One of the more specialist sites for the web-based horse racing fraternity is 5furlongs.co.uk. Dedicated to the all-weather code of racing, they provide speed ratings and associated services to a growing number of
all-weather followers.
The advent of the polytrack at Lingfield has meant the profile of all-weather racing has risen immensely in the last few years, and with Kempton likely to go the same way, the UK will be well served during the Winter months. All-weather meetings will be on every day from January through to March.
As well as their core speed ratings, which are published every night before racing, the team at 5furlongs.co.uk also provide form, race analysis, race comments, race reviews and draw bias information. Each of the all-weather tracks have their own sets of idiosyncrasies and characteristics and at 5furlongs they not only provide an in-depth view of each distance draw bias, on a daily basis, the environmental changes are factored into their draw bias calculations and provided on their daily ratings cards.
With turf form being largely irrelevant for all-weather purposes apart from being an indicator of potential fitness, a useful feature of the service is the race database. This is an online database, which holds every race on the all-weather for the last two years and includes run comments, tactic indicators and also their own goings. This last addition is based on an apparently complex algorithm, which grades the going – so that there is not just the ubiquitous ‘standard’ to evaluate.
The primary power of the site comes in the shape of their daily ratings cards with race analysis. This is where the value of the team specialising in a specific code really shows. The rule here is that they point to the value in the race, rather than bland tipping, but from experience they don’t tend to pull their punches. One thing to bear in mind is that their core users are trainers and bookmakers – who seem to be using the service to place horses and determine where the ‘form money’ will be coming from. There is also a contingent of betting exchange punters who are using the service to lay horses based only on their draw bias information – specifically at Wolverhampton.
All in all, 5furlongs.co.uk is a very useful addition to your all-weather betting armoury and the depth of resources available is staggering considering it is run by a small team of all-weather fanatics – putting the service offered by some of the other form houses to shame. Subscriptions are available to suit most pockets and there is a decent guest area to evaluate their services.