Your Guide to Horse Racing Betting, Types of Bets, Betting Offers and more

Our Guide to Horse Racing Betting with Online Bookies

Horse racing and betting have been around for centuries, but like all gambling, they’ve evolved and become accessible to the masses as online betting has grown into what it is today. Now that online betting is so huge, UK punters can bet on horse races around the world with a simple tap on their phone, but it can be confusing if you don’t fully know what you’re doing. So, in this guide, we’ll walk you through horse racing betting so you can understand the jargon and bet types, the offers available, and everything else you’ll need to place educated bets.

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Types of Horse Racing Bets

When horse racing first started, it was a fairly simple process: you picked the horse you thought would win the race and simply bet on it. Although that principle has stayed the same, betting on the horses has evolved, and now there are many different types of bets you can place on the geegeez. In this section, we’ll be going through all the different types of bets you can place so you know exactly what you’re doing, and importantly, what your bets are.

Win Bets

This is a fairly obvious bet, and it is exactly what you would imagine. Here, you simply bet on a horse to win the race. You just need to pick your horse, place your stake and accept the bet. For example, if your horse is 3/1 and you place a £10 win bet and it wins, you’ll win £30 plus your £10 stake, but if it doesn’t win, you lose your bet.

Each Way Bets

Each-way bets are similar to win bets, but they give you a little extra edge because, in reality, each-way bets are 2 separate bets. With an each-way bet, you place 2 separate bets: one for the horse to win the race, and the other for it to finish in the places, which depends on the number of runners in the race.

These are popular horse racing bets because if the first part of the bet (the win part) doesn’t win, you still have a chance to win the 2nd part. The important thing to know about the 2nd part of the bet is that, to finish in the places, you usually get 1/4 or 1/5 of the odds to win the race.

So, for example, if you decide to place an each-way bet on a horse at 10/1 with a total stake of £10, you call the bet stake £5 each-way. You then have £5 at 10/1 to win and £5 for it to finish in the places (we’ll say 1st 3 places at 1/5 of the odds). If your horse then wins the race, both parts of your bet win: you win £50 and get your £5 stake back, plus £10 winnings and your £5 stake back for the place part of the bet. So, in total, you win £60 in winnings and get your £10 bet stake back. However, if your horse finishes in the places, say 3rd, then this is where the benefit of an each-way bet comes in, as although the win part of the bet has lost, you still get £10 winnings and £5 stake back for the place part of the bet.

Doubles, Trebles, and Accumulator Bets

If you regularly bet on sports, you may be familiar with these types of bets, but we still explain them for newer racing bettors and differentiate them from other similar bets unique to horse racing.

These bets combine multiple outcomes into a single bet with combined odds. They work by letting you select 2 or more horses to win and combine them into one bet. They are harder to win than single bets, but they can offer generous odds if you do win, and you can also bet them each-way to win on the places.

Again, we’ll quickly explain them, as horse racing has some very similar bets that cost you a lot more, so it is important you know the difference. As you would expect, no doubt, a ‘Double’ is when you pick 2 different horses to win their races, either as a win bet or each-way, but they both have to win or at least get in the places if it’s an each-way double for the bet to win. A ‘Treble’, or 3-fold, is the same, but with 3 different selections, all of which must win or place. Anything with 4 or more selections is classed as an accumulator, with the same premise: all legs must win or place for you to collect any winnings. We have to say, these bets are hard to get right, but if you do, the rewards will be much better than betting them as singles.

A good strategy we have found is maybe pick 3 or 4 horses for your days betting and have your normal bets on them to win, but add a small £5 win multi combo bet as well, just in case, as you never know.

As mentioned above, these are simple bets, but we felt they needed explaining, as some similar bets also include ‘crossover’ bets that, if you don’t notice and make a mistake, can make your stake much larger than you thought. We’ll explain those bets below as well so you are as informed as possible about the different bets you can place.

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Types of Bookmakers’ Horse Racing Betting Offers

When it comes to horse racing, online bookies still take a large number of bets each day, so they know they have to offer something to keep customers betting with them. It doesn’t seem long ago that it was huge news for bookmakers to offer any sort of racing offer or promotion, but those days are long gone. Nowadays, plenty of betting offers are available, so we’ll run through the most popular ones so you can see what they are, who offers them, and how to use them to get more from your racing betting.

Best Odds Guaranteed

This is one of the most popular offers with punters and probably the most offered by the bookies. Many moons ago, before the days of online betting, most people who weren’t at the racetrack placed their racing bets in a betting shop. In those days, if you placed a bet, you could take the odds there and then, or leave it for the Start Price, or SP (the odds of the horse when the race started). This could be beneficial, but also have drawbacks. If you placed your bet at 8/1, took the price, and it won with a start price of 6/1, you’ve done well and got better odds. However, if you took the price at the time but the horse drifted out and won at odds of 12/1, you’ve obviously lost out. The same scenario could happen in reverse if you took the SP.

When online betting started to kick off, the same problem existed until a few bookies offered ‘Best Odds Guaranteed’ on some races. More and more betting sites latched onto it, and fast-forward to where we are now: it’s an extremely popular betting offer.

It is a very basic offer, but it removes doubt and risk for you, as the bookie will give you the best odds between the price when you placed your bet and the starting price. So, if you placed a bet at 6/1 and the SP was 4/1, you get paid out at 6/1; if the horse drifted to 8/1, you get paid at those better odds.

Our 3 favourite bookies for Best Odds Guaranteed

Betfred – Betfred has a great BOG offer, as you don’t have to check whether it applies to your race. They offer Best Odds Guaranteed on all UK and Irish races, all day, every day, from 8am on the day of the races

BOYLE Sports – BOYLE Sports is another bookie that offers Best Odds Guaranteed on all UK and Irish racing. The offer goes live from 8am on race day; it also includes multi bets such as doubles or trixies.

Ladbrokes – Like the 2 bookies above, Ladbrokes also offers Best Odds Guaranteed on all UK and Irish racing. Unlike the other bookies, you only need to opt in once, and then you always qualify for this offer, available from 8am on the day of the races.

Losing Bet Money Back if 2nd

This is one of our favourite horse racing betting offers, although it varies greatly between bookmakers. We’ve all been there: we really fancy a horse, watch it run and be in contention, only for it to fall short and finish 2nd.

This is where this offer comes in. If your horse finishes 2nd, your losing bet will be refunded as a free bet. This offer isn’t available across all betting sites, and each site offers it differently. For example, most bookies offer this only on selected races each day, so you will need to check their site to see whether your race qualifies. Also, finishing 2nd doesn’t always trigger the bonus: BOYLE Sports pays if you finish 2nd to the SP favourite, whereas Betfred pays simply for finishing 2nd. So make sure you check each bookie to know what is required to qualify.

It is also worth mentioning that the maximum refund free bet can also vary greatly

Our favourite 3 bookies for 2nd place losing bet refunds

Sporting Index – Sporting Index allows this promotion on all UK and Irish races, which makes it more appealing than many other bookies that offer it only for selected markets. Although you have to be beaten by a horse with odds of 33/1 or greater to qualify, if you regularly bet on the horses, this may come into play more than you think. They also refund your stake up to £25 as a free bet, which is a fair bit more generous than most bookmakers who only refund up to £10.

BetGoodwin – As BetGoodwin really strives to be one of the best betting sites for horse racing, it is no surprise that they offer this betting offer, and it’s probably our favourite. First, it is available on all UK and Irish races, and you can qualify in 3 different ways. If your selection finishes 2nd in a chase (over fences) by less than half a length, 2nd but beaten by a 50/1 or greater horse, or 2nd but beaten by a nose, it qualifies for this offer. And just to top it off, they will refund your stake as a free bet up to a huge £100, which is £75 more than the nearest bookmaker.

Betfred – Although Betfred only allows this offer on selected races, we still like it, as there are few obstacles to overcome apart from finishing 2nd. So, to get your losing bet refunded, you just need to finish 2nd with a win single bet, or the win part of an e/w bet. Your losing bet will then be funded as a free bet up to £10. It really is nice and simple.

Compare the online bookies that offer money back if your horse finishes 2nd

Extra Places

This is another horse racing betting offer that’s simple but can be extremely beneficial, especially if you like place each-way bets on bigger-priced horses.

To fully understand this offer, you need to know what ‘Places’ means in horse racing betting and what changes the number of places in a race. A place is finishing in a certain position in the race where the bookies will pay out on an each-way bet, most commonly 1st, 2nd or 3rd. However, the type of race and number of runners will change this.

Just looking at the standard place terms for your each-way bets shows how frustrating it is to miss out on a winning bet. That is why it’s now important to check whether any online bookies offer extra places on the races you want to bet on.

Most online bookmakers now offer extra places as a betting bonus in one way or another. The best ones, such as Betfred, BetVictor, and Livescore Bet, make it easy to see which races they are offering extra places on each day. We always recommend taking advantage of as many offers as possible, but checking every bookie for extra places on each race can be time-consuming. So, if you want to take advantage of extra places in the races, head to our homepage and sign up with as many bookies as possible to get great free bets to start you off. Once you have accounts with all the best betting sites, you are good to go. Whenever you are looking to back a horse in a race, make sure you have a betting account with the bookies, then head here to Oddschecker, where not only can you see which bookies have the best place terms and payout on extra places, but you can also find the best odds at the time for your bet.