When reading the Daily Racing Form that is available at most tracks, information on the jockeys can help even beginning bettors to pick likely winners. A good jockey knows a horse and how to get its best performance without running the horse so hard that it suffers an injury or tires early. That intimate knowledge of the horse and the ability to get the most of the horses they ride make choosing winning jockeys nearly as important as picking winning horses. Horses don’t just run freely with the fastest sprinter taking the top spot. A horse race is an endurance event, and a good jockey knows how to position his horse to put it in the best spot for a strong finish. A good jockey also knows how to avoid getting boxed in by slower horses, and jockeys and will do what it takes within reason to give the horse the best possible chance of winning.
