The arrival of one of the most important weekends on the betting calendar is a big deal. The 2020 Breeders Cup, horse racing’s All Star weekend, will be held Friday, Nov. 6, and Saturday, Nov. 7, with two days of racing at Keeneland, Lexington, Ky.
Today’s race features five big races featuring the best two-year-old horses around the globe. Let’s get down to it.
First, let’s go over some basics if you want to learn how to wager on the ponies.
Horse Racing: What’s New?
The wagering pools for horse racing are pari-mutuel. This means, unlike sports betting, you don’t have to beat the house. Instead, you can bet on the general public. Discipline in identifying the value in the pools is the key to long-term success with horse racing betting.
Speed Ratings and Beyer Speed Figures
Speed ratings are relative performance indicators which allow us to compare performances between tracks that have different factors. Some tracks are naturally faster than others, such as Santa Anita or Gulfstream, because the surfaces are more difficult, while Belmont and Aqueduct have a slightly deeper surface.
These factors also take into account the track’s condition as horses travel slower on soft ground. This means that comparing times is not effective as they require some leveling factor.
This is what speed ratings do and it gives a useful, but imperfect indicator of relative performance.
Class Rating
An index of relative strength for a particular race. This index gives an indication of the horse’s competition, which can vary greatly from track to track even under the same win conditions.
How often does a favorite win in horse racing?
The favorite in horse racing generally wins at a rate of 35%, but this number can vary depending on how many horses are in the field. With that knowledge, you may want to pick the favorites. However, a closer inspection of the implied odds will show that average odds of 2-1 are required to make “win” bets.
Horseplayers need to pick horses they believe have the best chance of winning. This is called positive expected value (+EV). Horse racing isn’t the only sport that expects value. All bettors need to know this information if they wish to win.
Last Updated on November 18, 2021