Racecards explained: What do C, CD, D and BF mean?

With the Cheltenham Festival hurtling towards us, what better time to brush up on your racing knowledge?

We’ve made our racecards over at PP.com easier to read than every before by we’re adding a new feature that we think you might want to know about.

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To be honest, calling it a feature might be pushing it. Essentially it’s a series of letters, but these little letters can help you pack a hell of a punch when punting.

From now on you’ll see ‘C’, ‘D’, ‘CD’ and ‘BF’ next to horses in the full racecard and within the ‘next races’ section next to their form.

No, Paddy’s not trying to invent new text slang, these are letters you can use to instantly garner some key info on the horses you’re looking at.

Here what they mean:

C – They have won previously at the course where the selected race is being run
D – They have previously won over the same distance that this race is being run
CD – Shows that a horse has won over this course and distance before
BF – Stands for beaten favourite and indicates a horse was favourite for its last race but did not win

Handy, right? Now you can quickly see if you selection is a course specialist or loves the distance.

You can also work out if a well-fancied horse might be on the decline, especially if they were a beaten favourite last time out.

It all boils down to helping you, the punter, get as clued up as possible before placing your plays.

Each of our racecards comes with a short summary of their chances in this race and a start rating out of five as well as the usual stuff you’d expect like the jockey and trainers’ names as well as their silks and number.