RACING

Where to race your horses…the race programme is so big when you first start it’s a nightmare trying to choose the race for your horse. Using a TT guide will help you gauge what sort of horse you have..& don’t fall into the trap of thinking your horse is better than it is by reasoning ‘not many will have much better’. A few tips below.

Level weights are for High G1 or challenge horses only unless your bonus chasing in a 4 horse race.

Weight, weight, weight. It is vital with all but the very best horses to keep that weight off and only taking wins that are the biggest profit you can get with that horse. Don’t get impatient after a bad run of jocks - play the percentages. There is no rush, the best example of this is Team Johansson’s stable. He has horses there that will sit for ages and ages without a race and he utilises this to maximum effect when he starts racing them at 4+ in small field races where poor horses can still make money.

WFA races are for challenge horses only unless your good G1 has absolute ideal conditions and a bonus is applied.

The above differs slightly for G2 racing as a lot of newbies race in level weights thus making them a little easier to run in. Also, the difference in tt’s is smaller and therefore a proportionately slightly bigger random element applies evening it out a little.

So, basically for an average G1 horse you want to find a full field EB maiden with close to the horses best conditions. If he finishes ahead of the jockey then go again or try a full field novice race but if he loses to the jockey then try a smaller field eb maiden. Again if he still loses then stick to 3 to 5 runner races until an allowance weight is suitable.

In essence stick to races with bonuses attached (no point running in the same race without a bonus) and almost always race from 120lbs (maidens, progress, c div, b&c Div etc).