Picture the scene. You're at the races and the pages of your racecard resemble hieroglyphics. You stand in the paddock and watch the horses parade, before watching them go to post from the grandstand.

All around you conspiratorial whispers fly about. 'Couldn't have that one, it's running from miles out of the handicap... That won't win, it will be off the bridle at the business end of the race... Look at that one's knee action, I'm amazed connections are even running it on this ground.'

Horse racing is chock-full of facts, figures, jargon and, best of all, gossip. No wonder so many people who bet simply shovel their hard-earned cash on horses with a name they fancy, whose colours they like or, even, the number on its saddle cloth!

That's their prerogative and best of luck to them. However, InsideEdge readers should be a bit more savvy than that. Not all of you will be turf experts, but what you should appreciate is that to improve your chances of winning, you must arm yourself with a few useful snippets of information before diving in.

So which are the most important factors when having a bet on the gee gees? And, by the same token, which ones can be discarded? There are many overlapping elements to horse racing, and you could write a book on all of them. To start off this month, let's look at one of the most fundamental aspects to any race run at any time at any of the UK's 59 courses: handicapping.

Fair game

One gaffe many punters - even the most ardent racing gamblers - often make is failing to work out what kind of race they're betting on. All UK horse races fall into one of two categories - a handicap (also known as a 'nursery on the Flat' when it features two-year-olds) or a 'conditions' event.

Considering that bookies pay out different amounts for each-way bets struck in the two types of race (for example, one-quarter the odds for the first four places in a 16+ runner handicap, but only ever one-fifth the odds a place for the first three home in a conditions event whatever the size of the field), it's well worth understanding the difference.

A handicap is a race in which horses are allotted different weights so that each of them - theoretically at least - has an equal chance of winning the contest.

Handicapping is carried out on a weekly basis by official British Horseracing Board (BHB) handicappers. Six of them work on compiling ratings for the Flat, while three are set the task of crunching the numbers over the jumps.

Each BHB handicapper aims to produce a handicap (or official) rating (often referred to as a horse's 'mark') for every horse in training who's qualified to run in a handicap. For example, on the Flat, a horse normally needs to have either won or run in three races so that the handicapper has had a chance to assess the merits of that horse's efforts compared with its peers.

According to the BHB, on the Flat, the mark that's allotted will feature anywhere on a sliding scale from 0 (useless) to around 120. Three-year-old horses rated at the top end of this scale are likely to be fighting out classic contests such as the Derby or a Guineas. Once a horse has gained its mark, it's eligible to compete in handicaps framed by those ratings - for example, 0-90 or 0-115. The greater the larger number, the better the quality of the handicap.

You often hear about a horse competing in a race from out of the handicap. When this happens, a trainer will appreciate that they're biting off more than they can chew in the hope that their horse has the ability to make up for a deficiency in merit that the handicapper deems the horse to have.

Weighty matters

It's easy to get confused by handicap ratings, but the system basically boils down to the bigger the number, the better a horse's performance. Remember, if you bet on number one in a handicap, you're inevitably backing the horse with the most weight to carry because it's the classiest performer in the race.

Each point on the scale is equivalent to a pound in weight. So Horse A, who's rated 121, is thought to be a pound 'better' than Horse B, who's rated 120. If Horse A carried 9st 2lb in a handicap, Horse B would have to carry 9st 1lb for them to finish in a dead heat.

Because a horse continues to grow through the ages of three, four and even five years, adjustments to this basic scale (known as Weight for Age) are also applied to reflect a maturity factor.

It's a similar story over the jumps. However, reflecting the fact that National Hunt horses may be asked to carry weights of up to 12st in a race, the rating of a quality competitor such as Best Mate would stand somewhere in the 170s.

The handicap ratings of all horses - both on the Flat and over the jumps - are stored on a computer at Weatherbys (horse racing's main administrative body). Every time a horse with a rating runs, the relevant BHB handicapper must decide whether or not to amend the rating.

Because evaluations are made each week, canny trainers can take advantage of an improving horse whose performances are on the upgrade by running it in races in quick succession before amendments are made to its rating. This practice is often referred to as exploiting a horse's mark.

Conditioned response

Conditions races are all races other than handicaps. The conditions of a race will establish the weight carried by each runner and these in turn can be based on the age of the horse, its sex, value and even the status of previous races it has won. By the same token, conditions may make an allowance for a horse who has never before won a race.

Races such as the Derby and other top-class or Group One events are conditions races. In effect, they're straight fights to discover which horse is the best on the day, given the same parameters.

In the Derby, each colt is set the task of carrying 9st. However, the conditions of the race say that fillies (just three-year-old female horses in this case) can race in the event as well. Conditions dictate that fillies who run in the Derby are only asked to carry the weight of 8st 9lb.