Playing To Win

The Horses

The Thoroughbred breed originates from the Middle East, where centuries ago Arab rulers bred their great stallions to select mares in the hopes of producing faster and stronger horses. The lineage, or family history, of a horse is known as its pedigree. Soon after a horse's birth, the owner and/or breeder registers it with The Jockey Club, the official racing record keeping organization for the breed.

What's in a Name?

Thoroughbred names can be classy, quirky, clever or just plain odd. Racehorse names can be no longer than 18 letters (this is so they can fit in the racing program) and must not contain profanity. All names must be approved by The Jockey Club.

To be approved, a horse's name must be publicly available. Each year, thousands of names are released for public use by the Jockey Club. Some names, like Secretariat, are permanently retired and will never be used again.

To register a horse's name or check on the availability of a name, use the Jockey Club's online names database. To get ideas for your horse name from those released each year, check the Jockey Club's list of recently released names.

Some Thoroughbred owners delight in thinking up clever names for their horses. Often they combine elements of the mother and father's names; sometimes they're just tongue-twisters. Owner Caesar Kimmel had track announcers all over the country tied up in fits when he named his top filly Flat Fleet Feet.

The Thoroughbred On The Track

Today, Thoroughbreds generally begin their racing career at age two (Remember, all racehorses have a universal birthday of January 1), and remain racing as long as they are main competitive or until retirement for breeding purposes. A Thoroughbred is not considered an adult horse until it is five years of age, so when they begin their career at age two or three, they are really just developing children and teenagers. Horses go through a lot of growing pains and changes during this time. Often you will see precocious two-year-olds that are touted as next year's Kentucky Derby favorite that end up no where to be seen come that first Saturday in May.

Most everyone in racing will tell you that their dream is to see their horse in the Derby winner's circle, but with some 35,000 foals born in the United States each year, and only 20 maximum make it to the race, reality sets in quickly.

So even if a horse doesn't make the Derby, there are plenty of opportunities for a horse to be successful on the track. As a horse develops, it usually acquires a certain racing style; whether it is a front-runner or off-the-pace type, or maybe it prefers racing on turf rather than dirt. There is the rare animal that is comfortable no matter how the race develops or on any type of track, able to adapt to every situation. Whatever their style, the bettor needs to compare it to the rest of the horses in the field and see how the race might unfold.

Handicapping the horses and their styles is the toughest part of the game. If the animal could talk, handicappers would know exactly how every horse was feeling come race day, like a pro athlete in a pre-game interview. Unfortunately, that luxury does not exist, so the bettors have to rely on their skills to pick a winner. Horses have tendencies, but they can be difficult to spot. Good handicappers don't get overwhelmed when they are dissecting a race; they don't bet every race, rather wait for the best opportunity, when they find a horse or two they really like. The soundest advice would be to look at a horse's record, also known as his past performance, and determine his chance of winning today's race.

The past performance is just that; it tells you what a horse has done his last several races. In addition, the program also has statistics that tell you how a horse has performed on the dirt and turf courses, at the distance of today's race, on an "off" track (one not listed as fast), their race record for this year, last year, and lifetime, and recent workouts. All this information is there to help compare and contrast the horses in each race.

Check out trivia and fun facts on the Daily Racing Form's pdf of The Horse.

Also check out the DRF's page on the Seabiscuit story

Play a Game

• -Life Cycle

101: The Players

• Intro
• Breeders
• Owners
• Trainers
• Jockeys
• Horses