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How to Read the Program

Though many races appear to be much the same as others, each race has "conditions" that specify what horses can run in each race. Conditions include the horse's age, sex, and other classes of information about the horse.

Maiden Races

A horse is considered to be a maiden until it wins a race for the first time; therefore, the term "maiden" has nothing to do with the sex of the horse.

Maiden Claiming Races This is a claiming race with horses that have never won a race.

Maiden Special Weight Races Maiden equivalent of an allowance race. These horses are good enough not to be in a claiming race, but not yet ready for an allowance race.

Claiming Races

Any horse entered in a claiming race is subject to be purchased, for an amount for which the horse was entered, by any owner who has started a horse at that particular race meeting. In some such races, the claiming price will have a range of several thousand dollars with weight allowances made for horses entered at the lower prices. The claiming race is a method of classifying horses in order to produce races involving competition of equal ability. When a horse wins easily while running among, let's say, $5000 claimers, the horse is usually moved up in value to avoid being claimed.

Allowance Races

Allowance races are highly competitive contests where the horses entered in the race cannot be purchased or "claimed." The purses in allowance races are usually higher than purses in claiming races, but are not usually as high as stakes and handicap races.

Stakes and Handicap Races

Stakes and Handicap races are the highest level of competition. Stakes and Handicap races run for larger purse monies and generally attract the best horses. These races may require the owners to pay a fee to nominate, enter, and run their horses. The fees are added to the money that the track contributes to the purse.

Graded Races

Graded races are racing at its finest! While the thoroughbred and quarter horse industries look at the quality of the horses and races in much the same way when assigning grades, they use different sets of rules established by each industry to determine how the race will be graded. Graded races are distinguished by the following: Grade I, Grade II, or Grade III, with Grade I being the highest grading.

When reading the program you will find track conditions listed along with the past performance of the horse. Many handicappers consider this to be another important element as horses respond differently to various track conditions.

The following terms are used in the racing program to describe the conditions of a dirt track

Fast (ft) - the track is dry and even. This is considered to be the best condition that a track can be in.

Sloppy (sy) - the track is saturated with water and standing water can be seen. A track that is sloppy can be just as fast, if not faster, than a track with conditions deemed to be fast.

Good (gd) - the track is almost a fast track and is firm.

Sex of Horses

f - Filly (Female, 4 years or younger)
m - Mare (Female, 5 years and up)
c - Colt (not gelded, 4 years or younger)
h - Horse (not gelded, 5 years or older)
g - Gelding (fixed, any age)

Medicines

B = Bute- Like aspirin - pain reliever
L = Lasix - Prevents bleeding through the nose
L1 = First time on Lasix

Equipment

b - blinkers
f - front bandages
h - hind bandages
c - cup blinkers

Track Conditions

ft - Fast
sy - Sloppy
gd - Good
my - Muddy
hvy - Heavy

Next: Glossary of Terms