Royal Ascot 2015: A beginners guide to horse racing

Posted on by Listify Me

If your knowledge of racing begins and ends with choosing the jockey by the colour of their jersey, placing a bet can be intimidating.

With up to six races each day at Royal Ascot, there are plenty of opportunities to have a bit of a flutter and considering the minimum bet is £2 you don’t have to break the bank to get involved.

To find out which events are taking place on each day take a look at our racing programme. For everything else, our beginners guide to horse racing should be some help.

The “going” report

This is basically a confusing name for the condition of the track. The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has seven terms from different types of condition:

  • Heavy
  • Soft
  • Good to Soft
  • Good
  • Good to Firm
  • Firm
  • Hard

The condition of a race track plays an important role in the performance of horses in a race. The factors that determine race track condition include surface conditions which are influenced by soil type, and if the track is dirt, turf, artificial surface; plus surface density, porosity, compaction and moisture content.

The softer the ground, the slower the racing will be. A hard grade is rarely used because this type of surface would probably be too dangerous for both jockeys and horses to race on.

Reading the “form”

A list of every horse entered into each race will be available online five days before the event. Final declared runners will be put up 48 hours before each raceday.

The name of the horse is at the top of the card, next to the colours worn by the jockey and above the name of the owner.

The horse’s weight is then listed which affects the chance it will have in the race. In conditions races each horse is allocated a certain weight to carry, depending on factors such as age, sex, and previous races won in certain circumstances. In handicap contests, the weight for each horse is allocated by the official handicapper, according to past performance.

Previous form is denoted by symbols: / = new season, – = new year, B = brought down, F = fell, U = unseated rider, P = pulled up. A star rating is also given: ***** = selected to win the race, **** = good chance of being placed, *** = by no means out of the reckoning, ** = unlikely to win but not totally without hope, * little or no chance.

Placing a bet

There are a few easy steps for placing a bet:

  1. Look through the race card to decide which horse you fancy
  2. Decide whether you want to have a horse To Win or Each Way (each way is twice the cost but you win if your horse finishes first, second, third or fourth depending on how many runners there are)
  3. Chose where to place your bet: the tote, betting shops or the betting ring.

There are also a few terms which may help when placing a bet:

  • Favourite: The horse considered most likely to win
  • Forecast: A bet which involves predicting first and second place. This can also be reversed.
  • Form: The past performances of a horse, used to give an indication of its current chances.
  • Handicap: A method of placing weights under jockeys’ saddles to even up the chances for every horse.

  • Odds: The potential winnings offered by a bookie.

  • Odds-On: When a horse is strongly fancied the odds are less than evens.

  • Starting Price (SP): Unless you state otherwise, all bets with betting shop bookmakers are settled at the Starting Price.

  • Stake: The amount of money you place on a bet.

Where to watch the horses

Whether you’re into the racing or not, there are a number of different places to watch the horses from at Royal Ascot:

  • The pre-parade ring: Watch the horses get saddled up. This process begins 25 minutes before off time, and is a good opportunity to see the muscle definition and power behind the animals.
  • The parade ring: Horses enter the ring around15 minutes before their race. Listen out for the bell, which means it’s time for the jockeys mount their horses and ride out to the track.
  • The horsewalk: Both premier and Grandstand Admission racegoers can stand beside the tunnel exit to the track, which is to the left of the Core 1 steps at Lawn Level.
  • The track: Watching a race from the rails gets spectators as close as possible to the action.
  • The unsaddling enclosure: See the horses which have not won or placed remove their saddles.
  • The winners’ enclosure: Inside the parade ring, see the winners receive their trophies and rosettes.

For more on the week-long event take a look at our dedicated Royal Ascot information page.