How Many Classes of Horse are There? (UK)

[Garf79]

Horse racing has been around for a very long time but only fairly recently in its long history has it become so complicated for a new punter to understand what is going. Race cards can be a confusing mess of numbers and names and for some they can not tell the difference between form, rating, class and odds. All this information is included on a race card so over the next few posts I will do my best to explain what it all means and make it easier for you guys to digest the stats next time you look at a race card.

                                                         

On this post we are going to be looking at Class, horses are put into categories according to ability. This is done to ensure that we have competitive races to watch and bet on, having horses of a similar level should make it a better more close fought race to view. In the UK there are 7 different classes of horse, each horse is given a rating and  this number is displayed on the far right of the race card above. The race card above is from a Class 1 race so all the horses are rated well above 90. The prize money will almost always be higher in Class 1 races and when you get down to Class 7 prize money can be just a few grand. For punters though you tend to find a lot more long shots winning in the lower class races. An old guy I know that loves to bet on the horses once told me that the higher the prize money the more likely the favorite will win and this is because the trainer and stables want to win the prize money. When the races become less about the prize money then you will find the trainers and jockeys will find different ways to make money and this often comes in the form of placing bets themself. You will have to take from this what you will but if you think about you will soon see that not all races will be run "fairly". The answer to the question of how many classes of horse are there in the UK then it is 7.

[serjua8]

Thank you for the information. 

[AlphaGambler]

Great post! Very educational. So classes are categories of horse racing competitions.