Horse racing is one of the oldest sports on the planet. Over the centuries it has evolved from a primitive contest of speed or stamina between two horses into a sophisticated sport involving huge fields of runners, elaborate electronic monitoring equipment and immense sums of money. But the basic tenet of the game has remained the same: The horse that finishes first is the winner.

In order to understand the sport, it helps to know how a horse is classified. A horse is ranked according to its performance in a variety of races, both on the track and in the field. This is called its pedigree. In a horse race, the higher the pedigree, the better the chance that a horse will win.

During a horse race, a jockey (rider) mounts a horse and leads it around a course that has been marked out on the ground. There may also be obstacles in the way such as fences or hoop jumps, and the rider must jump them in order to complete the race. Prizes are generally awarded to the first, second and third place finishers.

To make a profit from betting on horse races, punters need to have a good understanding of the horses that are running in each race. The best way to do this is to subscribe to a horse racing results website. This will give you fast and accurate results for every race run at UK and Irish racecourses, as well as selected French, US, Hong Kong Dubai and other overseas fixtures. The results will include full finishing order, expert analyst comments and archive video replays of each race.

There are many ways to predict which horse will win a race, but one of the most important is to look at the color of the horse’s coat in the walking ring before the race. A bright, shiny coat is indicative of a healthy horse that is ready to run. On the other hand, a dull coat may suggest a horse that is under the weather or is stressed.

Another method of predicting horse racing winners is to use a system known as Beyer Speed Figures, which were developed by Andrew Beyer and published in the Daily Racing Form in 1975. These figures are calculated by comparing a horse’s career average speed to the fastest average for that same age group at the same distance on a given day. A race with a high Beyer Speed Figure is one that is likely to produce a win.

To help their horses perform at their peak, horse trainers will often feed them cocktails of legal and illegal drugs that can mask the effects of injuries and enhance their speed. When these horses run, they can sometimes bleed from their lungs, which is a risk known as exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage. To prevent this, horses are given medications that dilate the lungs and allow them to absorb more oxygen. This improves their ability to race, and it also decreases the amount of blood they lose during the race.