Is It True All Racehorses Have Their Birthday on January 1st?

It sounds a strange question.

However, there is a grain of truth in the answer.

Surely, racehorses are born throughout the year? Even this isn’t quite true. As the UK Flat horse racing season starts in March or April you will find most racehorses are born from January – June. For horse racing purposes, a simple way to categorise each age group, horses become a year older on the turn of the new year.

So for racehorses, January 1st signifies one year older.

However, you will find that most two-year-old racehorses, although classified as two, are not officially two until their birth date (some are older).

For example, an individual born on the 2nd May will not officially be two until that date. However, publications such as the Racing Post or Sporting Life will show them as being two.

All age groups of race horses are categorised the same.

Predominantly, two-year-old thoroughbreds race against their own age group. There is a small number of races where they are eligible to contest older horses. They are given a significant weight advantage (handicapped) because they would have little chance of beating older opposition without this advantage.

The most significant race where two-year-olds race against older opposition is the Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes (Group 1) which is held at York racecourse in the month of August over 5f.

Since 1922, just five two-year-olds have won this race: High Treason (1953), My Beau (1954), Ennis (1956), Lyric Fantasy (1992) & Kingsgate Native (2007).

With a weight allowance of at least 22lbs and winning prize money of £226,840 it’s a race most horse trainers would like to win.

How much does the average race horse weigh?

When it comes to horses they literally come in all shapes and sizes. Among the smallest horses in world are the falabella, an Argentinian breed, which is just over two foot tall. The largest horses include the shire, Percheron and Belgian draft.

 

The Budweiser Clydesdale horses are known for their colossal size. King LeGear stands 20.5 hands high and weighs in at 164 stones.

However, the biggest horse in the world came from Bedfordshire, England. Sampson (also known as Mammoth) a shire horse gelding bred by Thomas Cleaver of Toddington Mills in 1850. He stood over 7-feet tall and weighed almost 240 stones.

A giant of a horse.

Race horses by comparison are a bred for speed but still big, strong horses. On average a race horse weighs half a tonne, which is 60 stones.

Most heavy horse breeds are used for their strength such as ploughing fields, drafts, or pulling logs in forestry. While racehorses are built for speed.

A shire horse which weights 150 stones can pull a total weight of over 4000 stones. While a race horse can run at a speed of over 40 miles per hour.

The world’s heaviest animals include the African elephant which is a giant 780 stones. However, this seems small fry when you consider the night of the blue whale which is the heaviest animal on the planet at almost 30,000 stones. In tonnes that’s 190.

How much do you weigh?

Are you as fast as a horse or heavy as a whale?

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How many times has John Gosden been champion trainer?

In March, 2021, John Gosden became the highest-profile trainer to take advantage of the training partnership licensing scheme and now holds a joint licence with his son, Thady, who completed the modular training courses required by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) earlier in the year. However, in his own right, John Gosden has held a training licence in Britain since 1989 and has been champion trainer five times, in 2012, 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

Having begun his training career in Calfornia, Gosden moved to Newmarket in 1989 and was subsequently appointed private trainer to Robert Sangster in Manton, Wiltshire, before settling at his current base, Clarehaven Stables, back in Newmarket, in 2005. Highlights of his first title-winning season included victories at the highest level for Fallen For You in the Coronation Stakes, Nathaniel in the Coral-Eclipse and The Fugue in the Nassau Stakes. Three years later, Gosden won the Derby, the Coral-Eclipse, the Irish Champion Stakes and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe with Golden Horn.

More recently, his stable stars have included the likes of Enable, Cracksman, Roaring Lion, Stradivarius and Palace Pier, all of whom have contributed, more than once, to his career total of 84 Group 1 winners. Since joining forces, at the time of writing, the Gosdens have collectively saddled 110 winners from 493 runners in 2021 and lie third in the trainers’championship table with £3.39 million in prize money.

Is It Worth Betting on the Outsider in a Horse Race?

Are you the type of punter who bets on favourites or outsiders?

Both have strength and weakness.

Each to their own, you might say. If your betting pays, you don’t need to listen to anyone’s opinion but your own. However, if you are losing hand over fist you need to question why. Gambling is about having answers to questions. They will never be one hundred percent correct but if you are betting with your emotions or knee-jerk reactions you will pay a hefty price.

Cold, hard cash.

If you are a favourite backer, you don’t need me to tell you, your win strike better be high. Even if you are a very successful gambler, you will be talking about a return on investment (ROI) of 10 or 20% (if you’re lucky). So many people bet on favourites but, on average, about 30% win. That number should be a sobering thought. It details that you are going to struggle to win without being selective. All gambling should be skill based. If you are betting on luck then you need to go watch TV and go do something less boring instead.

An important part of betting is your stake. There are books written on this subject so a short paragraph can only detail one or two thoughts. However, I would suggest whether you bet odds-on or 100/1 shot, you bet level stake. This may sound crazy but if you don’t you will find you bet less on the bigger priced winners when they are ones that make your season.

Ask my brother who bet £20 at 200/1 and won £4,000.

If you don’t bet on outsiders you don’t have to think about much more than the jolly.

But what are the true odds of a 50/1 horse winning, let’s day, a two-year-old race?

It very much depends on the horse. I’ve seen a number of rags (outsiders) win easily. Clearly, they should never have been such huge odds. It happens from time to time. In general, you don’t need to be a Professor of Mathematics to say most horses priced 50/1 should be double or triple those odds.

I’m sure you have seen a 250/1 shot with the bookmakers priced 999/1 on the exchanges.

I’ve recently concluded a study which shows the price of every winner for a 2yo Flat turf seasons. This gave me an opportunity to review the success or failure of horses at speculative-priced odds.

You would be surprised how few horses win at giant odds.

For example just 46 horse won at odds priced 20/1+. The biggest priced winner being priced 150/1.

Quite startling only 8 horses won at odds bigger than 33/1. This data didn’t include handicaps or plating class.

It shows the likelihood of a horse winning at big odds.

This doesn’t mean to say the horse at shorter starting odds hasn’t been substantially backed. My good friend, Eric Winner, tipped a horse at 100/1 and its starting price (SP) was 12/1. However, this insight leads most punters to think betting on outsiders isn’t a good bet. In fact, most bookmaker’s profit is made from these, often, luckless flutters.

It doesn’t mean you cannot win a fortune for a small bet.

It happens.

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