I’m back today with another RacingGav Guide and this one is covering the topic of National Hunt form and how to read it. For a complete beginner, this can be very confusing, considering the mix of numbers and letters you are likely to see. My more experienced and knowledgeable readers may think they already know how it all works, but there’s always something new to learn. So, whichever category you happen to fall into, keep reading!
If you’re new to my content here, I’m RacingGav, the resident horse racing expert here at Betting.co.uk. I publish several articles each week which are mostly
free betting tips. They’re often bets for the day’s racing or antepost picks for big races in the future, but I also publish other types of content like big race trends, and educational guides.
I’ve recently covered various aspects of horse racing, which include betting fundamentals. the various
types of headgear
you may see a horse wearing, and the relevance of track bias. All of those are worthy of a read.
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The beauty of knowing how to read form is that you can very quickly assess how any horse has been running, either recently, or across its whole career. Of course, there is often more to the story than just the results, but the form gives you a quick overview. In this article, I’ll break down what the numbers, symbols and letters mean!
First up, let’s tackle the numbers!
The numbers you’ll find listed in the form are the easiest part to understand, as they simply represent the horse’s finishing position in each race.
In terms of place numbers, they are only shown if the horse finished in the first nine in its race. For example, if a horse has finished 1st, 5th, 7th and 1st in its last four starts, the form would read 1571.
So, what happens when a horse finishes in 10th place, or even further down? In this instance, the number 0 is used to indicate that the horse finished outside of the first nine. Whether it ultimately finished in 10th, 15th or 27th place, it is recorded as 0 for the purposes of form.
Next, let’s look at the symbols!
The most overlooked element of racing form are the symbols, and there are only two that concern us here.
The first symbol that you will see in horse racing form is a hyphen (-). This signifies the gap between seasons. So, if your horse finished 3rd, 5th and 1st one season, then 8th, 2nd and 4th the following season, the form would show 351-824.
The second symbol is a forward slash (/). This is used when a horse has had an abnormally long absence. For example, it might have missed a season through injury. In that scenario, using the same results, the form reflects three seasons, rather than two, and reads as 351/824, with the / representing the missed season between the other two.
Lastly, what do the letters mean?
Now we move on to the topic that typically causes the most head-scratching for fans of horse racing - the letters contained in the form. As you read on you will see that not all of these are specific to National Hunt racing form, many are applicable to both codes of horse racing.
- F - This signifies that the horse fell during the race, typically at a jump.
- R - This letter means ‘Refused’, but it has two different meanings. Either the horse refused to race at the start, or it refused to jump an obstacle.
- BD/B - When a horse falls it will sometimes bring another horse down at the same time, especially if they are racing close to one another. When this happens it’s shown as BD (Brought Down) or sometimes just as B.
- U/UR - There are often occasions where a horse doesn’t fall, but makes a severe enough mistake at a jump to cause the jockey to fall off. But occasionally it happens between obstacles too. For example, a horse moving sideways unexpectedly can affect the jockey’s balance. In either case, a U, or UR, is shown to reflect an unseated rider.
- P/PU - Sometimes a horse makes a bad mistake, gets tired, or simply has no chance of improving its position in a race. In which case, the jockey may decide to pull the horse up, and end its race prior to the finish. If this happens it’s shown in the form as P or PU.
- O/RO - If a horse goes off the correct course during a race, this is indicated by either O or RO. An example of this is where a horse dodges a jump by going around it rather than over it, which you may even hear the commentator describe as “xx horse ran out”.
- C/CO - Related to the above, when a horse runs out, there is the chance that it could cause another runner to do the same. If this happens through no fault of the second horse, it is called being “carried out” and this is shown on the form as a C or CO.
- S/SU - While quite rare, occasionally a horse slips and falls during a race. More often than not this happens because of a bad patch of ground, rather than an error on the part of the horse or its jockey. You are most likely to see this where rain has fallen on fast ground, thus creating a dangerously slick surface. If this happens, it’s shown as S or SU in the form, and officials will likely inspect the ground. Should they feel there is a risk of a similar thing happening again, they have various options, including abandoning the meeting entirely.
- D/DSQ - Next we have D/DSQ which both stand for Disqualified. There are various reasons for disqualification, which include severe interference by another horse, a jockey carrying the incorrect weight, or failing to weigh in after the race. Retrospective disqualifications can also occur for incidents like a failed drugs test (horse or jockey). There have also been a couple of embarrassing incidents where the wrong horse raced, but thankfully, those are rare.
- V - Finally we have V, which stands for Void. It’s a pretty rare circumstance, but a recent example of this was where the starting stalls were stuck on the track due to an issue with the tractor that was expected to move them. With the track obstructed, officials intervened to stop the race and it was declared void.
Understanding how to read form is important, regardless of whether you are a daily bettor, or a casual Saturday player. In this article, I’ve explained the numbers, symbols and letters that you might find when you check out the form of a racehorse, which will hopefully give you some insight on how a horse you are interested in might perform.
Just bear in mind that form alone is not enough to rely on when you consider placing a bet on any horse in a particular race. Watching replays of its previous races, and the track it will run at, together with the form of its trainer, and the other contenders in that race (including their form) are also key factors for the eventual outcome.
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