A First Pint glance at horseracing

90% horse, 10% jockey. Photo Credit: ringtonia.com

The busiest part of the horseracing calendar is soon upon us. It kicks off next week with the ‘Cheltenham Festival’, from March 16 – 19.

Next in line is ‘Aintree’, with its feature-race ‘the Grand National’ in early April. After that it’s time for the ‘Epsom Derby’ which features the world’s best race for three year old horses, and then it’s time for the fashion conscious to head to ‘Royal Ascot’. Both meetings are held in June.

But the big races that draw the most public attention are just a snap shot of race meetings on this horse race loving island. Races are being held across Britain on nearly every day of the year, all year round. In fact, only two days don’t have any races at all – Christmas eve and Christmas day. The races also attract huge crowds – last year 5.7 million people went to the races, according to the British Horseracing Authority. That makes horseracing one of the most popular sports in the UK; in audience size it’s second only to soccer.

If you don’t really get what horse racing is all about The First Pint is here to help you navigate between the ‘maidens’ and the ‘hurdles’ and possibly we can even help you win a quid or two!

Introducing the ‘Sport of Kings’

Organised horse racing as we see it on TV and on racecourses across the UK has been held in here since the 17^th century. But, the sport dates back as early as to roman times and since the 12^th century it is recorded to have taken place on public holidays in London and Chester. Essentially it was a means for the gentry to bet against each other and show off their wealth and horses – a sign of authority and class.

By being endorsed early on by royalties, starting with James I, horseracing developed fast as a sport. And the link between horse racing and the royal family is still unbroken. Queen Elizabeth II regularly enjoys a day at the races and at Royal Ascot; first set up by Queen Anne in 1711. Every year at Ascot 250 000 Britons dress up and mingle with the royalty during a few days in June.

The type of horse that is used in British horse racing is the Thoroughbred. And all race horses in Britain are ancestors to just three Arabian stallions that were imported and bread with British mares to create the Thoroughbred horse we see today.

There are two types of races; flat races and races with fences called jump racing. Jump races, are generally held in the winter and flat races in the summer. They demand different skills from the jockey and the horse. Horses in jump races tend to be older and stronger than their flat counterparts, jockeys also tend to be taller, whereas the very shortest and lightest jockeys are favoured in flat races. The biggest and most well known race with fences is the Grand National, which is a 4 mile (7.5 km) race. It has thirty fences some as tall as six feet or 185 cm- an exhausting experience for both horse and jockey.

Betting

The gambling industry in Britain is substantial. During 2006/2007 it turned over £84 billion – that is more money than is spent on food during a year in the UK. The most popular type of gambling is the national lottery and scratch cards, but next in line is horse racing, making it the third most popular type of betting in the UK. A study by the gambling commission also showed that during 2007, 68% of the British population took part in some type of gambling activity. It’s not surprising then that there are 15,000 bookmaker shops in Britain.

Betting is closely connected with horse racing and in many countries it’s the only type of sports gambling that is legal. In Britain you can bet on horses at the race track, at bookmakers shops on the high streets or online. You can bet a horse to win or to place, but you can also do an ‘each way’ bet, which means that you are betting the horse to win or to place, a safeguard of sorts. On betting exchanges you can also ‘lay’ a horse to win a race, meaning that you’re betting it not to win. But this is actually just to mention the most common types of bets – you can actually make up to twenty different kinds of bets on racing every day. For example the Scoop6, which is a special bet every Saturday where you have to pick the winner of six races on that day. If you manage to get it right you can often win over £1 million!

Horse racing Lingua and how to read a Race Card

The race card (not that kind!) is a punters bible. It shows which horses feature in each race and who the jockey, trainer and owner is, but most importantly it tells you about the horse’s form and how it has done in previous races. It should therefore point you in the right direction to pick your winner. A good tip for a novice punter is to look for well known trainers and jockeys – as it’s likely the horse will be good. But for better advice, go to the Cheltenham festival’s guide; ‘How to read horse racing form’.

Punter - Somebody who has a bet.

Filly- A female horse up to five years old.

Mare – A female horse above five years old.

Colt – A male horse up to five years old.

Horse – A male horse over five years old.

Gelding – A castrated male horse.

Handicap race – A handicapped race means that a horse carries additional weights in there saddle in accordance to how good it is, or thought to be. In theory all horses should subsequently finish at the same time. It’s therefore a race were horses of different levels compete against each other and the odds are quite big.

Graded/Group races – There are grade A, B and C races for jumps racing or 1,2,3 for the flat. A ‘grade A race’ has the best horses. So the biggest race of a race day or a festival is generally a grade A or Group 1 race.

Maiden race – A race for horses that have not won a race yet.

Juvenile race – Are open only to 3 year old horses if the race is in October-December, or 4 year olds only if the race is in January-April.

Novice race – Are only open to horses who, at the start of the Jumps season, are yet to win a race. However, the horse can continue to run in Novice races all season even after it wins a race, so long as at the start of the season it had never won a race.

Open race – Are open to all horses.

Ladies day – It is uncertain to how ladies day came about, but it has been a long tradition that the third day of Royal Ascot is ladies day. Only formal dress is allowed on ‘ladies day’ and to this day women race goers dress up to their teeth with spectacular hats and ‘fascinators’. Today most major race festivals have a ‘ladies day’ that includes a prize for the best dressed lady. Note worthy is that most races have a price for best turned out horse as well.

Find the dress code for the royal enclosure here.

Horseracing in numbers 2009 (source British Horseracing Authority)

Attendance; 5.72 million

Total prize money; £110.7 million

Horses in training; (monthly average) 14,600

Profit for British Bookmaker on Horseracing; £1,01 billion

Number of races; 9,628

Go racing where?

There are racecourses scattered across the country, but there are some race courses that you can reach with national rail or car within an hour from leaving London. They are Lingfield, Ascot, Epsom, Sandown, Windsor and Kempton. So just get your hat on and head to a race course near you.