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Charts and Past Performances

Equibase and the Daily Racing Form produce charts of every race run at a thoroughbred track. They have a team of two people that are basically trip handicappers: One watches the races and calls out the running order at certain points, and the other records the info. After the race is made official, and they've entered all the pertinent data, they beam the chart off to their central database via computer. Take a look at a typical chart below.

1st Race

6 1/2 Furlongs Dirt MAIDEN CLAIMING PURSE $21,000 F & M (fillies and mares)
Value of Race 21,000 Value to Winner 13,020 2nd 4,200 3rd 2,100 4th 1,050 5th 630 Mutuel Pool$114,765.00
Exacta Pool $98,137.00 Trifecta Pool $77,020.00 Superfecta Pool $21,377.00 Quinella Pool $4,269.00

PN Horse M Eq Wt PP SP 1/4 1/2 Str Fin Jockey Odds
5 Isabella's Crown(JPN) L 113 5 3 1hd 1 hd 1 1 1/21 5 3/4 Hernandez B J Jr 2.10
4 White Oak L f 118 4 4 4hd 4 2 2 2 2 5 1/4 Bejarano R 2.40
7 Stage Glitter L 118 7 6 6hd 5 1 1/2 4 2 3nk Martinez J R Jr 19.50
1 Classical Della L bf 120 1 2 2hd 2 1/2 3 2 45 Castanon J L 3.00
6 Malfoy L b 118 6 5 77 7 9 1/2 6 4 5nk Mojica R Jr 64.40
3 Royal Bauble L f 118 3 7 52 1/2 6 1 5hd 616 1/2 Martinez W 3.80
8 Peaceful Presence L 110 8 1 31 1/2 3 1 7 6 71 1/4 Farrell J 29.00
2 Puddles Reflection 120 2 8 8 8 8 8 Adam M G 41.30

Off at 1:15 Start Good for all . Won Driving.Time , :23, :47, 1:12 4/5, 1:19 1/5, Rainy 64. Track: Sloppy.

5 - Isabella's Crown(JPN) ...... 6.20 3.00 2.80    $2 Exacta 5-4 Paid $15.80
4 - White Oak ...... 3.20 2.80    $2 Trifecta 5-4-7 Paid $146.60
7 - Stage Glitter ...... 4.80    $2 Superfecta 5-4-7-1 Paid $270.40
 $2 Quinella 4-5 Paid $8.40

WINNER- CH f,3,by Forty Niner - Mom's Crown by Chief's Crown

TRAINER-Asmussen Steven M. Bred By Heisei Farm (JPN)

SCRATCHED: NONE

ISABELLA'S CROWN (JPN) went up between horses early to contest the pace, gained a slim lead, moved clear entering the upper stretch and was going away at the end under strong hand urging. WHITE OAK, never far back and three wide early, came out five wide leaving the turn, angled to the rail for the last eighth but couldn't menace the winner as second best. STAGE GLITTER, within striking distance to the stretch and five wide most of the way, was empty when the test came. CLASSICAL DELLA broke in front while drifting out, battled with the winner and PEACEFUL PRESENCE while inside them and weakened leaving the turn. MALFOY, three or four wide, improved position but wasn't a threat. ROYAL BAUBLE raced in contention near the inside for a half and gradually weakened. PEACEFUL PRESENCE forced the pace three abreast until nearing the stretch and tired. PUDDLES REFLECTION, slow to begin, raced three or four wide and always was outrun.

There are four sections: The top section is the race conditions, the second shows all the running lines for each horse, the third the time, payoffs, and other pertinent information, and the last is the trip notes. This is what the chart caller saw during the race, and will ultimately end up in the past performances as part of the abbreviated comment line the next time the horse runs. The charts and their comments are a good way to see how a race is turned into a narrative.

Reading the narrative can give you clues on which horses may have been compromised by their trip. In the above chart, White Oak, the second place finisher, raced either three or five wide for most of the race. The further a horse is away from the rail, the more distance they are covering. Perhaps with a little better trip, she would have given the winner a little better run for her money. This is just one example of what could be termed "mild" trouble. Racing luck being what it is, many things can happen that cost a horse all chance for the win. The table below shows some standard terms that you'll see in the program's comment line and their meaning.

Comment     Meaning
checked rider had to halt his momentum at some point
lost iron rider's foot came out of the stirrups
broke in air jumped high at the start
stumbled start fell or tripped breaking from the gate
waited caught behind a slower horse
bumped came in contact with another horse
forced in horse to the outside forced him to the rail
dueled was in a speed duel with another horse
steadied similar to checked
ducked out horse veered to its outside; usually on their own
fanned out wide      had to go very wide entering the stretch
bothered 1/4 was in some trouble at the one-quarter mile pole
shuffled back similar to checked, but usually caused by more than one horse
hit by foe's whip       another ride struck a horse accidentally with their whip

This by no means covers all the comments you might see; like trip notes in general, comments are subjective and can vary according to each track's chart callers.

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