Before betting money on a horse race, what is important to see in a horse's physical appearance?

Question

I have heard that some people can determine which horse will win a race by studying its physical appearance and looking for certain characteristics. Can you give me some tips as to what to look for in appearance?

Answer 1

See the horse on the track - does he look enthused ?  Running off without his outrider horse ?  "On the muscle" ?  The best example I ever saw was Seattle Slew, before the greatest race he ever ran, ironically a 2nd place finish in the Jockey Club Gold Cup - he was BOUNCING on the track, looked like he needed to be tethered to the ground, like his muscles would rip right through his skin;  is your horse bouncing, or does he look like he's utterly disinterested?  Also, white lather is to be expected on a hot humid day, but if its soon on a mild or cool day means that the horse is having a nervous fit.

Answer 2

I like to see how the horse moves, and weather or not the horse is excessively nervous and sweating ( AKA washing out)

Answer 3

LOOK AT A HORSES EYES IF THEY LOOK TIRED MOST LIKELY THE HORSE IS WORNOUT OR NOT FEELING UP TO PAR....

Answer 4

NOT WASHING OUT ....

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS !!

Answer 5

if your talking pysical appearance alone,it helps determine what its most likely to be suited to in terms of distance,field size,hurdle or fences etc.

behaviour is different as if a horses gets edgy in the preliminaries ,especially if its a mature horse,you should expect a poor run(unless you now he normally does this and runs to form).

theres also condition,like muscles,its coat ,sweating etc.as shiny coat normally indicates the horse is healthier than one who as a dull coat(again unless you now the horse normally as a dull coat and it doesnt effect its form)

going back to physical apperance ,basically the taller the horse ,the more liklely its going to need a long distance.if you compare a 5f sprinter to a 2 mile stayer on the flat,the sprinter will normally be shorter,but weigh just as much or more because it will be a ball of muscle.the 2 mile stayer will be normally taller,but generally skinnier,similar in human atheltes(a 100m runner verses a marathon runner )

skinny horses also may have difficulty in big fields around at least 1 full bend to the fact they will come worse of in any barging and squeezing.

so if you see a horse that looks thats been running in sprints and doing poorly,then all of a sudden it goes up in distance and as a physique that generally like the majority of the runners that run of that disatnce,its likely it will show inproved form.

equally over jumps,at least 16.2 hands is required for the big fences and a lot of horses who go from hurdles( ex flat racers) are undersize for the big fences and will struggle,especially in big fields(its the field size rather than the fence size that determines poor jumping more often)

in 2yo races,some 2yos are very mature(physically and mentally) and look like 3yo's.these win a high percentage of races at 2 and even 3yo races early in the season.as they get older though ,there physical mature lessens as others catch up and there is hardly any advatage left.

there is also stride pattern to look for to determine what going is suitable.high knee action generally means it like easier going.