Horse Racing Bettors Companion — Explained In Comprehensive Detail

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Recent form — There's more to a finishing position

Almost every racecard provides a horse's recent form. You might see something like 2124-2.

Useful? Certainly.

But what does it actually tell you?

Was that second place in a four-runner race or a twenty-runner race? Was it a Class 1 race or Class 4? What was the going? Who was riding? How far behind the winner did the horse finish?

And what actually happened during the race?

A finishing position is only part of the story.

Five races. Side by side. The full picture.

HRBC brings a horse's last five races together in one detailed comparison, directly from the racecard.

Rather than opening individual race results, you can examine five performances side by side, including the actual race comments.

The information includes:

Date and course — When and where the horse ran.
Race code, class and going — The conditions of each race.
Number of runners — How many horses took part.
Jockey and trainer — Who rode and trained the horse?
Finishing position — Where the horse finished.
Opponents beaten — How many runners finished behind it?
Early pace and finishing style — How the horse raced, not simply where it finished.
Finishing margin — How far it won or lost by.
RFMS and RSPD — Its form and speed assessments.
Weight carried — The weight assigned in each race.
SP and BSP — The market's expectations before the race.
Race comments — The written account of how each race unfolded.

The comments tell another part of the story

Numbers are useful, but they don't tell you everything.

A horse might have finished fourth because it weakened badly in the closing stages. Another might have finished fourth after being held up, encountering trouble and finishing strongly.

Same finishing position. Potentially very different performances.

HRBC displays the race comments alongside the other information for each of the last five races.

You can investigate whether a horse regularly leads, stays on strongly, fades towards the finish or encounters difficulties.

And because the comments sit alongside the figures, you can compare what happened with the finishing position, margins, early pace and finishing style.

Five races. Five sets of figures. Five race comments. One screen.

Colour-coded comparisons

HRBC uses colour coding to make comparisons easier.

Green represents the highest value, red the lowest, with graduated colours showing the values in between. Black indicates that no value is available.

The colours are relative to the values being compared. They don't automatically mean a performance was good or bad.

A red value could still represent an excellent performance — it simply happens to be the lowest in that particular comparison.

The colours help you spot differences. You decide what those differences mean.

The bigger picture — or zoom right in

You don't have to look at the last five races regardless of their conditions.

HRBC also lets you examine the last five performances matching particular aspects of today's race:

All races — The horse's five most recent performances.
Today's course — Its last five races at this venue.
Today's going — Its last five races on this going.
Today's distance — Its last five races over this distance.
Today's class — Its last five races at this class.
Today's race code — Its last five races under the same racing code.

The available selections are based on the racecard you're viewing.

This is particularly useful when a horse has performed differently under different conditions.

A runner might have an impressive overall record, but how relevant is that form to the race it's running today?

HRBC helps you investigate.

The takeaway

Don't judge a horse simply by the numbers beside its name.

A second place can be an excellent performance. A win can be less impressive than it first appears.

By examining the circumstances of each result, including the race comments, you can build a clearer picture of the horse's recent form and how relevant it might be today.

Combine that information with RFMS, RSPD, the jockey, trainer, current race conditions and available odds before making your decision.

Form figures tell you where a horse finished. HRBC helps you understand how it ran.

The screenshots show just how much information HRBC brings together — and how straightforward it is to compare.