How to Read a Racing Form

The program vs the racing form

The racing program (the horse racing program you buy at the track) lists every race of the day: the race conditions, the horses, riders, trainers, morning line odds and the betting menu. A racing form with past performances, like the Daily Racing Form, adds each horse's recent races. How to read the Daily Racing Form is the same idea as below: one block per horse, one line per past race.

The top of each horse's block

• Program number: what you say at the window. Two horses with the same owner or trainer can be 1 and 1A (one bet covers both).
• Morning line: the track's guess at the final odds, made before any money is bet.
• Rider, trainer, weight: who rides, who trains, and the weight carried.
• L and B: L means the horse runs on Lasix (a bleeding medication); B means blinkers.

Reading past performances, one line at a time

• Date and track: how long ago, and where.
• Distance and surface: furlongs for Thoroughbreds, yards for Quarter Horses; dirt or turf.
• Class: maiden, claiming (with the price), allowance or stakes.
• Running line: its position at each call of the race, then the finish, with lengths behind.
• Speed figure: one number for how fast it ran. Higher is faster.
• Odds and comment: what the crowd thought, and a short note like "bumped start" or "wide".

How to read a racing form for beginners: 3 questions

1. Did it run well lately? Read the last 3 lines.
2. Has it run well at this distance and class?
3. Was a bad race bad luck? Look for trouble notes.

Brian's Lucky Picks shows a card for every horse with its record, last races, rider and trainer, so you don't have to dig through the small print.

Odds in one line

Odds of 5-2 pay about $7.00 back on a $2 WIN bet. 20-1 pays about $42.00. See every common price in the horse betting cheat sheet.

Questions