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In horse racing, the form of a horse is a record of significant events, mainly its performance in previous races.[1] The form may identify the horse's sire, dam and wider pedigree. It is used by tipsters and punters as an aid in the prediction of its performance in future races.
A typical way of showing a horse's form, as published in newspapers and other media, is shown here.
Number Colours Form Horse Name Age Weight Trainer Jockey 3 image 43-2F1 Mill Reef 3 11-12 A.Smith L.Piggott 7 image 680U54 Glue Pot 3 11-10 B.Brown F.Dettori
Abbreviations used to decode the Form column can include:
| 1-9 | The position the horse finished in a race | |
| 0 | Finished outside the top 9 | |
| P | Pulled up (reined in as horse may be too tired/injured, or horse may just stop running) | |
| F | Fell | |
| S | Slipped Up | |
| R | Refusal | |
| B | Brought down | |
| U | Unseated rider | |
| - | Separates years, i.e. left of this is from previous year, e.g. Dec 06 - Jan 07 | |
| / | Separates racing seasons, i.e. left of this is from the season before last | |
| BD | Indicates the horse was brought down by another runner | |
| BF | Stands for the beaten favourite and indicates a horse was favourite for a race but did not win | |
| CD | Indicates a horse has won over course and distance |
Form is arranged chronologically from left (oldest) to right (newest).
So, in the example above, the horse Mill Reef gained a fourth place, followed by a third, then took some time out from racing, then gained a second followed by falling in the next race, and its latest result was a win.