Before you rate a single horse, Australian horse racing form study starts with a question about the race itself: is it even worth analysing? Writing in Practical Punting in May 2000, Richard Hartley Jnr. set out a formula for doing the form — eight factors, from the race through to weight — and Part 1 deals with the first of them. There are good races and bad races, he says, and a close examination of every one of them will probably drive you crazy.

Free e-book: The Essentials of Studying Form – Part 1

FREE e-book: The Essentials of Studying Form – Part 1

Base it on class: why class is the starting point for sound form study.

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What you'll learn:
  • Why one factor rarely settles anything on its own — form, he writes, is all about drawing together the various strands
  • The eight factors the series works through one at a time: the race, fitness, class, ability, form, conditions, connections and weight
  • The post-mortem to hold on every race you bet, win or lose — the questions to ask yourself afterwards, and the stewards' reports most punters never bother to read
  • The filter itself: which metropolitan and which provincial and country races stay in, the runner-count and distance cut-offs (15 or more runners metropolitan, 13 provincial and country, nothing under 1000m either side), and the ratings that sit under each — 55 to 70 metropolitan, 49 through to 54 provincially, up to 63 for a major feature handicap