Good Horse Betting Tips
Previous horse betting tips. Cyclop, Eider Handicap Chase, Newcastle, 10/1 E/W, Fourth. Burrows Saint, Bobbyjo Chase, Fairyhouse 9/4, Second. Jason The Militant, Red Mills Trial Hurdle, Fairyhouse, 15/8, Won. Wetlands, Novice Hurdle, Newcastle, 9/4, Won. Grand Paradis, Michael Purcell Memorial Novice Hurdle, Thurles, 7/2, Won. Bet Type Your Chances of Winning Explanation and Expectation Suggested Plays (Based upon a $100 Bankroll) Show Very good Your horse must finish 1st, 2nd, or 3rd; modest payoffs $6 per horse Place Good Your horse must finish 1st or 2nd; payoffs better than to show $5 per horse Win Average Your horse must finish 1st; payoff determined by the win odds $4 per horse Quinella Average Your horses.
- This might be a good time to check out a horse race betting tip service like Betting Gods. You can try the service for just $1 and receive picks from top handicappers. All you need to do is make the bets at your online racebook and hopefully get the win you need to get back on track.
- Winning money betting on the horses all begins with learning how to handicap the horse races.We’re going to give you a lot of help by teaching you basic and advanced techniques that will give you the edge at the racetrack.
Horse racing is a hugely popular sport to bet on.
It’s also a time consuming exercise for those with the desire to successfully turn a profit.
A wealth of knowledge is needed to pick out high quality horse racing betting tips, and with thousands of horse races taking part annually, it’s easy to accumulate statistics to work from.
This following horse racing betting guide will teach you how to pick out horses with the highest chance of winning the race, or the horse that will provide the best value.
Once you’ve digested the information in this post, you’ll be able to pick horse racing winners often enough to beat the bookies at their own game.
Table of Contents
The Basics
Make sure you have the basics down – basics that we won’t be covering in this guide.
These are simple things like understanding horse racing jargon and knowing how to read a race card.
It may also be a worthwhile investment to understanding how horse handicapping works.
Once you’ve got these things down, along with knowing how to place a bet, we’re ready to move on to analysing the field.
The most important tip of them all is that none of the tips below actually matter without this one simple rule:
If you don’t find the right bet at the right price then it will be -EV and won’t return a profit long-term.
Let’s move on with looking at some of the things you can consider.
Jockeys and Trainers
Particular trainers are very familiar with their stables and are therefore an exceptional source of information.
Learn which trainers or stables are performing well and look at their jockey selection to see how much they believe in their horse’s ability.
Jockeys can be a good source of information too.
Best Horse Racing Tips
They may offer a public opinion of their horse’s likely chances in a race, or they may have ridden the horse previously. If they’ve ridden it previously, it means they have experience and knowledge that they may be able to use to their advantage.
If a trainer or stable has several horses in the race, yet there is a star jockey racing one of them, you can be sure that the jockey has probably hand-picked the horse. This gives further indication of its likely chances.
Finally, jockeys often travel to more than one meet on a given day.
If they’ve raced multiple times in the afternoon, but then travel a long way to race just one horse in the early-evening, you know that horse must be worth consideration – with jockeys often having to cover their own transport costs.
Jockeying requires extreme skill and the best in the world are in-demand, with lucrative contracts up for grabs.
Jockey/trainer combinations are an excellent way to start basing your selections upon. However, in high-profile meets this can end up being most of the field, so you have to look deeper into your statistics.
One interesting market that is offered by bookmakers at a meet is the ‘leading jockey’ market, with 3 points behind awarded for a win, 2 for a runner-up finish, and 1 for third. If you have a favoured jockey that you think will perform well at a meet, this can be a way to pick up some value at higher odds.
Trial and Previous Form
Form refers to previous races that the horse has ran in, including barrier trials. Barrier trials are often used as warm-ups, and they can be a key factor when deciding which horse to bet on in smaller races.
You can also look back to the trainers for information on lesser-ridden horses, and ask yourself questions like:
- Has this horse come from a good stable?
- Has the horse been purchased for a significant fee?
- Does it have good relatives?
With regards to the final question, being the foal or blood relative of a previously successful horse can often lead to further success in the family.
For more experienced horses, you can look at their previous form – the majority of horses will race at least several times a year.
It’s not just wins that count, look for good finishes in races where they came up against extremely good opposition. If they’re against weaker opposition this time round, they may be able to claim victory.
In contrast to this, if a horse has won recently, be sure to look at who the horse has beaten. If it hasn’t beaten anyone good, then it could potentially be a one-off result.
Finding or creating a reliable, detailed form guide is tough – but that’s where you’ll make your money. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it and bookmakers would no longer be in business.
Finally when considering form, you’ll want to look at the class of the race and purses on offer. If it’s won a huge race for a big payday, these are rarely complete flukes.
Also look at the type of location its won at, did it win a rural event and is now competing in a metropolitan area? How about provincial areas?
Not all horses are able to make the adjustment to subtle changes in climate and atmosphere.
Conditions and Track Formation
Weather conditions play a crucial role in horse racing, perhaps more so than any other sport.
Some horses prefer to race on sticky, wet surfaces whereas others prefer hard, fast tracks. If the going gets tough (or soft), stick to horses that you know have had success on similar ground in the past. Heavier horses will also typically find it tougher on softer, wetter ground, because running on this type of surface consumes more energy.
It’s recommended that you know the going of a track before placing your bets.
Whilst you can get better odds betting antepost or a couple of days in advance, it’s not worth taking the risk whilst you’re still starting out – you’re not a pro that’s going to be investing thousands in Betfair horse racing trading just yet!
To find the ground, or the ‘going’, of a track, you can simply Google the course name + the word going and you should find plenty of up-to-date results for the day’s races.
Remember: some tracks are ‘all-weather’. Ground conditions on all-weather tracks stay consistent regardless of what mother nature throws at it.
You also need to look at track formation: is there a sharp incline at the end of the race? Is there a sharp bend half way through? Do the turns bear right, or bear left?
These are all things you need to be considering, and weighing up against each potential horse you want to bet on – how will each particular horse be affected?
Finally, you will also need to consider whether you’re betting on flat races or jump races, and learn the intricacies that each discipline requires.
Types of Betting Markets
There are several types of betting markets that are popular amongst horse bettors.
The most popular market with professional horse bettors is the outright victory market. Backing horses to win – when they offer value – is the best way to secure long-term profits in this game.
Also popular is each-way betting, whereby you’re sacrificing your odds, usually by a quarter, but sometimes by a third or a fifth, to cover more than one place – usually the top four.
Each-way betting is only really effective when picking horses that are significantly higher odds, such as 16/1 and above.
This is because you end up risking too much money to essentially break even in the result of them placing.
Remember: you should always choose to back your horse at the odds on offer, don’t risk taking the ‘Starting Price (SP)’ odds. Long-term, this will lose you money, especially as many bookmakers offer Best Odds Guaranteed promotions, meaning you get paid out at higher odds if the odds do increase before the race starts anyway.
You also have the option to add some excitement to the mix, although these are significantly riskier and are more like challenge bets than they are solid horse racing tips style bets, with multi-bets such as trebles, Lucky 15s, Yankees and more.
Rather than typical accumulators, these style of bets don’t require you to win every single race for a return. However, if two or three horses do win, you should turn a profit.
If they all win, you could just hit the jackpot – although initial stakes can be quite costly, and the chances of hitting these are minimal. Still, if you’re confident in your selections…why not?
Analysis and Conclusion
Piecing together the critical statistics and traces of information is a formidable task. There’s no denying that.
However, it can be done, with commitment and the desire to learn and improve.
Horse racing is simply a case of the numbers game, and it’s on you to figure out what those numbers are at a given time. If you can work out a horse’s perceived chances of winning, and the odds on offer are significantly good value in comparison, then you’re onto a very profitable career in horse race betting.
When looking at how to bet on horse racing profitably, take all of the horses in a race and try to map out their recent successes and failures. Why did things go the way they did in their recent races?
Look at jockeys and stables for subtle hints at a horse’s chances of winning. If a top jockey is willing to invest his own time travelling for a single race hundreds of miles from home, the horse must be in with a shot.
You will need luck, but you will need a whole lot more skill to make a profit in this industry.
Good luck to you!
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Picking a horse to win the Kentucky Derby is easy.
Placing a bet is as close as a cellphone, tablet, computer or even a smart TV with internet access. But for the novice or inexperienced bettor, making a wager that pays off with a profit can be a challenge: Beginners need to know how to place a bet, who to bet on and where to place the bet.
Off-track simulcasting in more than two dozen states offers a convenient alternative to going to the track. Of course, there’s always the actual experience of walking up to the betting window at the track.
That’s a good option if you can’t get to Churchill Downs, where 150,000 spectators are expected for Saturday’s 145th Derby and hoping to get some action on 4-1 favorite Omaha Beach .
Minimum bets vary from state to state, but here are some things to consider when placing a wager:
THE BASICS
The obvious wager is betting on a horse to win. Just pick one. But after that, it can get a little trickier.
Bets can be made on a horse to win, place (finish first or second) or show (finish first, second or third) – or all three with an across-the-board wager. An exacta involves correctly picking the first two horses in order, or in any order with a combination known as a box bet (1-2 or 2-1, for example).
Superfecta bets (picking the first four horses) are also available, as are exotic wagers such as Pick 3 and Pick 6 that requires choosing the winning horses in multiple races. A Pick 3 and a Pick 6 are the hardest to predict, leading to rollover jackpots that can be very lucrative. But they probably are best left to more seasoned bettors.
DO YOUR HOMEWORK
Determining who to bet on can start with a daily racing program that lists entrants for each race and information including odds, jockey, trainer, silks, saddle towel color and past performances. They can be purchased at the track, simulcast venue or a track’s website.
It will initially seem like a lot of numbers and statistics, but tracks and web sites offer instructions on how to read and understand a program. One benefit to being at the track is seeing how the horse looks in the paddock or during the pre-race parade. Appearance and temperament are important, so keep an eye on horse’s ears to see how engaged the horse is with the atmosphere.
And there’s nothing wrong with playing a hunch, since after all, it’s just a gamble.
ONLINE BETTING
After learning what to bet and who to bet on, the next step is placing the bet.
Numerous websites such as TwinSpires.com – Churchill Downs’ online service – Equibase.com and TVG.com offer betting at racetracks worldwide. Wagering is free, but it will require setting up a subscription and require banking information to place bets and deposit winnings. Those services even provide live streaming and replays.
Various online sites offer betting tips along with news and updates. It’s the most convenient way to bet on marquee races such as the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes as the Triple Crown season unfolds. It’s also a good option for other marquee races during the year such as the Travers Stakes and season-ending Breeders’ Cup World Championships.
PARI-MUTUEL BETTING-SPORTS BETTING
When wagering, the longer the odds the bigger the payoff.
In horse racing, the odds are not finalized until the race begins. That is known as pari-mutuel betting. That’s different than sports betting in which bettors get the odds that are available at the time they make their bet.
New Jersey tracks also offer exchange wagering for horse races, which differs from pari-mutuel betting. Exchange wagering matches and locks in the odds at the time a bet is placed and also allows betting during the race.
And while sports betting expanded in several states last year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could legalize sports gambling, it does not include horse racing. Even in most states that have legalized sports betting, placing a bet on horse racing is limited to the tracks as the sport examines how to compete and benefit from new legislation.
KNOW YOUR LIMIT
Good Horse Betting Tips Horse Racing
As rewarding as cashing in a winning bet can be, the desire to win more or recoup some inevitable losses can get intoxicating – and risky. When novice or inexperienced bettors make wagers on horse racing, it should be for entertainment purposes and not income.