--- title: "Official ratings and mark moves — RatingTheRaces Support" description: "Every handicapper runs off an official mark. See each horse's current mark by code, how the handicapper has just moved it, and its mark history across its runs." url: https://ratingtheraces.com/understanding-the-ratings/mark-moves/ date_modified: "2026-09-14" --- [Help Centre](https://ratingtheraces.com/support/) / [Understanding the Ratings](https://ratingtheraces.com/understanding-the-ratings/) /Official ratings and mark moves # Official ratings and mark moves Concept premium / professional new A horse's official rating is the mark it runs off in handicaps. We show its current mark by code, how the handicapper has just moved it, and how that mark has changed over its career. Every horse in a handicap runs off an **Official Rating (OR)**, its mark. The handicapper adjusts that mark after its races, up for a good run, down for a string of poor ones, and that movement is one of the clearest signals in the form book. We surface it in three places. [![A horse's history page: the title shows the current mark and its latest move, and the OR column shows the mark it ran off in every past race](https://ratingtheraces.com/help/mark-moves/0-history-marks.webp)](#zoom-help-mark-moves-0-history-marks) [![A horse's history page: the title shows the current mark and its latest move, and the OR column shows the mark it ran off in every past race](https://ratingtheraces.com/help/mark-moves/0-history-marks.webp)](#close) ## The mark, by code Marks are always kept **code for code**, because Flat, All-Weather, hurdles and chases are separate handicap ladders. So a horse can hold a different mark in each, shown as `FLT`, `AWT`, `HDL` or `CHS`. ## The latest move On a horse's **history page** the title shows the current mark **and the handicapper's most recent move**, for example *(FLT: +1 to 127)*, meaning it has just been raised one pound to 127. You'll see: - **A positive move** (+5), the handicapper has **raised** it after a win or a good run. - **A negative move** (-3), it has been **dropped**. - **+0**, the handicapper looked at its latest run and **left the mark alone**, deliberately shown so you know it was assessed, not simply unchanged by default. ## The mark history The **OR column** on the history page shows the mark the horse actually **ran off in each past race**. Read down the column and you can see the whole trajectory, a mark climbing race by race as a horse improves and wins, or easing back down when it's out of form. To see how the handicapper has since treated the **horses it ran against** in each race, check the [ORC +/-](https://ratingtheraces.com/understanding-the-ratings/orc-plus-minus/) column on the same page. The [Horse Database](https://ratingtheraces.com/tools-features/horse-database/) shows the same thing across many horses at once: its **OR** column carries the current mark and any recent move in brackets, next to **Rated LTO**, the mark the horse carried last time out. And on the racecards themselves you'll find the **OR** and **LWOR** columns, defined in the [ratings columns reference](https://ratingtheraces.com/understanding-the-ratings/ratings-columns-reference/) and put to work in the [Last Winning Mark card](https://ratingtheraces.com/tools-features/last-winning-mark/). Marks are kept up to date with the official handicap ratings. The OR column and the Horse Database are Professional features; the current mark and its move appear on every horse's history page. Was this article helpful? ### Related articles [ ### What do the R figures (R1 to R10) mean? R figures are RatingTheRaces calculated performance figures for each run, R1 is the most recent outing, working back through R2 to R10 for older form. ](https://ratingtheraces.com/understanding-the-ratings/r-figures/)[ ### What do AV3, AV10 and their ranks mean? AV3 is the average of a horse's last 3 R scores and AV10 the last 10, smoothing recent form; the matching ranks compare every runner across the race. ](https://ratingtheraces.com/understanding-the-ratings/av3-av10/)[ ### What is the R1 Rank? R1 Rank ranks every horse in a race by its most recent R1 performance figure, so you can instantly spot the runner arriving in the sharpest current form. ](https://ratingtheraces.com/understanding-the-ratings/r1-rank/)