What does BF mean in horse racing?

‘BF’ is an abbreviation that appears on some, but not all, racecards and stands for ‘Beaten Favourite’. Where present, it usually appears immediately to the right of name of the horse in question – possibly alongside other abbreviations, such as ‘C’, for ‘Course’, and ‘D’, for ‘Distance’ – and simply indicates that it was officially sent off favourite, at starting price, on its most recent outing, but failed to win.

Starting price reflects the odds offered by bookmakers at the ‘off’ of each race and the starting price favourite is the horse available at the shortest odds. Those odds are typically determined by the previous form of the horse and that of its rivals – in other words, the perceived competitiveness, or strength in depth, of the race in the eyes of bookmakers – and the actual amount of money bet on said horse.

In Britain, across the main discplines of horse racing, that is, Flat and National Hunt, regardless of class, distance, going or anything, approximately 35% of starting price favourites win. Thus, 65% do not win and are denoted as beaten favoruites on their next outing. Notable recent examples of beaten favourites include Doom, trained by William Haggas, who was turned over at odds of 1/25 in a match at Ripon in September 2023 and Tree Of Liberty, trained by Kerry Lee, who equalled the record for the shortest-priced loser in British National Hunt history when beaten at odds of 1/20 in a three-runner novices’ chase at Ludlow in March 2022.