Programme 3 - How to Read a Race Card

The third programme in the 'Racing Explained' series is called 'How to Read a Race Card'. The first thing you should do upon arrival at the racecourse is to purchase a Race Card -- "it will keep you on the inside track".

We show you the useful information found in a Race Card and explain how to get the best out of it. Ella McSweeney talks you through the different items: information about the Trainer, Jockey, horse, previous performance, sex of horse, colours, weight and layout of the racecourse.

A basic explanation of the handicapping system is given ahead of a more detailed explanation which will be provided later on in the series.

Some basic tips and facts are given: looking at a horse in the Parade Ring, remembering the markings on the jockey's cap, as this may be all you can see when he is out on the track.

About half of all races in Ireland are handicaps, contests designed, a little like golf, to ensure that all contests have an equal chance of winning. Weights are carried in lead cloths to bring the weight carried up to the mark specified by the handicapper.

Did You Know?
- The stalls allocated to horse and rider are drawn by random computer selection, carried out by HRI one day before the race -- flat races only.
- Horses for Courses actually means something-some horses prefer going right or left handed -- or clockwise/anticlockwise.
-Each owner has his own colours, registered with HRI. When two Jockeys are riding for the same owners, their caps will have different markings.
-Some useful abbreviations relating to the sex of the horse that you will find on the Race Card are; C= Colt, H=Horse, G=Gelding, F= Filly, M= Mare.
-Useful abbreviations relating to the results of the race are: D = Disqualified, 0 = Not in the first nine, R = Refusal, U =the rider was Unseated, P = Pulled up and F =Fall.