Welcome to the exciting world of horse racing. Here we have listed a short beginners guide to get you started on what it’s all about.

The good thing about beeing a beginner to horse racing is that you are an open slate. You have no prejudice about about horses or competitors and can learn everything from scratch. This will be a benefit for you in times when players will bet on the same horses everytime just because they always do. Here we have tried to summarize the most important things to know about horse racing. You will need to learn a lot of new words to fully understand what is happening around you. We have listed some of them here for you.

But horse racing is not just about the racing and gambling. It’s a fantastic tradition going back a couple hundred years. A chance for you do dress up and socialize while enjoying a day at the tracks.

Here are some of the types of races that you may encounter:

Handicap Race – The conditions between the horses in the race are equalized by adding weight to the more skilled horses and thereby creating a more even and exciting race.

Set Weights Race – The horses are divided into different groups depending on ranking. The weights distributed to the horses are determined beforehand and are equal among all the horses in the same race.

Weight For Age Sex – The weights are distributed to the horses solely depending on age and sex. This is the type of race that’s most common at listed events and events that compete for best in group honors.

Group and Listed Races – This is the races where the best of the best compete. The best ranked horses is group 1 followed by group 2, group 3 and listed. These races may also be referred to as “black type”. Black type refers to the selling of race horses where a black type horse is valued higher.

When going to a race the conditions of the track may vary a lot from time to time. You might notice after a while that certain horses seems to thrive in certain conditions. The tracks are on race day ranked with a number between 1 – 10 where 1 is a very hard and fast track, 3 is optimal conditions and a 10 is a very wet and muddy track and the hardest conditions possible.

Races also vary a lot in distances. Some horses might be best at short distances while others thrive in the really long races. Here are some of the different distances:

Sprint – 1400m or less.
Mile – 1600m.
Middle distant – 1800m – 2400m.
Staying – More than 2400m.

Good luck at the race tracks and don’t be afraid to mix it up. Sometimes a name might be as successful to bet on as pure statistics.