Form guides provide background information on starters in a professional race and form the basis of many betting decisions. Reading the Cox Plate form guide is not essential but it will help you place smarter bets on the Cox Plate and can improve your chances of winning. In any case, knowing how to read a Cox Plate form guide will come in handy once the big race day rolls around!
Where To Find A Cox Plate Form Guide
If you can’t make it to the track or your local bookmaking outlet to pick up your Cox Plate form guide, don’t worry. Cox Plate form guides are available at all good online bookmakers, like Sportsbet. You can find the Cox Plate form guide for individual horses by clicking on their name on the race card or by entering the special form guide section provided by some online bookies.
Using online bookmaking sites to do your Cox Plate form guide research is the most convenient way to prepare for the race day. The online Cox Plate form guides are available around the clock, so you can really focus on the timing of your Cox Plate betting.
How To Read A Cox Plate Form Guide
While not every bookmaker Cox Plate form guides are set out exactly the same, the abbreviation and overall terminology is usually very similar. Here is an overview of the most important information you can gather from your Cox Plate form guide. Check it out and start making better decisions when it comes to placing your bets on the Cox Plate.
Age and Sex: The age and the sex of a horse can be found in the same section on most Cox Plate form guides. There are five varieties of thoroughbred race horses, usually abbreviated to the first letter: Horse (H) – male thoroughbred aged three or older; Mare (M) – female thoroughbred aged three or older; Colt (C) – male thoroughbred under the age of four; Filly (F) – thoroughbred female under the age of four; and Gelding (G) – male thoroughbred who has been castrated.
As the Cox Plate is a Weight-For-Age event, the weight allocations give 3-year-old colts and geldings quite an advantage, making them worthwhile in box trifecta picks. However, 5 and 6 year old horses and mares have tended to win the Cox Plate in recent years, but the 3-year-old colts and geldings regularly pick up places. Fillies are not worth betting on.
Barrier: A barrier is the starting position of your selection, frequently listed right after the horse’s name on the Cox Plate form guide. Some races favour different starting positions, and a barrier of between 3 and 8 seems to optimal in the Cox Plate.
Career: The career section is basically a horse’s resume. The section lists all career races of an individual horse and an overview of their wins and places.
Form/Last 6: This is a series of numbers listed behind a horse’s name, which designate the places the horse recorded in its past six career starts. The very right number stands for the horse’s most recent race.
The form is given in numbers from 0-9. Numbers from 1 to 9 are the place the horse finished in, while 0 means the horse finished worse than 9th place. Other symbols refer to rest spells between races or to thrown jockeys and the like, but you do not need to memorise these symbols if you use the Cox Plate form guide at an online bookie. Online betting sites usually include detailed race summaries for each horse in their form guides.
Jockey: Knowing which jockey will be riding your selection in the Cox Plate can be helpful when deciding on a favourite. Some jockeys have signature events, others have particularly good relationships with certain horses – so the jockey is definitely a factor to consider before making up your mind.
Pedigree: A section of the Cox Plate form guide that introduces the sire and dam of a contender. This section is useful for punters with a lot of knowledge about the champion runners of past generations, who can guess a runner’s abilities from his or her lineage.
Saddlecloth Number: The number under which your horse will be running. Knowing this number helps to place your bet and is really handy for keeping track of your selection during the race.
Track Conditions: Fast, Good, Dead, Slow, Heavy and Wet are the possible track conditions in a horse race. Some horses prefer certain track conditions and it can be important to consider the track conditions before placing a bet on the Cox Plate.
Trainer: It’s always helpful to know who has trained your selection for the Cox Plate. It is advisable to bet on runners trained by greats of the sport, as a trainer’s experience will always reflect on the performance of the horse.
Weight: This refers to the weight your horse will carry during the race. Some Cox Plate form guides will have a separate section for weight, others will list it right after the barrier number. Regardless, the Cox Plate is a Weight-For-Age race, so you should take the horse’s record into account more than the weight it will carry.
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