The Cheltenham winner's enclosure© Photo Healy Racing
Horse racing bettors are always looking for a source of profitable winners but the search intensifies for the big meetings such as the Cheltenham Festival and Royal Ascot. These are the biggest meetings over jumps and on the Flat and thousands of websites pop-up around these Festivals offering everything from free bets to tips..
Horse racing is a 12 month sport so the regular meetings also create a demand for racing winners. There is plenty of information online and in print but some sources for picking winners are better than others and some of the best are described below.
News and Information Sources
The internet is awash with horse racing information and news sites and one of the best can be found right here. The irishracing.com site features comprehensive race cards for all UK and Irish meetings which are presented in a punter friendly way. The latest market moves, draw analysis and course form are just some of the features that make the irishracing.com cards a must use for racing fans.
The Horse Tracker facility allows users to track horses, trainers, jockeys and owners and receive an email alert when each horse is due to run. The Irish Racing site is one of the best online racing news resources and comes into its own during the meetings that matter most such as Cheltenham in March when they have a dedicated microsite packed with everything Cheltenham related.
The Racing Post is a daily racing and sports betting publication that provides a similar service in print. The paper covers the major races like the Grand National and Derby in great depth and has a large team of experienced journalists.
Packed stands at Cheltenham© Photo Healy Racing
The Racing Post also has a comprehensive website but unlike irishracing.com many of the better features are behind a paywall.
Some racing punters base their betting strategies on trends and statistics. The Classics on the Flat are often won by horses with a similar profile to previous winners. The King George V1 Chase at Kempton Park is another example of a race where previous years’ trends hold up. Over the last 10 years the winners have generally had a similar rating, won races at the same level and over the same distance. One of the best winner picking research based sites is at www.geegeez.co.uk. This source provides detailed statistics and trends for feature horse races.
Horse Racing Betting and Offers Comparison
Betting trends are another valuable information source that can be used in the battle to beat the bookies when betting on horse racing. Betting review sites examine the strengths and weaknesses of online bookmakers and present the odds. www.oddschecker.com is one of the most comprehensive odds comparison sites online. The site collates the current bookie offers and bonuses for new and existing customers. Well established writers analyse the main races and provide tips.
Another fresh site that contains information on horse betting is horse-racing-betting.co.uk — the site is a bit more direct and deals with major betting events in great detail alongside reviews of major (and smaller) betting brands. While many similar sites focus on football or general betting, this site’s agenda is quite refreshing and tailored to horse racing bettors.
Another site worthy of mention is the Betfair blog at www.betting.betfair.com which allows horse racing bettors to exchange opinions and tips and discuss upcoming races.
Social Media and Forums
Royal Ascot crowd© Photo Healy Racing
Social media provides a provides another platform for exchanging views and horse racing tips. Twitter and Facebook provide negatives and positives with regards the search for information and winning tips. Some users abuse the anonominity but these forums can provide nuggets of information for winner finding. The amount of engagement increases when the major festivals and races are being discussed.
Twitter is an excellent platform for individual pundits and reporters to present their views to the betting public and many leading trainers, jockeys and owners are regular contributors. These accounts do not provide tips for horse racing in the conventional format. However, there is plenty of information to glean that will help bettors pick winners.
Many of the leading trainers also put information about their daily runners on their own websites and/or social media. Some of the better ones to look out for are Ger Lyons, Jessica Harrington and Willie Mullins.
We are in an instant information age in which every subject is covered with vast amounts of data and analysis. Picking horse racing winners should, in theory, be easier with all this information at our fingertips and pinpointing the good sources is half the battle.
