Where is the Trainer’s Yard in relation to the course?

 

This might not make a lot of sense but hear me out.

Especially in novice races or low-grade handicaps, where the prize money isn’t so great, check out where the horse has come from and how many others a trainer has on the entire race day card.

E.g. if a trainer from Lambourn (South West England) has entered a young horse in a handicap at Ayr (Scotland) and has no other runners on the card, then perhaps it might be worth looking at.

Why drive one horse a load of miles for poor prize money apart from trying to get a win in the book. The cost of getting the horse there alone plus staff costs would not be cheap, so there must be something in it for the trainer….

Tip 4: Check the horse’s pedigree

This may seem mega obvious but the amount of times people don’t check the pedigree, especially in relation to distance is astounding.

In basic terms, if the horse’s Sire (Father) won lots of races over a specific distance, and the Mare (Mother) has a similar history, you might gather that the horse in question has decent genes for the distance.

This is especially important when dealing with horses from lesser-known Sires.

When you are dealing with horses from Frankel, Galileo, Dubawi etc there is much less mystery, but if the sire is unknown or at least not as well known, it’s important to know what they did in their career.

If the Sire never won a race over 5 furlongs and only raced twice in India at over a mile, you may consider that its progeny might not be best placed to win a 5F sprint at Newmarket.

Tip 5: Is the Jockey in good form?

This is particularly useful when a Jockey is picking up rides all over the place, and good ones especially.

If the big owners and trainers are making an effort to get the jockey on board, then there is a reason. We all know that the big-name jockeys pick up the best rides but so do the ones who are in good form.

Their agents have a reason to get on the phone to the bigger yards and sell their client’s services. This sell is a lot easier if you’ve picked up a handful of winners in the preceding days.

Tip 6: Is the yard in good form?

This one seems to ring truer in jumps racing for some reason but its definitely worth looking at.

Over the previous weeks to the race you are looking at, has the trainer had a good number of winners and high places?

If so, it probably means that they have timed their training right, and horses are coming into form and fitness at the right time. Especially in the UK around the height of the flat season, June/July, you will see big yards sending horses to all corners of the country and picking up prize money.