RUNNING STYLE

All racehorses have a preferred running style. Knowing your horse's running style can occasionally help to determine how they will fare against other horses of varying styles.

A front runner is the type of horse that likes to break quickly and cleanly from the gate and run as fast they can throughout the majority of the race. As a result, they prefer to be at the front of the pack during the race. You can say that the horse either is highly competitive or doesn't like risking dirt hitting them in the face or the eyes from other horses. 

Front-runners can often find themselves unchallenged particularly if they are the only horse in the field with this preferred running style. Some front-runners may do exceptionally well when coming up from the inside post position aka "on the rail". By doing this, they are able to shave off the distance and get to the finish line faster and save ground. 

When placed against other front-runners, however, some horses may find themselves burnt out from trying to continuously fight for the lead. 

While the front-runner takes the lead, the stalkers (or pace-pressers) take up place right behind the leader. When the leader starts to wear down after keeping the lead for so long, this is typically when these horses make their move. These horses are the ones capable of causing upsets by catching front-runners and their jockeys off-guard.

Some of these horses also like to challenge the front-runner for the sole purpose of wearing them out. The tricky part is, however, is that these horses need a jockey that will know when to ask their horse to try and surpass the horse in the lead. 

Stalkers/pace-presser requires a jockey that knows what they're doing so that they're able to overtake the lead horse at the most opportune moment.

Just as the name suggests, mid-pack horses tend to linger in the middle of the pack among the rest of the horses. One has to be careful with these horses as it's easy to get jostled around with other horses in the pack.

By running with the pack, these horses usually find their pace set by other horses and must be ready to adjust to that accordingly. With the right jockey, they're able to avoid getting boxed in and able to challenge other horses in an attempt to overtake them for a more attractive position.

These horses are the ones you often see hanging around the back of the pack long after they've left the gates. More often than not, these horses will bide their time in last or close to last place for the majority of the race, conserving their energy and biding their time.