Horse Racing Betting Basics

Posted on October 11, 2007
Filed Under Horse Racing Basics, Horse Racing |

Here is your first lesson, getting to know the horse.

1. What is horse racing?

Horse racing is a group of horses running an event of a certain predertermined distance. Sometimes the are as many as 25 runners/horses in a race, while at other times there may be only 4 horses.

2. How can I make money from horse racing?

The most well known method of course is to predict the winning horse. While this may seem an easy task to some onlookers, it is indeed a very difficult task. As there are many factors that we need to study first before we may even begin to predict/select a potential winner.

The next method of making money from a horse race is to select any horse that you think will be “placed“. What this means is that you need to pick out a horse that you think will have a podium finish, as we call it in Formula 1 racing. So do you have the ability to spot a Lewis Hamilton in every race? Obviously not, nor can I.

Another method that is slightly easier is to select the loser! So if we have a race with 10 horses, you need to select 1 horse that will not win the race. This should be relatively easier than selecting the sole winner.

There are also other methods of making money from any horse race that will be very confusing for you at the stage. But I will just briefly run through them. There is trading, where similar to stocks, you will need to buy low and sell high. This will give you what is called a free bet on this horse, meaning that you stake nothing to win money if the horse wins. There is another method that can be used where you can hedge your free bet and make a profit whether your selected horse wins or loses, meaning that you profit whatever the outcome of the race.

2. What is BACK and what is LAY?

In all betting exchanges and with any online bookie, when you are placing a bet, you have to decide whether you are BACKing or LAYing.

In terms of horse racing, to BACK a horse is putting you money on a horse that you think will win/place. Meaning that you will be paid money if the horse wins/places.

In reverse, to LAY a horse is to put money on a horse that you think will lose or will not place in a race.

3. What is a betting exchange?

A betting exchange is a place where punters gather together to get their bets matched. The biggest and most liquid betting exchange in the whole is known as BETFAIR. Some UK horse races have as much as 2 million pounds of bets matched at a single race.