Why Sex Matters in Horse Racing

Another of the many factors to be considered in making selections should be the sex of the horse.

Now obviously it is not a consideration with sex restricted races BUT should be one of the considerations for Handicap and Set Weight races being contested by both sexes. 

Here are the figures since Jan 1st 2012 11th Oct 2015.

 

So the unmistakable conclusion to be drawn is that in mixed class racing consideration needs to be given to the conditions of the race and you want to only be backing female horses against male horses when they are very strong selections.

I think the most interesting number is the last one because I suspect that there is an assumption that the SWP (Set Weights with Penalties) scales even out the difference. What the data clearly shows is that backing Mares against Male horses in SW and SWP races should be done with caution.

The way that I use the information for the most part is slightly differently than presented in the table. My experience is that the most consistent horses are 4 year old Geldings following by 5 to 7 year old Geldings.  Some of the research that I use specifically looks through those runners looking for profitable betting scenarios.

So hopefully you can use this information to improve your betting.