It doesn't matter if you're weighing up the form for a Blue Riband event such as jumps racing's Cheltenham Gold Cup, or a lowly amateur riders' race on the flat at Carlisle - the next time you try to make some cash by wading through the stats to pick the winner of a horse race, there's one question you must ask before handing over any of your hard earned moola to a bookie. That is: will my selection act on the 'going' it's due to encounter in this race?

The response to this query is more fundamental to deciding the outcome of the race than any other morsel of data you'll need to weigh up. It's more crucial than the distance of the race; it's more relevant to the race's outcome than the weight your selection will carry; it's even more important than the name of your fancy's trainer and the jockey who is going to ride it.

The going is the state of the ground for any given meeting as defined by the race official called the Clerk of the Course, and for many racing experts, it's the single most important factor when trying to weigh up the outcome of a race.

Going concern

For example, no less an authority than Phil Bull, the legendary gambler and founder of race-reading empire Timeform, was convinced the going held the key to the outcome of most horse races. And while Bull was making betting hay 40 or so years ago, there's every reason to believe this supposition is just as correct today.

While the importance of the prevailing under-hoof conditions may appear blindingly obvious to some, it often remains a crucial piece of the racing jigsaw that punters fail to take into account when they place a bet. It's an omission that can be costly when trying to eke out those all-important value punts that help keep us ahead of the bookies.

Definitions of the going can change from one racing jurisdiction to another, so take note when you're betting away from home!

However, at UK tracks, the Clerks along with contributors to the official Form Book categorise a racecourse's going from one extreme to another using the following descriptions: hard, firm, good to firm, good, good to soft, soft, and heavy. For years, these descriptions have been obtained by officials walking the course prior to racing and prodding a pointed walking stick into the ground to determine the state of the going.

All well and good. Thankfully, though, as the panel (click the HOW TO button) shows, officials at several UK courses have taken a leaf out the book of their French counterparts and now make use of technology to produce consistent going descriptions.

The going is very important in determining the outcome of horse races because, quite simply, horses often show a preference for running (or 'acting') on one type of ground over another.

Debating the importance of the going when picking winners, turf romantics will usually trot out the old maxim, 'a good horse will act on any ground'. However, I'm inclined to amend this mantra slightly, albeit crucially. I think a more accurate dictum is, 'a good horse will act on any ground - once.' It's surprising how a tough race on going that isn't to a particular thoroughbred's liking can put it off from giving its all in future contests for months afterwards. When you think about it, it's hardly surprising that horses with varying physical traits (not to mention genetic variations) are likely to behave differently in the way they handle racing surfaces.

Check out those plates!

So how can you turn such differences to your advantage?

Well, the first thing is to do a bit of paddock watching. For horses running on soft going, stick with horses with big, 'soup-plate' feet rather than those with smaller, 'donkey' feet. That's because the theory says that the bigger its feet, the more a horse can spread its weight across a soft racing surface, so enabling it to skim along rather than get stuck in the mud as it tries to run.

Once horses have left the paddock, it's time to get a good position in the grandstand to see a horse canter to the starting line. Although a horse is only up to about half racing speed at this stage, the shrewd observer can still take away another couple of priceless nuggets before having a bet.

The thing to watch out for now is known as the horse's 'action'. A horse with a 'round' action is one who brings its knees up high in each stride. Once again, a horse who runs like this is likely to go well on soft or heavy going. However, a horse with a snappier stride, often referred to as a 'daisycutting' stride, is one who barely lifts its feet off the racing surface. Such a horse is far likelier to find quicker - say, good to firm - going to its liking than softer conditions. It's amazing how often these observations can be responsible for preventing a stupid, losing bet or uncovering a value winning punt.

Be a soil sport

When betting on flat races for two-year-old horses, for example, there's often very little form to go on. So if a race is being run on very fast or very slow going, it pays to have a look at how a horse goes to post and then tally it with the information coming out of the betting ring. Is a hot favourite really worth its position at the head of the market when all the evidence is that it will struggle to cope with the prevailing conditions?

The answer is never set in stone, but it's amazing the number of times a value bet can be unearthed just based on watching the rivals gallop to the start of such a race.

For punters who want to factor in going considerations for horses with more than a few runs under their belt, the best place to look is in the in-depth form pages of the Racing Post. The paper usefully lists all a horse's winning performances, including the types of going on which it ran when it was victorious.

Again, it's up to you to then turn that type of info into a successful punt. Is a horse who has done all its winning on soft ground really likely to scoot home in a contest where the surface is baked hard? There are no guarantees. But if that kind of info prevents a punter from having a silly bet and losing his dough when he really had no chance of winning, it's at least a mean weapon to have in your punting armoury.