The going is the official description of how much give there is in the ground. It is the single biggest condition that changes between one run and the next, and more horses are beaten by the wrong ground than by the wrong jockey. The description is set by the clerk of the course at each track, updated as the weather moves, and it is the first thing to check before you look at a line of form.
The turf scale
From softest to firmest, the official British turf descriptions are:
| Going | What it means on the ground |
|---|---|
| Heavy | Waterlogged, deep, horses labour. Stamina and a round action matter most. |
| Soft | Plenty of give. Times are slow and front-runners tire. |
| Good to Soft | Easy ground with some cut. Many horses handle it. |
| Good | The baseline. Most horses act on it. |
| Good to Firm | Quick ground. Suits speed horses and those with a light, flicking action. |
| Firm | Very quick. Rare in Britain now because tracks water. |
| Hard | Almost never used. |
Clerks often give compound descriptions such as “Good to Soft, Soft in places” or “Good, Good to Firm in places”, which means the ground is not uniform round the track. Over jumps, the hurdle and chase courses can be described separately.
The description is a judgement, not a measurement. Two clerks can walk the same ground and call it differently, and the riders after the first race are the best check: if the jockeys say it is riding softer than described, believe them.
The all-weather scale
Artificial surfaces use a different scale:
- Fast
- Standard to Fast
- Standard
- Standard to Slow
- Slow
Standard is the normal state and most all-weather racing takes place on it. The surfaces at different tracks ride differently from each other regardless of the description, which is why course form on the all-weather carries extra weight. Rain and cold can make a surface ride slower; harrowing and maintenance can quicken it.
The GoingStick
The GoingStick is a device made by TurfTrax that measures penetration resistance and shear strength of the turf, mimicking the loading of a galloping hoof. It gives a reading on a 15-point index, taken at several points round the course and averaged. As a rough guide from the manufacturer, readings between 3.0 and 6.9 indicate softer ground, 7.0 to 8.9 is good, and 9.0 upwards is firmer. The highest readings raced on in Britain are around 12.0.
Two cautions. The GoingStick reading is published alongside the going, but the official description is still the clerk’s. And the Flat and jumps calibrations are different, so do not compare a 7.5 at a jumps meeting with a 7.5 on the Flat. The number is most useful as a day-to-day comparison at the same track: if last week was 8.1 and today is 6.4, the ground has changed more than the words might suggest.
How going changes a race
Softer ground slows everything down and tilts the race towards stamina. A horse that gets 1m on good ground may not get it on soft, because the effort is closer to running 1m2f. Front-runners find it harder to sustain a lead and hold-up horses get more time to close. Over jumps, soft ground makes the fences and hurdles harder work too, which favours fluent jumpers.
Faster ground rewards speed and a clean action. Horses that have won on quick ground tend to repeat the trick, and horses with a high, round knee action, which is often described as a “soft-ground action”, lose their advantage. Draw bias on straight tracks can also move with the going, as the field heads for the fresher strip.
The practical rule is to look at where a horse has run its best races and compare that ground with today’s. A horse with 3 wins all on good or faster and 4 defeats on soft is telling you something, even if the trainer says it will be fine.
“Acts on soft” and other claims
Comment lines such as “acts on soft”, “handles any ground” and “needs it quick” are shorthand for the record. “Acts on” means the horse has run well on that ground at least once. It does not mean the horse is better on it. A horse that has won on soft and on good to firm genuinely handles any ground; a horse that has won once on soft and been beaten 5 times on it has “acted on soft” once.
Unraced on the ground is different again. Pedigree gives a hint, a sire known for soft-ground winners is a reasonable pointer, but it is still a guess until the horse has done it.
Going changes and non-runners
When the going changes materially after declarations, the BHA allows trainers to withdraw horses on the grounds of the change. This is a legitimate reason, and the BHA monitors trainers who use it repeatedly for the same horse on the same ground. Expect non-runners when overnight rain turns Good into Soft, or when a dry spell with watering turns Good to Soft into Good to Firm.
For your bet, a withdrawal means a stake refund on a single and the leg voided in a multiple, with Rule 4 deductions on the remaining runners if your bet was struck at a fixed price. The non-runners guide covers the settlement detail.
Example. You back a horse at 09:00 on a card declared as Good. At 11:30 the clerk changes it to Soft after 12mm of overnight rain. Two of the 9 runners are withdrawn, one of them the 5/2 favourite. Your early-price bet now carries a Rule 4 deduction of 25p in the pound, the field has dropped from 9 runners to 7 so standard each-way terms fall from 3 places to 2, and the pace has changed because the withdrawn favourite was the only front-runner. That is 3 reasons to re-check a bet, all from one going change.
Quick rules
- Turf runs Heavy, Soft, Good to Soft, Good, Good to Firm, Firm. All-weather runs Slow to Fast with Standard as the norm.
- The GoingStick is a 15-point index; use it to compare the same track over time, not as a replacement for the description.
- Softer ground favours stamina and hold-up horses; faster ground favours speed and a clean action.
- “Acts on” means has run well on, not prefers.
- A material going change brings non-runners, Rule 4 deductions and sometimes a loss of each-way places. Re-check before the off.
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