Following the conclusion of the Hollywoodbets Durban July, we take you through how to read the Winning Form racecard so you can make informed picks when punting on South African racing.
First things first, head over to the Winning Form site. Look for the race meeting that you want info on. Each meeting with have race-by-race info as well as further info like computerised selections (WF Predicts) and tipster selections (Magic Tips).
You can click on each of the images to enlarge.
First up, we have the header screen which gives you a bird’s eye view of the race.
- The top left-hand corner displays the name of the racecourse, the date, the number of race and the race’s starting time (remember this uses SA Standard Time).
- The block below shows you the different types of tote bets available on this particular race as well as the number of runners carded to take part in the event.
- The top-middle section gives you all of the race details. This includes the name of the race, the distance of the event and whether it takes place around a bend (B) or on a straight (S); the class of the race, whether or not an apprentice allowance may be claimed as well as the course record and the name of the horse who holds it.
- The top-right section indicates the prize money breakdown for the race.
- The red graph shows the percentage of winners and their barrier draws for the specific course and distance.
- The blue graph shows the percentage of places for each of the gate numbers.
Up next we start looking at some of the finer details of the race. This includes things like a write-up for the, predicted finishes and more.
- The top block looks at which horses share a trainer as well as the Winning Form tipster’s prediction for the race.
- The second section from the top looks at the fields’ stats as a whole. This includes totals and averages per runner for number of runs, wins, places, stakes won and percentage of wins/places.
- The third section from the top highlights the predicted finish of the race according to Winning Form. Includes the predicted time, how many lengths each horse could finish behind the winner, the predicted time and the merit rating predictions should the result pan out.
On the right part of this section, we can see previous run information. This includes the number of weeks since the last run, the horse’s finish, the lengths behind it finished behind the winner, the race distance, jockey, odds for the race, the time it ran and the equipment fitted to the horse. - Up next – in the block second from bottom – we have a detailed race preview from our Winning Form tipster. Here they speak about their top four selections for the race.
- Lastly, in the bottom block, shows info on jockey and trainer combinations and data on all of the runs that have been raced from these trainers’ yards.
Finally, we take a look at each one of the runners in more detail. Let’s break it down a bit more below:
- The top left block shows you the number of the runner as well as the odds at the time the Winning Form was published.
- The next three blocks along the top row indicate the following: the name, colour and sex of the runner along with equipment details and its DoB. Up next is the weight the horse will be carrying as well as its draw. We also have the jockey and trainer info here.
- The next two blocks down we have we have the runner’s lineage, breeder, owner and owner’s silk colours along with its total runs.
- The block on the far right how many runs the horse had had in the wet, at the course, over the distance and over the C&D along with significant placings.
- The bottom block highlights info about the the horse’s last run.
