Horse betting can be a little bit daunting for newcomers, even for experienced bettors who have betted on other sports for years!
In this article I’m going to detail the main differences between Horse Racing betting and other sports. I will base the writing on Horse Racing Betting Vs Football betting, since football, or soccer betting is probably the most common sport that is betted-on in the UK. This video here shows a brief condensed version of the written material below.
Many newcomers to Horse Racing opt to follow HORSE racing tipsters, if that is you there is a free one here to follow.
Win or Each Way
The main difference between Horse Betting and football betting is that you can choose to bet on win or each way with horse racing. Granted, you can do this with long term football bets, such as Premiership winner outright, or Champions League winner tournament markets.
Each Way Terms
The main school-of-thought when deciding whether to bet on your horse win or each way would have to be the odds. Considering most each way place terms are one-fifth of the odds, a player would need at horse to be 5/1 to break-even, if the horse placed.
As mentioned, one-fifth of the odds is the most common place terms, you can find one quarter of the odds mainly in handicap horse races and therefore the odds to break-even for a place would be lowered to 4/1. Many of the bets posted on the Pipbets VIP tipping group contain bets that are prices of 4/1 or more and can be betted each way.
Each way betting becomes more profitable, of course, when the odds are greater. For example a £10Each Way bet at 20/1, in a handicap race, with a quarter the odds a place would return £60.00.
Betting at lower than 5/1
It is not uncommon to see bettors bet at odds lower than the recommended 5/1, when the each way terms are a fifth of the odds. However, this is mostly done as a damage-limiation approach. For example, a bettor betting £10 each way, at a fifth of the odds, at 10/3 odds would return £16.67. Meaning a £3.33 loss, but could have been worse if the entire stake was lost on a win bet.
Odds changes
Odds changes change far more in Horse Betting than football. Odds do change in football, mainly if there has been team news, a key player is not playing, or if there has been lots of money placed on a team. However, the latter option is usually caused by the former ones mentioned.
Horse racing odds change far more because there are more variables that can changes in a horse race. Some examples would be: ground change [discussed later], horse is betted on, other horses betted on, jockey change, the jockey on board has ridden the previous winners at a meeting, this is called weight of money effect. This weight of money effect happened to Frankie Dettori twice in 1996 ad 2019, as discussed in this video. Tipster services can also have an influence on the behaviour of the betting markets. Especially when there is a famous Tipster, such as the Racing Post’s Pricewise Tipster, Tom Segal, tips a tip.
Tipsters and Weight-of-Money
Since Tom Segal obviuously has a huge following, due to his consistent successful tipping for many years, there are plenty of punters who back his horses each week. This creates the same “weight-of-money” effect, as what happened in the Frankie Dettori example, explained earlier. Therefore, these odds usually contract, unless there’s another big tipster tipping in the same race, or another horse is well-fancied in the betting markets for any other reason. One thing for sure, PipBets VIP Tips have not yet reached that stage, so this is extremely unlikely to happen there!
Best Odds Guaranteed
The Best Odds Guaranteed, or BOG as it is frequently abbreviated to, is a concession most online bookmakers offer when a horse change odds. High Street betting shops also offer this, Paddy power and Betfred do, at the time of writing this. However, I would make sure the staff write this on the slip, should you want to be sure you are granted it.
Best Odds Guaranteed is offered by most UK bookies and applies to unrestricted betting accounts only. This lovely concession ensures that if you backed a horse at 4/1 and it drifted in odds to 10/1 at the time of the race, you will be given the 10/1. The biggest BOG concession I have ever been given was back in 2014 when I backed a wining bet at 7/2 and had the bet settled at 20/1! Football bets do not offer this BOG, nor do football bets fluctuate in odds anywhere near the amount of time Horse Betting odds do. A few of the bets posted on the Pipbets VIP tipping group have been BOG drifters too.
The amount of Horse Racing Betting events
UK Horse racing events happen every day of the year, including Bank Holidays. The only time Horse Betting evets do not occur is during a three-day hiatus every Christmas festive time, usually around the 21st to 25th, pending the year. However, Boxing Day is a different ‘kettle-of-fish’, Boxing Day features one of the best National Hunt races of the Year; The King George Chase at Kempton, which brings us to our next topics.
Different types of Horse Racing
Horse Betting events differ, the two main differences are Flat and Jumps. Flat was traditionally at the summertime, with the jumps being more of a autumn/winter/spring affair. However, the two almost run alongside each other, with all weather racing being run at tracks where the surfaces do not get frozen.
National hunt Racing
There are two main differences with National Hunt racing, also called the jumps. There are hurdles races and Chase races. Hurdles are the smaller obstacles of the two, there are less fallers within hurdles races. Chase races are the taller fences, the kind of fences you’ll see at the Grand National race. However, those fences are renowned to be quite high! Fences differ depending on the track, some are far easier than others.
Novice Chase races
Novice Chasers are horses who have not quite mastered their jumping yet, unlike Handicap chasers, who are usually experienced jumpers. When betting in a novice chase bear this in mind as there can be fallers. Some online betting companies offer concessions like “faller insurance”. This is one thing to bear in mind if you fear this, Coral often offers this, mainly at Winter periods. Which brings us to the next relevant topic.
More free bets and concessions in Horse Betting
As you are probably figuring out by now, there are far more free bets and concessions in Horse Betting than there are in soccer betting. Most online betting companies offer these, and the list below is not exhaustive and some are seasonal, so may not be valid.
Money Back if second to the favourite
Coral Beaten by A length
Bet 365 ITV 4/1+ or more offer
Money back as cash if second
Faller Insurance
Coral fail to finish
Further reading
If you would like to read about the above-mentioned topics, including each way betting, Bet 365 ITV 4/1 or more offer, Non Runners and Rule for you can find all of these on the top navigation bar menus. If you’re into Horse Tips, then check-out the Pipbets VIP selections here.
Also, check out our YouTube channel where there are many betting videos. Subscribe to our free newsletter here.
