Best Horse Racing Software

Horse racing software does one of a few jobs: it organises form and ratings so you can read a race faster, it tests betting rules against past results, it compares prices to find value, or it helps you place and manage bets on an exchange. The best horse racing software for you depends on which of those jobs you want done.

This guide covers software for UK and Irish racing, grouped by what it does, with what each tool says it offers. For North American racing, such as handicapping software built on US past performances, see our US guide to horse racing handicapping software.

Form databases, ratings and system builders

These tools hold years of results and ratings and let you filter them, so you can build your own ratings or test a system before you risk money on it.

• Proform Racing: a racing analysis platform for UK and Irish Flat and Jumps racing, with race guides, speed and sectional data, a betfinder and a system builder for back-testing, as desktop software plus an online version. Proform describes itself as an analysis platform, not a tipping service.
• Inform Racing: speed ratings, pace maps and a system builder for UK and Irish racing, online since 2003 according to the site, with a free starting tier and paid membership.
• FormGenie: ratings-based selections for every UK and Irish race, with options for top-rated horses, dutching and lays, and an optional betting bot. FormGenie has published since 2006, according to its site.

If you’re building a system with any of these, our guide to horse racing systems explains how to test it properly, and our guide to free horse racing systems has five starting points.

Value finders

Value software compares a horse’s price with an estimate of its real chance of winning and flags the horses priced bigger than they should be. A horse is value when its implied probability, which our odds calculator works out from any price, is lower than its true chance. ValueTips is the value software we link to.

Odds comparison

Odds comparison sites such as Oddschecker show every major bookmaker’s price on a race side by side, along with the each way terms each firm is paying. They are free and are the quickest way to make sure you take the best price available. Our guide to horse racing betting sites explains how comparison sites fit alongside bookmakers and exchanges.

Betting exchange tools

If you bet on an exchange, trading software connects to your account and lets you place, change and cancel bets faster than the exchange’s own website, often with automated rules. Bet Angel is one long-established example, with versions for Betfair and Betdaq. Trading in-running is fast and unforgiving, so practise with small stakes or a free trial before you rely on any of these tools.

Our dutching calculator handles the most common exchange calculation, splitting a stake across several horses so the profit is the same whichever wins.

Matched betting software

Matched betting uses bookmaker offers and exchange lay bets to lock in a result whatever happens in the race. Matched betting software finds the offers and the matching lay bets and works out the stakes. Our free matched betting calculator does the stake maths for a single offer, and Profit Maximiser is the matched betting membership we link to.

How to choose

• You want to understand races and build your own ratings: a form database and system builder.
• You want selections without doing the analysis: value software or a proofed tipster. Our guide to the best horse racing tipsters explains how to judge one.
• You bet on exchanges: trading software, and the dutching and matched betting calculators.

Most of these tools offer a free trial or a free tier. Use it, and test the tool against your own record before you pay for a long subscription.

Betting always carries a risk of loss and no tipster, system or staking plan can guarantee a profit. Only stake what you can afford to lose, and set a budget before you start. Gambling responsibly.