Some basic questions...

Hi, I know my stuff very well for racing in Ireland & UK, however I don't know much about South African racing and therefore I have some basic questions. They might sound foolish for the veteran punters here, nonetheless I hope you can help me out anyway.

- I use the Sportingpost racecards at the moment. Would you recommend other racecards?

- I can see an Ability Rating and a Merit Rating for each runner in the raceard. What is more important? And which one is similar to UK's Official Rating/Handicap mark and decides which weight a horse has to carry in a race?

- How can I identify different race classes? Maiden and pattern races are easy to identify, but how does it work with Handicaps? I can see MR74 or MR 91 or something but that does not mean obviously that only horses which a highest MR of 74 or 91 can race in these races as I can see that horses with i.e. 94 racing in a MR91 race. In UK you have classe 1-6 and in the race conditions you can find things like: Horses with a mark 0-70 can race in a certain race, say class 5 for example. Something similar in South Africa?

- Do you have any tips in addition? I mean something that is important to know because is unique in South Africa? Something that is important to know to bet successfully on SA races?

- Any useful links? For live streams or race replays for example? I couldn't find that much to be honest. Sportingpost, and SAHorseracing... but that was is it actually.

Manny questions, I know. But I hope you can help me. I always have a professional approach in terms of betting and invest loads of time in race studying because you can only be successful and beat the bookies if you put in some effort. And betting on horses is only fun if you win races. For me at least...

I use the Sportingpost racecards at the moment. Would you recommend other racecards?

Computaform and winning form are two very good racecards

I can see an Ability Rating and a Merit Rating for each runner in the raceard. What is more important? And which one is similar to UK's Official Rating/Handicap mark and decides which weight a horse has to carry in a race?

The merit rating is the Official rating . The ability rating can compare i think to racing post 's rating in the Uk . It's what sporting post think the horse's ability is .. i think !.

Its always infomative to go through Magic Lip's selections in the winning form .Also there are some forumites here who have very good opinions on the day's racing .

You can get live streaming if you open an interbet account or delayed streaming on the tabonline website .

There are draw bias's at various tracks ie Scotsville races down the straight low numbers Clairwood high numbers . Perhaps some members can help with the other tracks ?

Just want to add a question regarding pace. I have the odd feeling - might be completely wrong - that many races aren't run with a strong pace, rather with a slow pace, from a visual point at least. Is that correct? And are there pace charts available? Something like that what patternform offers: www.patternform.co.uk/kempton%20(aw)_2012-02-01_520_pace.htm

@ Solotrama: Thank you very much. Great infos. That brings some light into the dark.

Have definitely to check out the two mentioned racecards...

You will find most of the links you need in our link section on our homepage...

Sporting Post,Winning Form, formgrids,ABC the RA replays and Interbet/sportingbet/(price Guide) are all i use..

It does vary depending on the region, but yes, pace is often slow early. Kenilworth is notorious for this.

Unfortunately there aren't any pace charts or sectional timing.
The best we've got from that point of view is Computaform. That publication shows you how far back and in what position each horse was at the 800, 400 and 200 metre marks.

Thank you guys. Great help. Computaform looks really interesting. Some useful information in the racecards. A bit more details compared to sportingpost racecards.

What I still don't understand is the thing with the MR and the race classes. How does this merit rating works? Is this mark that is given/assessed by a Handicapper person or is there a certain system behind? Just for the understanding: How big is the difference in class between a MR72 race and a MR78 or 80 race? How much is the usual rise of the MR for a win? In Britain it's usually 6lb. Something similar here?

Take a read .HERE

Thanks. Good read hibernia. Oh and thanks for the link for the race replays you send me on facebook.