Any advice would be welcome

[Chadlad]

Hi, I come from England (oh go on I'm sure some of you have a nickname or two for us) but I have recently taken an interest in Aussie racing.

Could any of you offer some form reading tips to me, as it seems very different to the way ours is set out over here. For example, the class of race is the oposite way round, our class 1 is a better grade than a class 2, 3, 4 etc.

I have links to a few Australian racing form sites but they only seem to show the last 3 or 4 races for each horse. A system I use over here involves me grading a horses form from its last 6 runs. Are there any sites I could get a more detailed form? I don't want to place the links here as I am not sure it is allowed but I use AAP Racing & Sports, Tabform & Ozeform.

Any advice (& I seriously mean any) would be most welcome. To be perfectly honest, it's just like starting out in the betting world again, I don't profess to be an expert on UK racing, but I do know my way around the form pages.

Good luck

Chad

[xptdriver]

Gday Chadlad...

I will have a go at race classes here..

I am not sure of the way the classes work in WA maybe someone else can shed light on that... they seem to have been devised by some one who loved confusing people..

Any way here we go In decending order

Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Listed
Quality
Now I am not sure whether these are in the right place or not but:
Flying ( you see some in South Australia)
Welter
Then they go:
Open Handicap
Transition ( I think that is a NSW class only)
Class 6
Class 5
Class 4
Class 3
Class 2
Class 1

Within the classes you can have races reserved for same sex or age, number of wins etc. Race 3 8:00 PM Slade Bloodstock Trophy Class 6 Handicap 4yo+ Mares That one is pretty simple to follow

Maidens with various restrictions. Some are set weight , some are handicaps, some are open, some are sex resticted and some are age restricted eg:
Race 1 1:07 PM Woodstock Bourbon Maiden Handicap 2 & 3yo Maiden

There are also Special Condition Races.. You will need to read what the conditions for the race are... The Magic Millions Races are Special condition as an example.

In some Metro areas you also get age and sex restricted races and also you may see something like Race 2 7:30 PM Golden Doubles Handicap Rst 1 Met Win-LY .. what that means is it is open to all comers ( no age or sex restriction) BUT is restricted to horses that have won a max of 1 Metro Win in the last year.. you may see 0 win or 3 win etc...

I think I have em covered and am sure if I am wrong someone will correct me...

[Chrome Prince]

Nice one xptdriver.

Chadlad,

These are the biggest differences between U.K. and Aussie racing.

We do not have Allweather tracks, all our tracks are turf. (except a couple of dirt ones on the lower provincial tracks and in the outback - don't even worry about those!)

We do not have Sellers and Claimers races.

We have either handicaps, Weight for Age or set weights races.

Our tracks are graded (depending on how rain affected the surface is) :
Fast, Good, Dead, Slow, or Heavy.

We have some horses that race within 3 to 7 days, but it's rare, usually 2 to 3 weeks between runs, whereas it's very common for U.K. horses to race more regularly.

Hope this helps.

[Chadlad]

Thank you both very much, you have certainly set me on my way.


Hopefully with the help of your info, I can make enough to get myself & the wife over for the Melbourne Cup in the not too distant future.

Thanks again

Chad

[Chrome Prince]

Chad,

If you have further questions, post them here and I'm sure we'll all help you.

[Neil]

If you go to www.propun.com.au/betting_advice_index.html you will find an archive of general betting comments and tips relevant for Australian racing.
Cheers, Neil

[Mark]

While we're on the subject...does anyone know how those Rest 1ly, Rest 2ly fit in with the regular classes?

[xptdriver]

While we're on the subject...does anyone know how those Rest 1ly, Rest 2ly fit in with the regular classes?


Gday Mark...

I just treat them as an open (unless otherwise stated) with that restriction.... I could be way off the mark tho

[Shaun]

i have always slipped them in between class 6 and open....not sure if it should go before or after transitional......i would also include fillies and mares races 2yold and 3yold only races and any race that is restricted in nature.....unless they are a quality or above type race.