Race betting has grown in leaps and bounds over the years. Their waging had evolved with punters placing bets on horses, greyhounds and even machines. Horse racing is ancient sport where warriors were involved in duels using horses and fought to reach the finish line first. In the modern-day horse racing is far more advanced than the Greek horse races where chariots were pulled by a number of horses.
The modern-day horse races involve only a single horse per rider with bookmakers offering odds depending on the horse’s ability, agility and speed. Although horse racing has been a sport developed many centuries ago, not that many punters bet on it, despite bookies’ efforts to offer markets on race events only a few are still interested and that’s why it should be exploited as a profitable betting market.
Today we will discuss there number of race types available including: flat racing, jump racing and harness racing. The following bet types are discussed in more detail in this article.
Horse Race Bet Types
The bet type’s rules vary depending on the bookie. There is much variety of bet types in the market with different names but similar set of rules. The common race bet types are:
- Flat racing. The flat race is the most common and well respected races in Europe. The horse race is on an oval shaped race track and the length of the track varies. These races are considered as the fastest and action packed races. The winning horse has to endure the track to win and usually stamina and pace play a role in the horse performance. Endurance is also a key factor since pace without endurance to finish the race is pointless and also the ability to hold the optimum racing line plays a role with racers training their horses to be faster. The most common British flat races are the Epsom Derby and Ascot Gold Cup. There are more cups like the Australian champion Racehorse of the year, the Kentucky Derby, Preakness stakes and Belmont stakes constitute the American Triple Crown.
- Jumping racing. It’s a common type for both horses or dogs and are trained to jump over a given obstacle course. The winner has to beat the clock while performing difficult jumps and turns in the fastest time possible. Jump racing is popular known as hurdling with horses jumping over ditches or fences and there are a number of factors that a horse rider has to overcome to win. The pace of the horse, stamina and agility plays a role in the win. Despite having a good horse it’s also important to pick a skilled rider, for the horse to win and usually experienced horse between 7 to 8 years are used. The common types of horse used are stallions and mares. The race categories include hurdles, steeplechases and bumpers. A good example on championships to bet on jumping races is the Grand National Champion Hurdle and the Britain’s National Hunt Racing.
- Harness racing. This is similar to the ancient Roman races involving chariots but the difference is that smaller two wheeled chariots are used and are generally slower paced. These sport is limited to only a few countries in Europe with the sport being limited to some parts of France and Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden and Finland). A few bookmakers still offer these market with few bet types since it’s not as popular as fast paced races and it’s mainly viewed as a cultural or historic event, organised by native communities.
Horse race betting markets explained
Like other sports, horse racing has its unique bet markets with bookmakers offering some of the most competitive markets in the online racing. There are some common markets that you would find in majority of bookies in the industry while some are unique to a limited number of bookmakers in the industry. In order to win on specific bet markets you first need to gain knowledge and understanding of how the wager works, so here are some of the available bet markets in horse racing.
- The win bet: the bookie wants you to correctly predict a win and in most cases the odds are lower or equal depending on the previous performance of a horse and the rider. Data from previous races can be important to a punter and will help you decide a winner.
- Place: the bookie wants you to pick a horse that will either finish in first place or second place in a seven horses race, majority of punters pick a consistent horse that usually wins and is consider a popular favourite to win.
- Forecast: here you only need to predict the race winner and also the second runners up. Forecast markets have huge pay-returns since you pick two possibilities one to finish first the other to finish in second place respectively.
- Place forecast: almost similar to the forecast bet market and you need only pick two horses that will finish in first two spots (1 and 2). The wager needs you to correctly predict the first and second horse to win.
- Trio: the trick here is to chose three horses that will finish in first, second and third place. The hardest bet market, with some huge odds and high risk involved. The possibility of picking the three horses is possible but comes with a high risk and a good pay out if you get the correct prediction. The possibility of losing this wager is about 50% since there many variables involved and you may need stats and some luck to win.
- Tierce: similar to the trio option, only more difficult to make the winning decision and the bookie requires you to correctly predict in the exact order of horses crossing the finish line (first, second and third positions).
- Quartet: these stands for four and the wager is placed on four horses to win. The positions don’t matter so long as all the four horses picked occupy the four position and order is not a priority.
- Quadro: similar to quartet but it’s different since the horses have to occupy the predicted positions and the exact number the horse was picked to finish.
- Roll win: the roll win is simply explained as betting on a specific horse to win two or three consecutive times. It’s like picking a horse to win more than two races and the odds are extremely high due the possibility of the horse being injured or coming against a stronger opponent. Stats on stamina and endurance are important information to look out for when betting on the roll win.
- Roll forecast: the roll forecast is a special form of the roll win and you need only pick a horse that will finish in the first and second position. The condition is that both horses should finish in the same position in two or three races on different dates and should always finish in the same position.
- The Accumulator: the bookie allows you to bet on separate races using the same stake amount and this options allows you to get more odds, the accumulator increases the bet slip value.
- Quadrille: similar to the quartet but the hardest bet type and you have to correctly predict four horses to win in four races. The horses must win in the four consecutive races for the bet to be valid.
- The straight six: here you are correctly predicting the race winner in six consecutive races and is almost similar to the quadrille option.
Horse racing tips
As a punter, there are a number of factors to consider before placing the wager and usually variables like horse stats play a role in the decision making process. Also despite having a good horse betting strategy you may need to first understand how your bookie maker offers the odds on the wager and also consider the rules required to be followed for a win.
The best solution is to first understand how a bet market works and how to place a wager, experienced punters usually utilized data from previous performances. This will help you avoid placing wagers on a hunch and will greatly improve your chances of a win.
- It’s also important to avoid misinformation since there are a lot of articles written on correct prediction and sure bets. The information from stats on a horse may change with time since horses like humans are affected by other external factors, despite the information being reasonable, it’s important to develop a good strategy and also compare information from data you collected with the ‘misleading’ information.
- Bet on live stream since the real time data will help you get that advantage over the bookie, check on horses with slow starts or even a popular horse that can comeback from a slow start and also check on the stamina and the ability to endure the race track, considering how the weather affects their performance. It’s important to listen more than believe in just numbers from previous races, usually commenters have some insight on horses performance since the commentator has over the years seen how horses perform, how they start (slow/fast) and how the riders usually handle their horse in different race tracks the commentators can be a key missing link to that win so listen more to increase that win chance.
- Ranks in horse race jockey usually show a common trend and usually these ranked champion jockeys have a reputation of winning. It’s important to identify the jockey of the previous year to get that win since majority of jockeys are consistent in winning during the race season. There is even more uncertainty during the first race for both you and the bookie. The first race of the day is important since it sets the mode of the races of the day with limited information you can take advantage of the bookies odds offered on the possible winner and usually the odds are higher.
- Don’t just blindly bet on a favourite to win, horse races is one of the unpredictable sports and usually the numbers place the favourite at a 33% chance of winning. Majority of punters place bets on the horse favoured to win without first doing the research and looking for value. Look for more selections you may stumble upon a selection that the bookie has underestimated as a possibility and enjoy much higher odd values.
- Understand the horse racing terminologies, like other sports horse racing have different terms used like ‘jockey’ and it’s important to pay attention to track commentators. Get to know your horses, the common types include: last time out winner, excellent rating figures, change in class, race comments, the company and the ability to bounce back.
- Get to know how different track surfaces affect the performance of the horse, dry oval shaped tracks have a tendency for faster speeds and this suits the daintier horse, since they hit the ground harder giving that extra friction to go faster. Also get to know your trainers, the trainer understands the horse more than you since they spend majority of them spend time training horses and therefore understand the horse limits or extra abilities.
- Known your jockey, they provide statistical insight and can help in picking the winner. The jockeys with skillsets are matched with stronger horses and works both ways, with trainers placing their strong horses with the best riders. Check on specific jockey and trainer combinations.
- Get to understand or know the signs of a confident horses, although this may seem as a long shot tip since it’s not possible to know the performance of the horse from home and it’s important to first study all the races before placing a wager. The confidence of both the jockey and the horse are seen during the first races. The confidence of a jockey after previous wins, the jockey usually trusts the horse and the horse trusts the rider. Calm and confident runner will perform better than anxious horses and like humans horse also get stressed. Lastly a good horse betting strategy will improve your winning chance on online betting.
