Author: Mr Racing

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What is A Unit In Betting Terms

What is A Unit In Betting Terms

What Does A Unit Mean?

A term that gets frequently used amongst punters and by many horse racing tipping services to help with staking strategies and tracking results is called a “unit.”

Horse racing betting can be a fun and exciting way to test your luck and potentially make some money. However, it’s important to approach betting responsibly and with a strategy in mind. That’s where the concept of “units” comes in.

A unit is simply a standardised amount of money that a punter uses as a reference point for their bets.

It’s important to note that the size of a unit can vary from person to person and is often determined by an individual’s overall bankroll and betting strategy.

For example, someone with a larger bankroll may use a higher unit size than someone with a smaller bankroll.

A quick example here is that if you have a bankroll size of $2,000 you may want to allocate $1 per unit.

So if a service is recommending you have 10 units to win and 10 units to place you are essentially having $10 each way on this selection.

The use of units is particularly helpful when it comes to discussing betting strategies with others, as it allows for a standardised language that avoids explicitly recommending specific financial advice.

Instead of saying “bet $100 on this horse,” a punter might say “I recommend betting 1 unit on this horse,” where their unit size could be $10 or $50 or whatever amount they’ve determined to be appropriate based on their personal betting strategy.

Before you start following along a suggested staking method you want to determine what is the largest staked unit amount ie. when you are most confident on a horse what size unit is that?

Using units also helps punters avoid making impulsive or emotional bets. By setting a predetermined unit size and sticking to it, punters can avoid the temptation to bet too much on a particular race or horse.

Another benefit of using units is that it allows punters to track their betting performance over time. By keeping track of how many units they’ve won or lost, punters can get a better understanding of their overall profitability and adjust their strategies accordingly.

Of course, the use of units doesn’t guarantee success in horse racing betting, as there are always risks involved.

However, by using units as a reference point for bets, punters can approach the activity in a more responsible and strategic manner.

In summary, a unit is simply a standardised amount of money used as a reference point for bets in horse racing betting.

By using units, punters can avoid making impulsive or emotional bets, track their performance over time, and approach betting in a more responsible and strategic manner.

Mr Racing’s Latemail service uses units to provide our members a set guide on a staking approach on a suggested race play. We recommend you gradually increase your unit size ie. $1 to $2 per unit as your bankroll grows. 

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Blackbook & How To Do It

Blackbook & How To Do It

What Does A Blackbook Mean?

Blackbooking a horse is a term used by punters and form students in reference to a horse you wish to follow for its next start. 

Mr Racing not only black books horses we want to follow at their next starts but also ones we want to bet against. 

 

Where To Start.

Let’s take a look at where to start and what you will need to look for when doing your blackbook reviews of a meeting.

 

1. Time comparison. On the day

2. Sectionals – first sectional and last sectional

3. Determine the tempo of the race

4. After reviewing the pace which runners are more suited and not suited

5. Margins !!

6. Closely watch the first 200m of the race

7. Check their 800m run position and their 400m run position

8. Track bias – suited not suited

9. Horses ability of trying (dominate)

10. What type of race would you like to see it go to.

11. Grade of race (form prior) and moving forward how will it stack up.

Time Comparison.

First thing to do is look at the times for all races on the day. Compare the times for the same distances on the day, for example race 1, 3 and 6 were all run over the 1000m.
You want to compare the times for these races, say race 1 was a maiden and race 6 was a group race and the overall times were similar then you want to add a lot of merit to race 1 form and the horse who won it. Reason being is it has run similar time to a grade of race that is a lot higher then it. This would then spark you to manually hand time the both races to confirm they are correct. Both computers and humans can make mistakes. Always check.

Sectionals.

Sectionals are very important and they tell the story of how the pace of the race was run early and late. This is the first guide in establishing the he story the sectionals are telling is finding out which horses were suited and which horses were not suited.

If the times show that the first half of the race was run in a fast sectional then it is advantageous to be midfield or worse in the run as you are doing less work then the horses who are on pace. If a horse is on speed leading or even chasing the speed in a fast run race then you can add merit to its run. If you see a flashing run from a backmarker in a fast run race then you can take merit off especially if it has done no work early and then getting on the back of another horse. Remember here that overall times of a race will most likely be faster in comparison to a similar grade of race if the race is run fast early.

A lot of form students and media people these days will talk about horses who have run the fastest last 200m of a race. It’s important to look at how the race was run early and where that horse settled in the run before making a real judgement of the performance of that horse. Another thing you may here is this horse has run the fastest last 200m or 400m of the entire meeting, it’s really important to look at the grade of horse that has done that and compare it to the horses who have raced at that meeting.

Race Tempo.

Determining your pace of the race will give you a great guide on which horses were suited by the way race was run. There are 5 different categories a race pace can fall into.

  • Very Fast
  • Fast
  • Even
  • Slow
  • Very Slow

In basic terms if a race was run very fast then horses who have settled midfield or worse are advantaged (suited) and horses who lead or settled on pace are disadvantage (not suited)


If a race was run at even tempo then majority of horses should be suited and the only advantage is that the % of horses that map in the first half of the field win more races then not. If a race was run a a very slow tempo then horses who led and settled just off the speed are very advantageous.

Margins.

Looking at the beaten margins is very important as it shows how much dominance a horse has showed when winning in that grade.

It is important to note this in the lower grade races espically. Races with big margins between runners for example 2nd beaten 2lengths and 3rd beaten a further 3lengths is a great sign that the winner can win again if placed right and that the 2nd horse was still 3lengths better than the rest of that field.


As professional video watches – margins are a big tick when assessing form. I have generally found that a race with horse who have what we called a bunched finish tend to be a poor form race moving forward.

Which means these races are ones that we may not see many winners come from in their next start.

The Start Of The Race.

Most people think the last part of the race is the most important but it’s the complete opposite. A race can be won or lost in the first 200m. 

It is very important to watch every horses first 200m of a race as it can be vital to understanding the eventual race pace, which jockeys made the right decisions and/ or which horses can improve if they had drawn better.

A couple of things to watch:

1. Did the horse jump well?
2. Did the jockey drive it to find a position or were they just coming out neutral?
3. Did the horse miss the kick for a specific reason?
4. Was the horse disadvantaged by other runners beginning.
5. We’re all jockeys driving their mounts early to create a good early tempo or we’re they all happy for something to take up the lead.


One thing I love to see when looking for a horse who can improve at its next start is a horse beginning well but the jockey snagging it back from a wide alley. Now this can cause the horse to not be in a rythm for as much as the first half of the race. Momentum is key in racing, the jockeys who give their mounts all momentum have better chances and horses who can build into their races with momentum usually finish off well.


If this horse was to draw an inside gate at its next start you can map it a lot closer in the run and could make the difference to a horses finishing position.

The 800m and 400m

Checking the running position at each section of the race can give you a good guide as to how things have panned out for each horse during the race as well as the tempo of the race.

Let’s look at an example, horse (a)the winner) 800m run position was 1 and at the 400m it was 1 and the finish it was 1


Horse (b) 800m was 2 and the 400m was 2 and finish was 2
Now horse c and s were 4 and 3 in run and 3,4 at the 400m

Shows me that pace of the race suited on pace runners.


Now let’s take horse b and say it’s in run position was 10 of 10 and 8 of 10 at the 400 but it’s finish position was 2 then it gives you the guide that horse has made substantial amount of ground against a potential sectional bias.

Track Bias.

Finding what the track bias is on the day is crictal to understanding which horses were suited or not suited by the way the track was playing. A key thing to remember is a track bias can change during the day due to a number of different things such as rain or wind direction.


The goal of a track curator to produce a track that is fair, going to give every horse a chance of winning.


Here are the things that make a difference to the way a track can play.
◦ Rail position
◦ Track condition
◦ Weather on the day
◦ How much irrigation or rain track has had.

Horses who defy a bias on the day are a great formula to follow as these horses have shown ability against the normal pattern of the day. You still have to take into account how the race shape panned out though. Let’s take a look at an example; if the track bias suited to leaders on the day and a horse has come from back in the field to storm home late against the bias you might get real horned up by the run but before we jump to conclusions we need to check the sectionals of the race.

If the race went out at a blistering pace early then the horse was assisted by that race pace to help it defy the bias.


The most important thing to always remember is everything is relative.

Common Mistakes.

1. Horses who had no luck in bunched finish races
2. Horses who miss the kick and make up ground in a fast run race
3. Flashing runs from backmakers – happens to often
4. Not checking your times

Blackbook Mistake.

One of the most common mistakes people make are just Black-booking horses who have no luck in the run.

It’s very important to break everything down to understand how disadvantaged that horse was and also how strong of race is it going to be moving forward. Let’s take an example; if the horse was held up for running and only got clear over the final stages of the race and then flash late and just miss, take a look at these factors to sum up the run overall.


1. How was the winners form
2. Where was the winner in the run
3. What was the pace of the race was it suited by it
4. Take a look at the horses around it, was it going better than them to give you a guide on how far it would of won by
5. What was the beaten margins between the first 5 over the line.