Flat race classifications are from Class A through to Class G. This determines the methodology for framing conditions races.



CLASSICS:

Reference to a horse race that has been around for a very long time. These races of longstanding tend to attract the best horses and have become regarded as the highest quality of racing. The classics are open only to 3 yo's and above and there are 5 of them in England.

The Classics are currently:

New market, spring, 2000 guineas colts and fillies, first run in 1809

New market, spring, 1000 guineas, fillies only, first run 1814

Epsom 1.5 miles, summer, derby colts and fillies, 1780

Epsom 1.5 miles, summer, oaks, Fillies only, first run 1779

Doncaster 1 ? miles, autumn, st ledger, Colts and Fillies, first run 1776

Fillies rarely contest the 2000 guineas or the oaks nowadays with trainers tending to run them only in the classic equivalents for Fillies only: the oaks (fillies) and the 1000 guineas.

Originally nobody set out to establish a set of classic races, they merely evolved, and became universally acknowledged as a pattern sometime around the middle of 19th Century.

Classic winners have had a major impact on the overall development of the thoroughbred. They have achieved high prestige and have proved that they are best of their breed and age.

The classics tend to provide excellent betting opportunities, as the form advertised tends to work out quite accurately; horses which are well backed tend to do very well, and given the strong ante post markets there are opportunities for overly long prices.

CLEVERLY:

When a horse wins more easily than the winning distance suggests it is said to have won ?cleverly?. Alternatively he or she may be said to have won with ?Something in hand?.

Often flat jockeys will do just enough in order that their charge wins. This means that the full distance by which a horse would have won is never actually known to the public or the handicapper, who then has no real way of judging a horse's true capability.

Professional punters and Betfair professionals can benefit from making notes regarding this sort of evidence. It will be noted in the form book and in the detailed comments in Raceform and Chaseform. Other analysis worth noting will be in the Racing Post and Superform or Timeform.

Other comments worthy of note may include ?not extended? or ?won with his head in his chest?

COLT:

Thoroughbred males between the age of two and five.

CONDITIONS RACES:

Any race that is not a handicap.

The weight each runner is assigned to carry is determined by the conditions of a race. These ?conditions? may be based on value, age, sex and status of previous winning races, and various other factors. Weight allowance being made, for example, for never having won a race in the past.

The weight for age races are the most important categories. An older horse has to concede less and less weight to a younger horse as the flat and national hunt season progresses.

Application of the weight for age scale determines the precise weights, but overall there are various other kinds of conditions races.

CONDITIONAL JOCKEY:

National Hunt riders with little experience, who are under the age of 26, are called conditional jockeys. They may claim allowances as follows. 7lbs until he has won 15 races, then 5lbs, up to a total of 30 races, thereafter 3lbs until 65 races have been won.

COURSES

Racing in the UK has an outstanding reputation largely due to the huge diversity and variety of its racecourses which provide entirely different tests of horse's abilities both over flat and jumps, and this variety provides constant pleasure and opportunities for enthusiasts and betting professionals alike.

There are 15 courses that stage flat racing and jumps, 17 stage only flat races and 24 cater purely for jumps.

Lingfield and Southwell have racing on turf and artificial surfaces, and Wolverhampton has a purely artificial surface. The Racing Post has full descriptions of relevant course details with maps and statistics.

Many courses particularly the jumps only courses are small friendly country courses, as oppose to the large principal flat places. This adds hugely to the diversity and variety of the racing with entirely different atmospheres ranging from the National Hunt Mecca at Cheltenham to the pomposity of Royal Ascot to the tiny little flat only course on the downs above Bath.

From Perth and Kelso in Scotland to Bangor in Dee in Wales, Sedgfield in County Durham to Plumpton in Sussex, Market Rasen in Lincolnshire to Newton Abbot, Devon, Exeter and others in the West Country, the entire land is never far from a day at the races.

There are right handed courses, left handed ones, many are actually oval, and there is huge variation in shape:

Windsor and Fontwell are figures of eight while Ascot is triangular; Chester is circular while Brighton is in a big U shape with a kink at the bottom; Epsom, suitably, is like a big horseshoe with one straight side; Goodwood resembles a bent hairpin, while Salisbury is like a straightened one; Hereford is almost a square while Carlisle is totally pear shaped.

Most UK race meets last between 1 and 3 days with the longest race meet being Ascot in June and Goodwood in July/August with both meetings carrying on over 5 days.