Punters don’t just buy the Racing Post to find out all the latest horse racing and betting news. One of the paper’s main attractions is it’s comprehensive form guides, that could just help you to pick out a winner.

Each day, there are form guides printed for every race. To the casual observer, they can seem impenetrable, but with a little explanation, you’ll soon be able to make sense of them.

The first line consists of telling you the information about the race, such as the time it starts, the name of the race and what type of race it is (eg. handicap). There will also be information regarding the class of the race, what type of horses will be running (age and weights) and how long the race will be.

Then you come to the list of horses. Each has a number which represents the number of the horse, with another number next to this in brackets, which represents the stall that the horse has been drawn in.

Next to this information is a series of four numbers, which represents the form-figures. So 1472 would mean that the horse finished second on it’s most recent run, seventh on the run before that and so on…

Then comes the name of the horse, with a number next to it representing the amount of days since it’s last race and information that let’s you know if the horse has won at this weight and at the track before.

Next to this is the name of the trainer and jockey. The final number is the RPR, which stands for Racing Post Rating. The higher the rating, the better the horse.

So why not get yourself a copy of the Racing Post and give yourself an educated chance to pick a winner, with their form guides?