How to track a racehorse: follow horses, trainers and jockeys

Why follow a horse at all

Most racing interest is built one horse at a time: one you backed, one you saw run well in defeat, one owned by a friend, one bred by a stallion you like. The hard part is noticing when it runs again. Entries and declarations come out a few days to a day before racing, spread across dozens of meetings, and a horse you meant to watch can run and finish before you knew it was declared.

Tracking a horse solves that. You mark it once, and from then on the site tells you when it is declared, what is different about its race this time, and how it got on.

How to follow a horse, trainer or jockey

On The Racing Formula, following is a star. Wherever a name appears with a ⭐ beside it, tap the star and that horse, trainer, jockey or sire is added to My Stable. Tap it again to remove it.

• Horses: the star sits beside each runner on the racecards and on the horse's own page.
• Trainers and jockeys: beside their names on each runner's row and on a horse's page, and on every row of the Heat Check.
• Sires, damsires and mares: in the breeding section of a horse's page and in the Breeding Lab. Following a sire means his runners show up in your Stable too.

You can follow without an account: your Stable is kept in the browser you starred from. Signing in with a free account is what lets the site send you alerts by Telegram or email, covered below.

What My Stable shows

My Stable has three views.

What the Timeline flags

A horse running again is only half the story. The useful question is what has changed since it last ran, because that is where a performance can turn. For each runner the Timeline lists, in plain words, the changes it can find on the racecard:

• a step up or down in trip;
• a change in its official rating, the mark it runs off in a handicap;
• a drop in class;
• a jockey riding it for the first time, or one reunited with it;
• first-time headgear, such as blinkers or a tongue tie;
• its first run for a new trainer;
• a change of ground from its last run;
• a steamer: a price that has shortened sharply during the day.

When the card does not carry the information to tell, the Timeline says nothing rather than guessing. A missing line means “not known”, not “no change”. None of these is a reason to back a horse on its own; they are the questions worth asking when you read its race. The form guide covers how to weigh them.

Alerts: when it runs, and how it got on

There are two kinds of alert, and you choose which you want in your account settings.

• In the morning, once the day’s card is published: a browser notification when something you follow is declared to run today. With your Telegram account linked, the morning briefing also lists your horses’ runs and your trainers’ and jockeys’ rides for the day.
• In the evening, after racing: a round-up of how your horses, trainers, jockeys and sire lines got on, by notification, Telegram or email.

Every alert can be turned off on its own, and switching one off leaves the others alone.

Keeping notes

Next to the star there is a ✎ note button. Use it for the things a form figure cannot hold: “hung left under pressure”, “wants a strong pace”, “ran better than the result, blocked in the straight”. A note can be about the horse in general or about one race, and it stays when you unstar the horse, so you can follow and unfollow without losing what you wrote.

A few good habits

• Write down why you followed it. “Unlucky at Haydock, needs soft” is far more use in three weeks’ time than a bare star.
• Prune the list. A Stable of four hundred horses becomes as noisy as the full racecard. Unstar horses whose reason for following has passed.
• Read the change, then the race. A drop in class or first-time headgear makes a horse worth a closer look, not a selection. Read the rest of the race before deciding anything.

Start your Stable

Open today’s racecards, star a horse, trainer or jockey, and it appears in My Stable. The help page covers the rest of the site.

Tracking a racehorse: frequently asked questions

How do I track a racehorse in the UK or Ireland?

Find the horse on the racecards or its horse page and tap the star beside its name. It is added to My Stable, which shows when it is declared to run and what has changed about its race, and can alert you in the morning when it runs and in the evening with the result.

Do I need an account to follow horses?

Not to follow them: your Stable is kept in the browser you used. A free account is needed for the Telegram and email alerts.

Can I follow a trainer or a jockey instead of a horse?

Yes. Trainers and jockeys have the same star, and their runners and rides appear in My Stable and the Timeline. You can also follow a sire, so his runners show up.

When will I hear that my horse is running?

In the morning of the race, once the day’s racecard is published, and the Timeline shows tomorrow’s runners as soon as tomorrow’s card is out.

Does the site tell me whether my horse will win?

No. Each runner has a Model Score on the racecard, which ranks its chance within the race, but the Stable itself is about knowing when your horses run and what has changed. It is neutral information, not a tip.