As one of the most popular sports to bet on in the UK, horse racing is a sport that a lot of people start out betting with. It’s as much an institution than anything for most, and whether it started at their local racecourse or sticking a bit of money on a cool sounding horse in the Grand National, it’s likely that most of us have been dabbled in the sport at some time.
Even though horse racing is highly popular it can be quite overwhelming if you are new to betting. Online betting has revolutionised the way the sport works and whilst it can be as easy as just picking a name and then placing a bet, there’s a lot more to it, all of which you really need to know if you’re going to be successful.
This guide is going to help you start from the very bottom and work your way up. We will explain as much as you need to know to get started and highlight things that many people simply aren’t aware of.
Jump Ahead
Step 1 – Finding a Race
When you open a bookmaker and head to the horse racing section, there’s a good chance it’s going to be quite overwhelming. There are lots of races that take place every day and even though for this we will be looking at UK based racing, it’s worth noting at this point that many of the bigger bookmakers will cover racing from all over the world, including France, United States, South Africa, UAE and many more.
Racing in the UK will start just after lunch time for most places. You can expect them to kick off around 13:30 and then run through until around 17:00. Each meeting usually has 7 races for that meeting. Again, this might differ and some smaller might include 6, with larger ones including 8 (running through summer months where daylight is longer) but expect 7 as the norm for most.
Type of Race
The next thing to note is what race type it is: jump or flats. The two have different seasons and take place at different parts of the year. As a general rule, the flat season takes place through the summer and the jumps through the winter months, but there are exceptions to that rule.
The start of the flat season is signified by the Lincoln Handicap, which is held at Doncaster Racecourse in late March or early April. The end of the season is signified with the November Handicap and is also run at Doncaster Racecourse. This race is run either late October or early November.
The jump season, or National Hunt as it’s officially known, is actually run all year round. But the unofficial season takes place from November through to April, so it doesn’t coincide with the highlight of the flat season. The Open Meeting at Cheltenham signifies the start with the Gold Cup in April being the end.
Classes & Grades
Once you’ve established the type of race you then can identify the quality of the race. In horse racing, not all horses are able to enter all races. You have Classes or Grades for each discipline and with that it only allows horse of a certain calibre to enter it. These are often based on the horses Official Rating, which is a reflection on previous results, similar to a ranking system. The better the horse is, the higher the rating.
Flat racing and jump racing have slightly different layouts for their classifications, although the format in terms of lowest numbers being best options, remains the same. Flat racing has seven classes running from Class 1 to Class 7. Class 1 is the pinnacle of the sport and inside you have Group 1 to 3 and then listed races. Class 1 Group 1 races are the biggest and best horses in the world. As you work down the Classes, the Official Rating needed from the horse also begins to decline.
National hunt has 6 Classes, running from Class 1 to Class 6. Again, Class 1 is the pinnacle of the sport and within it include Grade 1 to 3 and then Listed races. Class 1 Grade 1 are the best of the best for National Hunt racing.
Number of Runners
Next thing you need to note are the number of runners in each race. The number of runners will be different for each race. Theoretically, they can have as few as two horses for that race, but this will only occur if horses either refuse to start or have been withdrawn very near to the start of the race. You can get some huge fields as well, with races like the Grand National that can include up to 40 horses in total.
There’s no average number, but you can expect most races to include around 6-10 horses, with these numbers being slightly higher for National Hunt races over that of flat races.
What you will find is that races with a higher number of horses included are most unpredictable. If you take the Grand National as an example, whilst it may be the biggest steeplechase in the world, it’s also the most unpredictable, simply because of the number of horses and how brutal the track is that they are running. It’s actually quite rare for the favourite to win this race and even when they do, they are often around the 10/1 mark, which is high for a typical horse race.
Flat racing has lower fields, typically. This makes it easier to pick a winner, but also means the odds will be lower as a result.
Age & Experience
You will notice that a lot of races are set up to include only certain aged horses or have a min/max age that a horse needs to be. This is to allow horses of all ages a fair chance against each other in each race that they run.
Horses generally start racing as 2-year olds as this is when they are starting to develop physically into adults. But it would be unfair for a 2-year-old horse to have their first race against a 5-year-old that’s run a dozen races or more. This is why there will be races that only include horses or certain ages or experience.
What you will find is that the younger the limit on the race, the more unpredictable these races are. Chances are that it will be the first or one of the first times that they have run, so no one really knows how they might perform.
Something that you can look out for with these types of races is the label of Novices or Maidens. Novices is where the race is open to 2 or 3-year-old horses that have not won more than twice. A Maiden is for horses that have never won and are predominantly for 2-year olds.
Distance
The final part is to see the distance for that race. In horse racing, the distance is broken down into miles (m), furlongs (f) and yards (y), where needed. 1 furlong is roughly 200 metres and there is 8 furlongs per mile.
Distance plays a huge role in the race and you will find that National Hunt races are much longer than flat races. Flat races are generally no longer than 2m in total length and can be as short as 5 furlongs for the proper sprint races. This is because horses are built for speed.
National Hunt races can be as long as 3m+ and are designed to be more of an endurance race than all out speed. Don’t forget that the National Hunt races are not only longer than flat but the horses also have to navigate over fences, as well.
It’s worth noting that even small increments in distance can play a big role. A 5-furlong race and a 7-furlong race can play out very differently based on the horses staying power. Shorter distances will require flat out speed, but longer will need more endurance attributes for that horse.
Step 2 – Picking a Horse
So, you’re at a point where you’re comfortable with the race that you want to bet on and the types of horses that might be entering. Now it’s time to make your selection from the horses registered in that race. This is the business end of it all!
Odds
First thing to note is that picking winners is not easy. People spend many hours perusing every race within the bookmaker to come up with odds for each horse. If you are totally new to it all, then the odds are actually a good place to start. This essentially indicates what kind of chance the horse has at winning.
The lower the odds, the more chance. The horse with the shortest odds will be deemed the favourite for the race, basically meaning that given all the information the bookmaker has at their disposal, this is the horse most likely to win the race.
There’s a lot more to it than that though and whilst there are punters that just go with the favourite for every race, the favourite will not always win and they will offer the least return for your money.
Shortening & Lengthening of Odds
As the race gets nearer, the odds that you saw an hour ago might not be the same. In fact, they often change in the lead up to the race. This could be for a number of reasons, which can include the amount of money that is being wagered on that horse, how the horse looks in the parade ring, how the competition is looking and so on.
As the odds get smaller, this is called shortening. As the get bigger, this is called lengthening or drifting. If a horse’s odds start to shorten then it means that lots of people are betting on this horse. The bookmakers are essentially saying they got it wrong to start with and they are now adjusting their price, which they are well entitled to do.
Follow the Money
As a punter, if you see a price starting to shorten, then it should send off alarm bells that the horse is fancied by a lot of people. If they are drifting, then this is a horse that the bookies and/or the punters don’t really fancy any more. It’s likely that you should avoid these.
The image above shows a really good example of this. As you can see, Imperial Act was the favourite with the bookies initially, but has drifted from 3.50 to 3.75 and is now at 4.00. Don’t Cry About It was originally second favourite and still is, but he is much more fancied as his odds have dropped from 7.00 to 6.00 and now sit at 5.00. It’s likely that backing Don’t Cry About It here would be the best option given where the money is going. This is known as following the money.
Form
The form is going to be one of the best ways to choose a horse to bet on. This is basically where it tells you the past results of the horse and how it’s performed in previous races. We’ve written a massive article on breaking down the form guide already, so if you are totally new to it, then we suggest jumping across there as it can be quite complicated when you start.
One of the key things to take from the form guide is improvement in horses. We can take the image above as out guide again, the numbers basically represent where they finished and the work from left to right, with the last being the most recent result.
In the example above, you can see that Imperial Act has continued to improve, winning two of his last 3 races. However, Don’t Cry About It had their best finish to date, with 2nd in their last race. It’s worth noting horses that are continuing to improve and also ones that have had success running over those conditions (ground, distance, track and trainer form).
Use Betting Guides
Most bookies have some sort of link with a company that provides betting insights for each race. This is usually someone like the Racing Post or Timeform, who are companies that are dedicated to horse racing.
Betting guides provide an overview of how a particular race might pan out and also how that horse might perform in the race. The people that write them are experts in the horse racing world. If you are new or limited on time to conduct formal research, this is a great place to start to get a feel of which horses might fair well.
Example
Below is an example of what you might find in a typical betting guide, which includes a short description of their previous races and how the horse might run in this race.
Step 3 – Choose Your Bet
Horse racing doesn’t have the range of bets sports like football has and this is one of the reasons why it works so well with beginners as there aren’t hundreds of markets to choose from. But, there are a few that you can choose from and some are more suited than others.
Win
The first bet is that of the win market. This is where you place your bet on that horse to win. They need to win the race and if they fail to do this then you lose.
This is the bet that is going to offer you a decent return for your money and is one that most people will bet on.
Each Way
Each way is a little more forgiving and with it is actually two bets rolled into one. The first part of the bet is on the horse to win and the second part of the bet is on the horse to place. Your initial stake will be split evenly between the two.
The win bet is self-explanatory, but with each way betting the odds get adjusted for the place part. The first thing to note is how many places the bet pay out. This number is based on the number of horses that are in the race. You will also notice that the odds are adjusted, as well. This may change based on the number of places paid, but this is usually either 1/5 or ¼ of the starting price.
| No. of Runners (at the off) | Race Type | Place Terms |
|---|---|---|
| 2 – 4 | All Races | Win Only |
| 5 – 7 | All Races | 1/4 1st 2 |
| 8 – 11 | All Races | 1/5 1st 3 |
| 12 – 15 | Handicap | 1/4 1st 3 |
| 12+ | Non Handicap | 1/5 1st 3 |
Each way betting is generally used for horses that are slightly longer odds than most in the field. They are designed to give you a chance to make a decent return from the win bet, but also give you some back up if they fail to win with the place bet.
This means that you are going to be better off placing each way bets on slightly longer priced horses. You want to avoid short priced favourites as they will essentially be worthless when it comes to the place bet. ¼ odds of a 2.00 favourite would be odds of just 1.25 (basically, you get 25p for every £1 staked. If your pick wins, then you get paid out with both parts of an each way bet.
Place
The first thing to note is that the place bet is not the same as an each way bet. The place bet is where you bet on the horse to finish in a certain number of positions. The odds on this are usually quite low, but it does mean that you get a good cover of spots. The number of places paid can be taken from the table above in the each way section.
This works differently to each way terms as it’s irrelevant where in the places it finishes as the payout will be the same. So, if you backed a horse to place in the top 3, you get paid the same if it finished in 1st, 2nd or even 3rd place.
Place betting is great for longer priced horses that you think might stay well, but never really struggle. You will get a better price for your place then the place part of an each way bet, which means that it offers more value if you are confident that it can’t win. Some bookies run offers where they increase the number of places that are paid for popular races, so keep an eye out for this as again, it offers good value.
Forecast / Tricast
Forecast and Tricasts are where you need to predict the correct order of two (forecast) or three (tricast) from that race. So, not only do you need to pick a winner, but you also need to pick the horses that are going to follow them in.
These markets are extremely hard to call and, as a result, they offer large odds. It’s hard enough picking a winner, let alone the horse in second and/or third, but the lucrative nature of these bets means that they are actually quite popular.
If you do want to bet on these markets, then you would be best to target races that have small fields. If you are going for a forecast bet then fields of no more than 6 will work well and tricast, likely no more than 8. There’s no hard, fast rule for this, but as you increase field size, it makes the job even harder to predict.
You need to be aware that you can also bet on reverse forecast and tricast bets. This is the same principle, but instead of getting the order correct, you just need to choose horses to finish top two or three and in any order. This is a much easier bet to make money on and still very lucrative, albeit less than the original bet.
Step 4 – Accumulator Bets
The final thing that we want to talk through is that of accumulator bets. An accumulator bet is where you bet on two on more events and combine them into one bet. For these bets to win you need all selections to come in. They can offer huge payouts and are highly popular as a result.
For example, you can choose 5 horses from 5 different races. To get your odds you simply multiply each price together. Let’s assume they are all priced at 3.00, this would be 3x3x3x3x3 = 243.00. A massive price for 5 relatively short priced horses. Whilst you can do this manually, with horse racing there are actually a number of variants for this bet that are popular bets. A range of these come in the form of full cover bets.
Lucky 15, 31 & 63
Full cover bets are a little different as they include a range of bets. The most popular is that of the Lucky 15. The Lucky 15 requires the bettor to pick 4 selections. Their picks then include 15 bets, which are 4 singles, 6 doubles, 4 trebles and 1 4-fold accumulator.
These bets are great as they will offer a return even if only 1 result comes in. With horse racing, when you combine them, they start to become highly lucrative. You bet per line with these, so if you bet £1 per line, then your overall stake would be £15 (£1 x 15 lines). Alternatives to these bets include Lucky 31 (5 selections) and Lucky 63 (6 selections).
Tote Betting
The Tote offer another range of bets that are similar but work slightly differently. The Scoop 6 is probably their most popular and for this you need to choose the winners of 6 races that selected by the Tote each day at different tracks. If you win, you get paid you winnings plus a jackpot as well, often worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Step 5 – You’re All Set
That’s it! You are all set to not only work out which races you want to bet on, but also to make more informed picks for your bets, as well. Horse racing can be a tough sport to call, especially for beginners, but when you get it right, it can be highly rewarding!