How To Read A Harness Racing Program

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Standardbred Horse Racing: How To Read a Program
A harness racing program, or also called a Standardbred racing program, can be broken down into two key sections;
1. Information about today’s race
2. Details about the horses’ past performance
We took an example program and labeled each section so you can better understand how to read a harness racing program and be ready for race day.
Information About Today’s Race
A | Distance of the Race |
B | Race Number – The Race Number indicates the order that race will run for the day. |
C | Track Name – Designates the track where the race is run. |
D | Track Name – Designates the track where the race is run. |
E | Purse of the Race |
F | TRA Saddle Cloth Color – Indicates the color cloth the horse will have under his saddle. The saddle cloth will also display the program number of the horse. |
G | Horse number in race |
H | Owner(s) and address |
I | Horse’s name |
J | Race Day Medication – Indicates if the horse is running with Lasix or special equipment. L – Lasix, B- Bute, b – blinkers, f – front bandages |
K | Horse’s color, gender, age and bloodlines |
L | Breeder |
M | Trainer with summary of starts, wins, seconds, thirds & Universal Rating |
N | Driver with summary of starts, wins, seconds, thirds, Universal Rating, driving colors, weight and class of driving license |
O | Estimated Odds and Claiming Price |
P | Best Races |
Q | Current Year Record, Previous Year Record, and Lifetime Record |
R | Starts |
S | Win |
T | Place |
U | Show |
V | Speed/Class Rating |
Details About The Horses’ Past Performance
1 | Date of past performance |
2 | Track where horse raced and race number |
3 | Course Conditions – Shows the condition of the track for that race. (Some horses will perform better over a wet track than they will a fast track. Look to see what conditions a horse does well or bad over) |
4 | Purse & Class |
5 | Distance |
6 | Horse’s individual fractional times for each 1/4 mile |
7 | Horses post position |
8 | Horse’s position at 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and top of stretch with lengths behind leader and ‘outs’ to indicate horse raced outside of other horses |
9 | Finish position and margin |
10 | Horse’s final quarter |
11 | Horses’s personal time for the race |
12 | Odds at post-time |
13 | Medication/Equipment – Indicates if the horse ran with Lasix or special equipment. L – Lasix, B- Bute, b – blinkers, f – front |
14 | Driver |
15 | First three finishers and Number of Horses in Race |
Turning The Corner To A Betting Victory
While Standardbred harness horse racing is different from the more popular Thoroughbred horse racing, you can still walk away with a big win if you know what you’re doing.
Understanding how to read a harness racing program is critical to placing a smart bet.
We hope this helpful guide makes you bet with a little more confidence. If you are anxious to place your first, tenth, or 100th bet, head on over to AmWager’s online betting platform.
We wish you happy (and lucky) betting!