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A Short History of Horseracing
It is recorded that in 1140, the first of a long line of kings named Henry tried to improve the quality of horses in England by importing Arab stallions to give them more speed and stronger power. Throughout the Crusades, from 1096 to 1270, Turkish cavalry horses dominated the larger English warhorses, leading the Crusaders to buy, capture or steal their share of the stallions. After the War of the Roses, which decimated England's horse population, King Henry aimed to rebuild his cavalry.
Both the king and his son, Henry VIII, imported horses from Italy, Spain and North Africa, and maintained their own racing stable. "Henry's Hobbys", as they were called, raced against horses owned by other nobility, leading the word "hobby" to mean a "costly pastime indulged in by the idle rich". From this comes the definition of horseracing as the "the sport of kings".
Henry's daughter, Elizabeth I, improved her father's stable during her fifty-year reign, dispensing with horses not qualified for racing or the cavalry and moving the best horses to new barns at Tutbury near Staffordshire. When Elizabeth I died, James VI of Scotland, son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and his son, Charles expanded both the palace and royal racing stables at the track of Newmarket.
Horseracing
Horseracing is a popular sport world-over, and is often referred to as the "king of sports". Over time it inevitably grew to be associated with gambling. The sport's greatest events are a great opportunity for bettors all over the world to put their handicapping skills to the test in an atmosphere close to that of a carnival. A good example of this would be the Cheltenham festival, annually flooded by throngs of Irishmen thirsty for gambling and Guinness. Lately these renowned events became so popular, that, with the help of the internet and online betting, everyone interested can bet, no matter where and on which continent they live.
The Betting on Horseracing
There are 3 different ways to bet:
betting to win
betting for a place
betting to show
Betting to win is the best-known type of race-betting but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the most common as well. Bettors place their wagers on a certain horse and if the chosen horse wins the race, they win according to the pre-race odds that were given by the bookie they used for placing the bet.
Betting for a place is when the bet is placed on a horse to come in first or second. In this case the chances of the given horse coming out either first or second are significantly increased thus the bookie adjusts the odds accordingly. In case of a win the bettor will receive a lot less than he would have, had he bet to win.
The third type of bet used for horseraces is the bet to show. If the horse comes in first, second or third, i.e. it "shows up" in the top three, then it's a win for the bettor. However, odds on this type of bet are the worst of the three, as the chances of getting it right are the best.
Handicapping
An impost is the weight that must be carried by a horse in a race. Horses carry lead weights during the course of a race as a form of handicap. Such a race is also sometimes termed a "handicap". These weights supplement a jockey's weight to give a horse his assigned impost. The jockeys use saddle pads with pockets called lead pads to hold the lead weights. These riding weights are assigned by the racing secretary based on factors such as the horse's past performances, the distance of the race, so as to equalize the chances of the competitors.
The weight for age scale was introduced by Admiral Rous, a steward of the Jockey Club. In 1855 he was appointed public handicapper. In that role he introduced the weight for age scale.
What the Horseracing Bettor Needs to Know
In horse race betting handicapping is everything. No matter what different online sportsbooks and gambling sites will tell you, there is no foolproof strategy other than thorough and painstaking handicapping. Handicapping should stand at the base of everything a good bettor does: from choosing the type of bet to knowing which horse is the actual favorite of a race.
There are many subtleties to this trade and the wealth of information available on the different horses, jockeys, stables and owners, but sometimes it does little more than to further complicate the already puzzled bettor's mind. It is common for the media to create "false favorites", horses that are over-rated because of all the hype surrounding them or their owners. To make things more complicated, managing to single out the winner is by far not enough in race betting. Experts say that the bettors who truly want to go home with some money in their pocket have to bet the value.
The number of variables involved in good horse handicapping is endless. From the bloodline of the horse to the way it runs on different types of ground and the way it behaves in the boxes before the start, there are a myriad of factors that all need to be taken into account by the sharp bettor aiming for value.
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