Do you want to bet on horse racing? Discover game tips and strategies that will help you increase your chances of winning! Horse racing betting is very popular in countries such as the United Kingdom or Australia. That’s why I set out to present a complete tutorial from A to Z in the following to teach you everything you need to know about horse racing.
TYPES OF BETS ON HORSE RACING
The types of bets offered are quite different from what we find in other sports, and that is why many bettors do not understand what a certain betting option means, which is why this section will certainly be very useful for beginners.
Fixed odds vs Starting Price
Unlike other sports, in horse racing we have two options to choose from when it comes to odds. We can choose the quota offered at that time (fixed quota), or we can choose the option “SP” (Starting Price). If we choose this option then our quota will be the one set by the race operators at the start of it. Of course there is a certain risk here, because we have no way of knowing if it will be higher or lower than the fixed quota offered.
Usually, however, bookmakers guarantee the best odds. Thus, if the normal odds of the competitor we want to bet on is 3.75 and we select the “SP” option, there are two options:
the SP quota will be higher than 3.75 and then we will benefit from this new quota
the SP quota will be less than 3.75 and then we will receive the initial quota
We will find out this only at the beginning of the race. However, read the rules of the bookmaker you play at, because not everyone has such an offer.
Also, take into account the fact that more recently several agencies offer only SP quotas, and in the best case they introduce fixed quotas with a maximum of 10-15 minutes before the start of the race. But we will discuss these issues at the end of the article, when we will see which bookmakers have horse racing offers. Now let’s see what are the most popular types of bets.
Simple bets on a single horse race
Forward bets – bets that are placed before the race on the winner. You need to read the bookmaker’s rules to see what happens if your selection does not participate in the race. In some bookmakers a bet on a non-participating horse is declared lost, while in others your stake is refunded. Pre-post bets are validated at odds and under the conditions existing on the date of placing the bet. If the race is postponed for another day then you will receive a odds of 1.00 for the prediction played only if the race conditions are changed or if the terrain of a race takes place or the running surface is changed (for example instead of the grass track it changes in the track on the ground).
Each-way bets – many do not know this term and are surprised to see that they have won a each way bet. They think that the one they bet on should win the race, but that’s not the case. In each way bets you practically place two bets. Half of the stake to win the race and the other half on the ranking (generally) on the 2-3 places, the odds being recalculated. To place an each-way bet, click on the winning odds of the competitor you want to bet on, and in the virtual ticket you will see that an “E / W” box appears which you can check to activate this betting option.
Depending on the number of competitors in the race, we have something like this:
2-4 participants - no "E / W" bets
5-7 participants - The horse must finish in 1st or 2nd place. The quota for "E / W" will be 1/4 of the normal quota (attention, it is calculated from the fractional quota, not from the decimal one).
8+ participants - Places 1-3. The quota will be 1/5.
12-15 participants (handicap race) - Places 1-3. The quota will be 1/4.
16+ participants (handicap race) - Places 1-4. The quota will be 1/4.
Example: You place a Each Way bet (1-3) on a horse that has a odds of 10.00 to win a race with 8 participants. If the stake is 20€, then it means that it is divided into two parts:
10€ on winning the race - you will win 100€ if the competitor of your choice imposes itself (profit 90€).
10€ on the ranking on the 2-3 places at a level of 1/5 of the initial quota. The share is calculated in fractional, which means that your profit will be 10 * 9/5 = 18€. So you will get a total of 28€.
Cover Bet – 2 places – You bet on a horse that he will finish on one of the first two places. No matter where he finishes the bet he will be the winner. Of course, the odds will be lower than for the “antepost” bet.
Cover bet – 3 places or 4 places – Similar to Cover bet – 2 places. In order for the bet to be a winner, the selection must end, as the case may be, in the first three or in the first four places.
Dead Heat – when two selections end in a tie, half of the bet is lost and for the other you receive the corresponding win depending on the bet. For example, if you bet 10 euro on a 10 odds and the chosen horse ends up tied with another then you will win 5 euro (half of the bet x odds 10, ie 50 euro).
Forecast / first 2 in the exact order – for this type of bet you have to predict the exact order of the first two ranked. If, for example, you bet on horse 4 and horse 6 in this order, you must win horse 4 in the end and finish horse 6 in second place.
Reverse Forecast / top 2 in any order – as in the case above you have to hit the top two, only now they can finish the race in any order (it doesn’t matter which of them is first and which is second).
Tricast / top 3 in the exact order – as above you bet on the exact order, but this time of the top three horses.
Reverse Tricast / top 3 in any order – you have to hit the 3 competitors who will finish on the podium, but it doesn’t matter in what order.
These are the main horse racing bets on those who focus on this sport. Certainly other types of bets are also offered, at least in some races. However, at the online bookmakers in UK the most common types of bets are antepost, each-way, forecase, reverse forecast, tricast and reverse tricast. It is possible that the names of the betting types are a bit more British, so they should be translated and not have the original name.
System betting
Combined bets – we can place bets in the system, just as we do in other sports. The only condition is to choose horses from different races, which is quite logical. If I choose three horses from three different races, I can play the following systems:
Simple 3 @: 3 single bets on each race separately
Doubles 3 @: combinations of 2 races (three combinations in total). So at least two of our three horses have to win their races.
Triple 1 @: single ticket. all three horses must win.
Trixie 4 @: three double bets + one triple bet.
We can also place Each-Way bets in the system. Again, we will have a double number of bets. So, if we complete the “Double” box with 5, then the total bet is 30. (three normal combinations where two horses must win, and three more combinations where two horses must rank in the top3).
Daily Double – is a bet that allows us to choose the winners of two successive races, and creates a bet combined with those 2 winners. Everyone must win their race for the bet to be a winner. The minimum bet is $ 1. We can choose several horses in each race, and then we will have a system of several bets (combinations between each horse chosen in the first race and each horse chosen in the second race).
Pick 3 / Pick 4 – is the same system as the Daily Double, only now we have combinations for three or four successive races. We can also have “comparative bets” where we have to choose between two horses the one we think will finish in front of the other. Another type of bet is “Favorites and the rest of the participants” where we have to choose if the race will be won by one of the two main favorites of the race, or if it will be won by another horse.
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