to do something it has never done before.”

If a horse has never won a race or finished close to first, at least on a specific race before, then you should never bet on a horse to do that. Of course, on the other hand, if a horse has won the race before, it will have a huge chance of winning it again.

Days Rested

This bit of information is often regarded as trivial for many horse racing bettors, newbies, and veterans alike. Just like human athletes, horses need rest, too, as either having no rest or too much rest can affect their performance in the upcoming race. For example, if a horse had too much rest, it would be too relaxed and won’t be at its peak performance.

On the other hand, if a horse had little time to rest, it would be too exhausted to perform. The general idea is that after resting, a horse will get back to its peak performance. But how many days should a horse rest? The sweet spot here is between 30 to 60 days.

So, when deciding on your bet, make sure to wager on a horse with just the right amount of rest.

Behavior

One of the benefits of going to an arena is seeing the horses up close and personal. Watch them walk to their starting points or in their paddocks. Doing this helps you see and analyze a horse’s behavior before the race begins.

Horses can feel too and often show their emotions like nervousness, confidence, irritability, etc. These signs are crucial to see if you want to know how ready a horse is for a race. If a horse is uppity and irritable, it might not be ready and will likely lose. But if it’s calm and has steady strides, then you can bet that it has a solid chance of dominating its opponents.

Final Words

Horses are unique to each other and often show signs that they’re ready to race. The tips mentioned above are just some of the telltale signs you have to know if you want to make an informed decision on which horse to bet on. However, remember that even if a horse has checked out on all those signs, it doesn’t mean that it will automatically be the race’s champion. These signs just show that they have a good chance in the competition.

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