Playing To Win

SURFACES

Distances

There's an old saying that says, "there are horses for courses", meaning that certain horses like certain tracks better than others. However, there are also horses that take to certain distances better than others. In fact, this is probably the stronger handicapping factor of the two. Rarely do see you a horse that is proficient at seven furlongs suddenly turn into a mile-and-a-half horse.

So, how do you figure out at which distance will be best for the horse? As usual, it falls back to the trainer. Like we said, breeding is a big factor, but just because a horse is bred to win the Kentucky Derby, that doesn't mean he can do it.

When a horse first comes to the racetrack, usually as a two-year-old, they don't have the stamina to run in longer races. That's why you see horses generally making their first start in the four to six furlong range. Like a human running a marathon, they have to build up endurance to go that far. And then the trainer will try and "stretch them out" in longer races to see if they are ready for it. One of the keys for a route horse, one that likes to go long, is the move from one to two turn races. Most races run in the States at under a mile (sprints ) go around one turn, while those over a mile (routes) are two turn races. Some horses take to the two turns, while others want no part of it. When you're handicapping a race, take a look at the record of each horse at today's distance. You'll see it in the top right of the past performances in both the program and the Form.

What happens when a horse has never run at today's race distance? That's when you look to a couple other areas of your past performances. We've covered breeding and how it influences a horse, as well as the Tomlinson numbers, which are in the Racing Form. With a horse that's just beginning their career, both of these factors can weigh in pretty heavily. With a horse that's run a good number of races, check their past performances closer. For example, it could be that today they're running at six and one half furlongs for the first time, but they've run several times at both six and seven furlongs. See how they fared at those distances to come up with an idea of how today's race might suit them.

Play a Game

• -Life Cycle

303-Track Conditions

• Intro
• Dirt
• Turf
• Distances
• Track Conditions