Key to using the race card

The heading at the top of each card shows the time of the race, the course, the distance and the number of runners, followed by the race title, the range of handicap if a handicap race, the class of the race in brackets and the age range for the race.

To the left of the horse name is the race card number and to the right, the draw number showing the stall each horse will come out of which is for flat racing only.

The Master column shows the highest rating achieved in the last twelve months.

The Lto column shows the rating achieved in the last race that the horse ran in, with the next two columns showing the rating for two previous races and the small number to the right of the rating is the number of days from today that each race was run.

The Avg column is the average number of the horses last three ratings.

The M+A column is the addition of the Master rating and the Avg rating showing up horses with good previous and current form.

The Cse column is the highest rating achieved at the course in the last twelve months.

The Dis column is the highest rating achieved at the race distance in the last twelve months.

The VDW Ratings combine a class or ability rating and a form rating to help highlight winners in a race.

The Ability rating is found by adding up all winning prize money won by each horse and dividing this total by the number of wins to give an average winning prize money rating and by dividing all winning prize money by 100 and then rounding up or down, a useable number can be calculated.

For example, if a horse has won four races worth prize money of £4,500, £7,230, £6,400 and £9,000, you add these all up and divide by 100 to get 271.3 then divide this by four and round up to get an ability rating of 68. This would be a far better Ability rating than a horse running in the same race that had won two races worth prize money of £2,490 and £3,400 giving a rating of 29

The form rating is simply the addition of a horses last three finishing positions, using 10 for any position of 10 or worse. So a horse that finished 6th, 14th and 2nd in its last three races would have a form rating of 18.

By finding a horse that is top or top three rated on both, Che Van Der Wheil (VDW), the Dutchman who came up with this rating system, concluded that you would have a horse that was hard to beat. He also stated that a horse would increase it's chance if it was also one of the first five in the betting forecast and that the system will work more consistently with better class races.

The draw data table shows the winning draw numbers for all races that have been run at the course and distance with the same number of runnrs as the race in question, plus and minus three. A race that has 14 runners will show the draw statistics for all races that had between 11 and 17 runners. The draw number is followed by the actual number of wins from that draw (stall), followed by the percentage that gives from all races taken into account.