What should I be looking for when when watching a race?

[MattA147]

Hi guys, 

As I understand it, the more horse racing you watch the better you’ll understand it and be able to pick winners a lot easier through sheer experience. Experts like PriceWise insist that there is no substitute for watching races. 

What should I be looking for in races in order to build this experience, instinct and knowledge or horse racing? I want to become a lot better at analysing form. 

Many thanks for any help.

Matt

[BillyHills]

Massive topic but here is an interesting article worth reading for anyone wanting to start race-reading.

https://betting.betfair.com/horse-racing/timeform-premium/simon-rowlands/the-timeform-knowledge-how-to-read-a-horse-race-230715-43.html

Its different for everyone but I do watch every race, every day, sometimes just the last 3 furlongs or the last 2 fences if time is against me but it does help me for one very good reason. I have a really good memory.

If i watch something it will stay in my memory, well the important bits do anyway. I dont know how but when im looking at a race I can often remember its last run.

The things I look for are;

• Good travelling horses, i dont like horses that come under pressure too soon.
• Fast finishers who have suffered traffic problems. (can be a bit misleading as some horses need everything to drop right and nine times out of ten will let you down again before winning)
• Races where the front two/three pull clear of the rest.
• Horses that run well from a bad draw.
• Be careful about following horses that have run well from a good draw also.
  (look at Pontefract yesterday, the form will be suspect next time due to the ground bias, mark those down)
• Horses that are beaten by progressive/well in rivals.