Horse Racing Guide

Along with the Derby Festival at Epsom Downs, the Cheltenham Festival, Grand National Festival and Royal Ascot are the major horse racing festivals staged in Britain. As such, to anyone with even a passing interest in the ‘Sport of Kings’, none of them requires much in the way of introduction and those interested in a flutter are looking to racing predictions sites to help guide them.

Since 2005, the Cheltenham Festival has been been a four-day affair, with the ‘Blue Riband’ event, the Cheltenham Gold Cup, run on the final day. In 2024, attendances on the first three days were down compared to 2023, but Gold Cup Day sold out, taking the total attendance to one short of 230,000. The average domestic terrestrial audience for the week was 953,000, up from 941,000 in 2023.

Likewise, since 2002, Royal Ascot has consisted of five days, rather than the previous four, and in 2024 attracted a total of 273, 526 spectators, compared with 266,147 in 2023. The Royal Meeting attracted a peak television audience of over one million on the first three days and lesser figures on the final two days were thought to be down to direct competition with the UEFA European Football Championship.

By contrast, the Grand National Festival at Aintree is a three-day meeting with the feature event, the Grand National, run on the Saturday. In 2024, the total attendance over the three days was 120,259, with the peak attendance of 55,822 coming, predictably, on Grand National Day. The moving forward of the ‘off’ time, to 16:00 from 17:15, was blamed for a fall in the domestic terrestrial television, from 7.5 million to 6.1 million, but it is worth remembering that, as the most famous steeplechase in the world, the Grand National is watched, globally, by over half a billion people. These numbers rival those of large football stadium crows and tv audiences, and much in the same way, fans will of course also be looking for to make football predictions for must watch matches.

 

 

 

In simple terms, a ‘yankee’ is a popular form of multiple bet, which offers full cover or, in other words, covers all possible combinations of four selections in four different races. A win yankee consists of in six doubles, four trebles and a four-fold accumulator, making 11 bets is total, and an each-way yankee, naturally enough, consists of 22 bets in total.

The name is probably derived not from any connection with the United States of America, but rather from the less-familiar Australian sense of ‘yankee’, meaning ‘equivalent for all’. A yankee tournament, for example, is one in which every player or team competes against each of the others in turn, so it follows that a bet in which every horse is combined with each of the others bears the same name.

Of course, compared with a standard four-fold accumulator, which requires such a single stake, or two, if placed each-way, a yankee bet effectively ‘dilutes’ the stake across 11, or 22, bets. Thus, if all four horses win, or at least finish placed, in the case of an each-way bet, the returns on a yankee bet will be significantly lower than those on a four-fold accumulator to the equivalent total stake. A £1.10 win four-fold accumulator on four winning selections, all at 5/1, produces a total return of £1,425.60, whereas a £0.10 win yankee on the same selections produces a total return of just £237.60. That said, if one or more of the selections lose, the accumator bet is a loser, but the yankee still produces a return for two or three winners.

Rule 4 is a general, industry-wide betting rule, which governs the scale of deductions to winning bets in the event that one or more horses are withdrawn from a race. Logically, if a horse is withdrawn, the probability of any of the remaining runners winning increases, so Rule 4 effectively adjusts the odds of each horse accordingly. It is worth noting that Rule 4 only applies after the final declaration stage, 24 or 48 hours before the race, and is applied based on the price of the withdrawn horse at the time of its official withdrawal, according, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA).

Obviously, the likelihood of any horse winning is (nominally) reflected by the odds offered by bookmakers at any given time, so Rule 4 deductions – which are usually expressed as pence in the pound, or as a percentage – are applied on a sliding scale, inversely proportional to those odds. At one end of that scale, horses trading at odds of 1/9 or shorter at the time of withdrawal result in a deduction of 90p per £1. At the other, horses trading between 10/1 and 14/1, inclusive, at the time of

withdrawal result in a deduction of 5p per £1. Beyond that price range, Rule 4 does not apply to any withdrawn horse. Of course, it is possible that two or more horses may be withdrawn from a race, in which case cumulative Rule 4 deductions may apply. However, the total deduction will never be more than 90p per £1.

All horses are biologically warm-blooded, so require food for energy and self-regulating biological processes, such as maintaining constant body temperature, collectively known as ‘homeostasis’. Racehorses, in particular, can be considered elite athletes, who require the right combination of foodstuffs, in the right amounts, to maintain their fitness, health and performance levels.

Typically, their diet is based on highly nutritional, premier forage, such as grass or hay, which is supplemented with grains, such as barley, corn and oats. The latter foodstuffs provide soluble carbohydrates, which are converted to molecules of glucose, and hence to energy, immediately or at some time in the future. If not required immediately, glucose is stored in the liver and muscles in a long chain, or ‘polymeric’, form, known as glycogen. When required, glycogen is converted back into glucose molecules, which are circulated via the bloodstream to boost cell metabolism.

Like all elite athletes, racehorses sweat profusely while exercising or racing, so must drink up to twenty gallons of clean water every day to remain adequately hydrated, healthy and performing to the best of their abilities. Stories of legendary racehorses, such as Arkle and Nijinsky, having their diets supplemented by pints of Irish stout beer are not as fanciful as they may first appear. Irish stout is a traditional treatment for sweating disorders, such as anhidrosis, and is a source of B-complex vitamins, which have a direct impact on energy levels, cardiovascular health, muscle tone and overall well-being.