Field and runners

Parameters

Name	In	Type	Required	Description
race_id	path	string	yes	Opaque race identifier.

Request

curl https://api.apihorseracing.com/v1/races/rc_1P005G7/runners \
  -H "X-API-Key: $AHR_KEY"

$ch = curl_init('https://api.apihorseracing.com/v1/races/rc_1P005G7/runners');
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER     => ['X-API-Key: ' . getenv('AHR_KEY')],
]);
$data = json_decode(curl_exec($ch), true)['data'];

const res = await fetch(
  'https://api.apihorseracing.com/v1/races/rc_1P005G7/runners',
  { headers: { 'X-API-Key': process.env.AHR_KEY } }
);
const { meta, data } = await res.json();

import os, requests

r = requests.get(
    "https://api.apihorseracing.com/v1/races/rc_1P005G7/runners",
    headers={"X-API-Key": os.environ["AHR_KEY"]},
).json()

Response

200 OK application/json harvested 8 days ago

{
    "meta": {
        "request_id": "503b6b0a0e9af670",
        "data_as_of": "2026-09-12T05:10:27+00:00",
        "plan": "analyst",
        "window": "2017 → upcoming",
        "count": 16,
        "race_id": "rc_1P005G7"
    },
    "data": [
        {
            "cloth": 13,
            "draw": null,
            "horse_id": "hs_V8JGH6",
            "horse": "The Galloping Bear",
            "age": 8,
            "weight": "11-2",
            "official_rating": null,
            "form": "5/2111-2",
            "headgear": "Tongue strap",
            "owner": "Mr Adrian Paterson",
            "trainer_id": "tr_2QVAXT3",
            "trainer": "Ben Clarke",
            "jockey_id": "jk_1ABH146",
            "jockey": "Millie Wonnacott",
            "silk": null,
            "sp": "10/3",
            "sp_decimal": 4.3333,
            "price_path": {
                "opening": "6/1",
                "opening_decimal": 7,
                "touched": null,
                "sp": "10/3",
                "sp_decimal": 4.3333,
                "drift": -0.381,
                "source": "movements",
                "direction": "shortened"
            },
            "favourite": false,
            "market_position": 2,
            "position": 1,
            "beaten_distance": null,
            "casualty": null,
            "last_run_days": 119
        },
        {
            "cloth": 4,
            "draw": null,
            "horse_id": "hs_SJX1WR",
            "horse": "Sametegal",
            "age": 12,
            "weight": "11-6",
            "official_rating": 139,
            "form": "3-33641",
            "headgear": "Cheek pieces, Tongue strap",
            "owner": "Mr and Mrs J D Cotton",
            "trainer_id": "tr_14HQ75P",
            "trainer": "P F Nicholls",
            "jockey_id": "jk_VY5K52",
            "jockey": "H Cobden",
            "silk": null,
            "sp": "2/5",
            "sp_decimal": 1.4,
            "price_path": {
                "opening": "4/11",
                "opening_decimal": 1.3636,
                "touched": [
                    "1/3"
                ],
                "sp": "2/5",
                "sp_decimal": 1.4,
                "drift": 0.0267,
                "source": "movements",
                "direction": "drifted"
            },
            "favourite": true,
            "market_position": 1,
            "position": 2,
            "beaten_distance": null,
            "casualty": null,
            "last_run_days": 24
        },
        "… 14 more"
    ]
}

A real response from /v1/races/rc_1P005G7/runners, captured by calling the live API rather than written by hand.

Response fields

Each field is described once and rendered on every endpoint that returns it, so the wording cannot drift between pages.

Field	Type	What it is
cloth	integer	Cloth number.
draw	integer	Stall. Null in jumps racing, which is correct rather than missing.
horse_id	string	Opaque horse identifier.
horse	string	Horse name.
age	string	Age restriction, e.g. "4YO plus".
weight	string	Weight carried, stones and pounds.
official_rating	integer	Handicap mark. Values outside 0 to 200 are dropped as source errors.
form	string	Recent finishing positions, most recent last.
headgear	string	Blinkers, cheekpieces, tongue tie and so on.
owner	string	Registered owner as published.
trainer_id	string	Opaque trainer identifier.
trainer	string	Trainer name.
jockey_id	string	Opaque jockey identifier.
jockey	string	Rider name.
silk	string	Colours described in words. We do not serve the source's silk images.
sp	string	Starting price, fractional, as returned.
sp_decimal	number	Starting price as a decimal, computed once at load so you are not parsing fractions per row.
price_path	object	What the price did before the off. See its own fields below.
opening	string	The price the runner opened at, where published.
touched	array	Prices touched between opening and starting price.
drift	number	Starting price against opening, as a ratio. Positive drifted, negative shortened.
source	string	full_history where a complete price series exists, movements where only an opening price does, starting_price_only where neither.
direction	string	drifted, shortened or unchanged.
favourite	boolean	Shortest price in the race. Joint favourites are all flagged.
market_position	integer	Rank by price, one being shortest. Ties share a rank.
position	integer	Finishing position. Null means the runner did not complete or was not published below the placings.
beaten_distance	string	Distance behind the horse in front.
casualty	string	Why a runner did not complete: PulledUp, Fell, UnseatedRider, BroughtDown, RefusedToRace, RanOut.
last_run_days	integer	Days since this horse last ran. Null on a first run.

What varies by jurisdiction

Draw exists in flat racing only

A null draw in a hurdle or a chase is correct, not missing. Filter on run_type before drawing conclusions from stall data.

Official ratings are not universal

Britain, Ireland and America carry a rating on roughly three quarters of runners. France and Germany carry one on about three percent. Values outside 0 to 200 are dropped, because the source returns sentinels there rather than ratings.

Price movement is an opening price, not a full series

The source publishes no odds history on a settled race, only an opening price and any prices touched. About one runner in five carries one. price_path.source tells you which kind you have on every runner, so you never have to infer it.

Not every jurisdiction publishes a full finishing order

America publishes the placings and nothing below them, so position is null for most of the field. Britain, Ireland, France and South Africa carry a position for the great majority of runners. /v1/countries returns the current figure for each.

Beaten distances arrive with the pedigree pass

They are published on the horse profile rather than the result page, so they fill in behind the main crawl.

Errors this endpoint returns

Code	Status	When
unauthorized	401	No key, or one we do not recognise. Check the header name and that the key has not been rotated from your account page.
outside_window	403	You asked for a date your plan cannot see. The body names the window and the date you asked for. Search endpoints clamp instead of refusing, and report what they actually searched in meta.
not_found	404	The identifier is well formed but nothing has it. Distinct from invalid_id, which means the identifier itself is wrong.
invalid_id	422	The prefix does not match the kind of thing the path expects, or the identifier is malformed. A horse id passed where a race is wanted lands here rather than returning the wrong race.
rate_limited	429	Past your per-minute rate. Retry-After is set, and X-RateLimit-Remaining tells you where you stand on every successful response too.
server_error	500	Ours, not yours. Every response carries a request_id; quote it and we can find the exact request.

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race_id

What this is for

The field alone, without the race conditions repeated around it. Identical runner objects to the ones inside a full race, so the same parsing code handles both.

It exists for the case where you already hold the conditions and only want the field refreshed, which is the shape of a non-runner check or a late market update. Fetching a whole race to see whether one horse was withdrawn is wasteful on both sides.

Common uses

Refreshing a field you already have

Cheaper than the full race and returns the same runner objects.

Detecting a non-runner

Compare cloth numbers against what you stored. A withdrawal changes the field without changing the race.

Available on