What Does Handicapping Mean in Horse Racing?
Handicapping is one of the fundamentals in horseracing. If you want to be able to bet on a horse for any other reason than you like the name of the horse, fancy the jockey, or like the colour of his outfit then maybe it’s best if you learn a little about handicapping! All horse races fall into one of two categories – a handicap race or a conditions race, with handicap races far outweighing conditions races at most events. A handicap is a race where each horse is allocated a different weight according to ability so in theory each horse has an equal chance of winning. The British Horseracing Board (BHB) have handicappers who produce an official rating (the horse’s ‘mark’) for each horse in the UK who qualifies to run in a handicap race. This mark that the handicappers give the horse will be on a sliding scale between 0 and 120. Zero marks would basically be a crippled horse 9 while three year old horses at the top of the scale would be the horses entering races such as the Derby. Sometim
