Going Reports Explained: What the Going Means and How It Is Measured

The going is the condition of the ground on the day of a race. It is the one part of a racecard that changes with the weather, and it is often the part that explains a surprising result. A horse that looked unbeatable on good ground can be a different animal in heavy mud, and a horse that plods on fast ground can come alive when it softens.

Going reports are how racecourses tell everyone what the ground is like. This page covers the official descriptions, how the going is measured, how it changes, and what it means when you are deciding on a bet.

What the going means

Think of the going as how much give there is in the ground. Firm ground is hard and fast, and a horse’s hooves barely sink in. Soft ground is wet and yielding, and every stride takes more effort. Between them sit several steps.

It matters because horses differ. Some have a light, quick action suited to fast ground. Others have a bigger, more rounded action and handle soft ground better. Some simply stay better when the ground is testing, others tire. Trainers, jockeys and form readers all talk about a horse’s preferred going, and a horse’s record on different goings is one of the most useful things in its form.

For a bettor, the going is information the market reacts to quickly. When it changes, prices change with it.

The official going descriptions

For turf, British racing uses seven descriptions. From firmest to softest they are hard, firm, good to firm, good, good to soft, soft and heavy. Hard is rarely used, because ground that firm is a risk to horses.

For all-weather tracks, which have synthetic surfaces, the scale is different: fast, standard to fast, standard, standard to slow, and slow. A synthetic surface doesn’t soak up rain the way turf does, so the descriptions refer to how fast the surface is riding rather than how wet it is.

Descriptions can be split. You will often see something like “good to soft, soft in places”, which tells you the ground isn’t the same all the way round. Some venues also give separate descriptions for different parts of the track, because not all of it drains or dries at the same rate.

Turf and all-weather racing compared

The two surfaces behave differently, and that changes how much the going matters.

On turf, the going is a constant variable. The same course can race on firm ground in a dry summer and heavy ground in a wet winter, and the difference is large enough to turn a race upside down. Turf form has to be read with the going attached, because a result on one kind of ground may not carry over to another.

On all-weather tracks, the surface is synthetic and built to drain, so it stays far more consistent through the year. The descriptions move within a narrow band, and the ground is a smaller factor in most races. That is much of the reason all-weather racing exists: it allows racing to go ahead in winter when turf courses might be frozen or waterlogged.

A horse’s form on one surface doesn’t always transfer to the other. Some horses that are ordinary on turf are effective on all-weather tracks, and the reverse happens too. The full form shows the surface for each run, and a switch between surfaces is worth noting as carefully as a change of going.

How going reports are made

The official going is set by the clerk of the course, the official responsible for the track. It is based on walking the course, the weather, and a measurement from the GoingStick.

The GoingStick is a device that is pushed into the turf to measure how firm the ground is and how much it resists, and it gives a numerical reading. It was developed by Cranfield University and TurfTrax. Since January 2009 the Rules of Racing have required racecourses to make a GoingStick reading available for every fixture, both at the declaration stage a few days before racing and again on the day. The readings are published alongside the clerk’s official description.

One point about the numbers is important. A GoingStick reading is specific to each racecourse, and the British Horseracing Authority’s own guidance is that it is most valuable when compared with past readings at the same course. A given number at one track doesn’t mean the same ground as that number at another, so the reading isn’t a universal scale, and it shouldn’t be used as one.

Going reports usually include more than the description. Many add the rainfall over recent days, the forecast, whether the course has been watered, and an updated reading on the morning of racing. Read together, they tell you not only what the ground is but which way it is heading.

Where to find going reports

The official going appears on every racecard and in every set of results, and racecourses publish their own going reports ahead of their meetings. The course’s report is usually the fullest version: the description, the GoingStick reading, recent rainfall, the forecast and any watering, often with a comment from the clerk of the course.

For a bet on the day, the most useful going report is the latest one. Descriptions published at the declaration stage, a few days before racing, are a starting point. The report on the morning of the meeting, and any change announced during it, is what the race is actually run on.

How the going changes on the day

The going can change quickly. A band of rain on the morning of a meeting can turn good ground to good to soft by the first race and soft by the last. A dry, windy day can do the opposite. Clerks amend the official going when conditions change, and the description in force at the time of each race is the one that counts.

That creates two things to watch. The first is the gap between the going when you placed a bet and the going at the off. If you backed a horse days earlier on the strength of good ground and it rains, your horse may now be running on ground it doesn’t like. The second is later races on a wet day, which are run on ground cut up by the earlier races as well as the rain.

Going reports are updated through the day for exactly this reason, and they are worth checking again shortly before a race rather than relying on the morning’s description.

Reading a horse’s form on different goings

Every horse’s full form records the going for each run. That makes it possible to check its record on the ground it will meet today. A horse whose wins all came on soft ground, and whose runs on good to firm were all well beaten, is telling you something clear.

A few habits help. Look at the going for each run in the full form, not just the positions. Treat one bad run on unfamiliar ground with some caution, because it might have been something else. And give more weight to a pattern over several runs than to a single result.

Pedigree comes into it too, particularly with young horses who haven’t raced on many different goings. Racing commentary often talks about a horse being bred for soft ground or fast ground. That is a reasonable clue but a weaker one than the horse’s own record, and it is the kind of judgement the betting market makes as well. The form guide covers how to read the full record.

What the going means for a bet

The going affects the betting in three main ways.

It changes which horses are suited. A race run on soft ground can favour different horses from the same race on good ground. When the going changes, the prices move to reflect who is now suited, and the favourite can change.

It causes non-runners. Trainers often withdraw horses when the ground turns against them, and those withdrawals affect the rest of the field. A late withdrawal can bring a Rule 4 deduction on bets struck at a fixed price, and in a race near the each way threshold, fewer runners can mean fewer places. The Rule 4 page and the each way guide cover both.

It affects how predictable a race is. Very soft or heavy ground makes a race more of a test of stamina, which can bring different horses to the fore from the ones that would win on quicker ground. That can shape the bet as well as the selection: an open race on testing ground may suit each way on a bigger price better than a single on a short favourite.

The same field-size rule applies to pool bets: a Placepot leg that drops from eight runners to seven also drops to two places, so a wet week can quietly change what a Placepot ticket needs.

None of this makes the going a shortcut to winners. The market knows the going too, and prices adjust fast. What reading going reports properly gives you is a reason to check whether a horse is suited before you back it, and a reason to look again when the weather changes.

Going reports and ante-post bets

The going matters most for bets struck well in advance. An ante-post bet on a big race is placed before anyone knows what the ground will be, sometimes months before. If you back a horse that needs soft ground and the race is run on good to firm, it may be withdrawn or run below its best, and ante-post stakes on non-runners are normally lost unless the firm offers non-runner no bet.

That makes the likely going part of an ante-post decision. Going reports won’t exist that far out, but the time of year and the course’s usual conditions give some idea. The ante-post guide covers the risks of betting early.