Headgear on the ratings

Headgear now appears right next to each horse's name on the ratings, a short code for what the horse is wearing, with a superscript that tells you when it's a new change.

Trainers fit headgear to help a horse settle, focus or see the race out, and a change of headgear is one of the oldest angles in the game. That information now sits right next to the horse's name on the ratings.

Where to find it

Look at the Horse Name column on any racecard (and on a horse's history page). Where a horse is declared in headgear you'll see a short code straight after its name, such as h or t. It's on by default; if you'd rather hide it, there's a Show headgear switch in the ⚙ Tools menu at the top of the grid.

The codes

The card shows the short code, as racecards always have, to keep the grid readable. Here's what each one means:

A horse wearing more than one piece shows them together. Hover over the code for the full name written out.

The small ¹ and ²

The superscript after the code tells you how new the headgear is:

• ¹ — first time. The horse is wearing that headgear for the first time. We pick this out in teal, because a first-time change is the one most worth spotting.
• ² — second time. Its second run in that gear.
• No number. Once a horse has run in the same headgear more than twice it's settled in it, so the number drops off and only the code remains.

We only add a number when we're sure of it. If a horse's headgear changes without a confirmed first-time flag, it may have worn that gear in a race we don't have on record, so we leave the number off rather than guess.

Hover for the records

There's more behind each code. Hover over it and, for first-time and second-time gear, you'll see how the trainer, jockey and sire have done with that headgear at that same stage, for example a sire whose runners tend to improve the first time they wear a hood. It's a pattern you won't find on other cards.