Connections: trainer and jockey stats on every runner

What does the Connections tab show for the trainer and jockey?

Public racing records and results from Britain and Ireland.

Connections answers two questions at once: are the people behind this horse in form, and do they do well together? A trainer sending out winners in the last fortnight and a jockey riding well are both positive signs, and a partnership that wins more often than the market expects is worth knowing about.

Beyond the racecard, every trainer and jockey has a profile of their own in RaceWatch, which is the place to look when a booking or a yard needs more context than one tab can give. The free leaderboards page shows who leads the tables this season.

Which time windows are most useful for trainer and jockey form?

Short windows, such as the last 14 or 30 days, show current form. Longer windows show the underlying level, and course figures show whether a yard targets a track.

Each window has a job. Fourteen days picks up a yard coming into or going out of form quickly, which matters because stables often run in streaks, for example when a virus clears. Thirty days smooths out a lucky week. Twelve months gives the underlying strike rate against which the short windows can be judged.

Course figures work differently. A trainer with a strong record over hundreds of runs at a course has usually learned what suits there and places horses accordingly. Small yards often have a handful of favourite tracks within easy reach, and their course figures can reveal targeting that a season strike rate hides.

Racing records

Above 1.0 means more winners than the market expected.

Every price carries an implied chance: a 4/1 shot is priced to win one race in five. Add up those chances for every runner a trainer sends out and you get the expected number of winners.

The second one is the yard the market underrates.

Is recent form or the course record more useful for a trainer?

Both matter for different reasons. Recent form shows the current health of the yard, while a course record over many runs shows whether a trainer targets that track.

When they agree, the picture is clear. When they disagree, think about which is more likely to matter today. A yard with a strong course record but no winners in a month may have horses under the weather. A yard in flying form with a poor course record may simply send few runners there.

Always read the runs. A course record of three wins from five runners is striking but thin; a record built over hundreds of runs is a real pattern. The same caution applies to jockeys, whose short term figures swing with the quality of their rides as much as with their own form.

How should connections figures be used on a racecard?

Use connections figures to confirm or question what the form says. A yard in form with a strong course record adds support; a cold yard or an unusual booking is a reason to look harder.

Connections rarely decide a race on their own, but they explain a lot. A horse with modest form for a trainer whose runners are winning at a high rate and above their prices is more interesting than the same form from a yard without a winner in a month.

Watch for changes as well as levels. A horse moving to a trainer with a strong record in its type of race, a first ride for a top jockey, or a switch to a rider who has won on the horse before are all small facts that the connections figures make easy to spot.

How do trainer and jockey partnerships compare with their separate records?

Public racing records and results from Britain and Ireland.

A trainer who books a particular jockey for the horses they fancy most will show a stronger partnership record than either overall record. That is useful: when that jockey appears on a runner from that yard, it carries more meaning than a routine booking.

Owner figures add another layer. Large owners spread horses across several yards, and an owner's recent strike rate and trainer partnerships show where the owner's better horses are currently placed.

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