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Racecourse Stats

There are many statistics you can use at the racecourse. The most popular statistics are the Favourites stats and Jockey stats.

From a betting point of view it is best to use stats which are based on value. This is because stats can tell you which jockey has won the most races, or how many times the favourite has won at the racecourse, but if the stats do not tell you how much profit you would have won then you have no way of knowing if you are likley to be in profit or not.

Soundbite Stats

Beware of bland 'soundbite stats'. These are stats reeled of by media pundits or newspaper tipsters. Stats such as "A Trainer has had 2 winners from 3 runners at Ascot this month" is pretty meaningless as it does not say if a profit was returned!

Not only that but the sample size is far too small to be reliable. So the trainer had 2 winners from 3 runners - that is a 67% strike rate. If I tossed a coin three times and it came up heads twice would you then assume that backing heads is the way to go?

Negative and Positive Stats

Stats can be used for positive and negative reasons. Not only will they tell you if a type of race is exceptionally good for favourites, or that a particular jockey and trainer combination have returned year on year profits, but they can also point out reasons why you should not be backing a specific horse. These will be stats with low strike rates, and big losses (big negative ROI's or Return on Investment).

Now if you could find a race where the favourite has a bad record, and the trainer of the favourite is using a jockey who has achieved a low strike rate, and the second favourite is using a jockey with a good, profitable strike rate... you could find yourself a nice bet!

You can read a simple introduction to horse racing stats at the Flatstats website.