Horse Ratings

Horse Ratings - Introduction

Horse Ratings are about calculating a rating for every horse that is to take part in a race so that anyone can clearly see which horses have a reasonable chance of winning. Of course no one should think that there is anything "magical" about horses which are rated top. If you look at most gamblers they are poor men, and pay most of their money to the bookies!! Ratings are about deciding on a purely mathamatical basis which horses have a better chance than others of winning the race. Since everyone is asking before the race "which one do you think will win" its reasonable to calculate a rating, which previous experience has shown can be quite accurate

Horse Ratings - Be Consistent

The most important thing when calculating a rating for anything, whether its football teams, golfers, snooker players, horses, jockeys etc is that you are always consitent. If you switch and swap between different methods, or worse still, use the "pin in the wall method", then obviously you cant compare how you did one day from another day. At least if you are wrong, you can be consistent

Horse Ratings - Factors That Pinpoint Winners

The starting point for any Horse Ratings system is the principles of form, we know from experience, have a bearing on the outcome. Most of these are pretty obvious, at least to the professional, but maybe not to the average race goer. For more information on form please see the Horse Racing Form page in the menu to the left

The sort of factors a ratings plan should allow for might include:

• Place form i.e. the places achieved in the last "x" number of races
• Course Winners
• Distance Winners
• Distance of the race
• Speed Figures
• Prize Money
• Class of Race
• Class of Course
• Handicap or Non-Handicap
• Trainer
• Jockey
• Going
• Weight Carried
• Odds
• Length of time since a win
• The competition i.e. how good are the other horses
• Etc

Horse Ratings - Will Horses Obey The Ratings

The short answer of course is no!! Most horses simply go out on the course, and do the best they can for the jockey, who happens to be riding them. The trainer is sat on the sidelines watching, like a manager in football, he or she cannot influence anything in the race now, all the preparation has been done. All the trainer can do is sit and watch

Horse Ratings - Horse Racing Is A Game

Like any sport, remember: its only a game!! The thrill of getting the ratings right and coming up with a winner is of course brilliant, but in horse racing you will always gets more wrong than you will get right. If you watch the TV coverage, you will hear all kinds of predictions from the "experts", they are also usually wrong, but they do get some races right. My aim is always to get ahead of the TV experts - then I think I deserve a beer!!

Horse Ratings - The Official Handicapper

The Official Handicapper from the British Horse Racing Board, also produced ratings. These ratings are always pretty good, and form the basis for the allocation of weights in handicaps. Its worth noticing how many times the Official Handicapper gets it right. Simply look at the top rated and where there is some kind of tie take the horse that is the lowest odds, this can give you the selection that the Official Handicapper thinks should win. I often look at the Official Handicapper as setting a template, if I can beat his selections then I am winning in the sport!! Its often alot more difficult to beat the Official Handicapper than the TV punters, but my ratings method often still comes out on top

Extra Horse Ratings Information

Sizing Europe gainsChampion edge with Zeb off pace - Irish Independent