Horse racing has been taking place for thousands of years with people flocking to enjoy the thrill of watching the horses come galloping down the track. The only thing that makes it more exciting is having placed a bet on the race and here at mr.play Sports, we bring you all that you need to do so. You will find a wide range of markets covering races at all of the UK’s major racetracks, as well as those abroad, with some of the most competitive odds around. Your betting possibilities are almost endless and there are plenty of chances for you to win big.
Horse Racing Betting Odds Explained
If you look at any horse race, from the smallest of local meets to huge events such as Royal Ascot, then you will find that there are loads of different betting markets available to you. Of course, you can simply pick a horse to win, but if you carefully examine the different types of markets available and make sure that you understand all of them, then you will be giving yourself a far better chance of placing winning bets. The betting markets are divided into many different categories, such as Racecard, Forecast/Tricast, Betting W/O Favourite, Place Only and More.
Horse Racing Betting Markets
When you start betting on horse racing, your first stop should be the Racecard. Here there is a large amount of information available to you such as the going, the distance of the race, and the recent form of the participating horses. You can also place a straightforward bet on a horse to win using the race card.
There are two additional basic bet types that you should be aware of, Place and Each-Way. A Place bet is simply on a horse to finish in one of the places, (the number of places will depend on the race). An Each-Way bet covers both possibilities. If you place a £5 each-way bet, it actually costs £10, £5 on the horse to win and £5 on it to finish in one of the places. If the horse does win, you will win two payouts and if it finishes in the places then you will be paid out for that part of the bet.
The next type of bet to be aware of are the Forecast/Tricast bets. To place a forecast bet you need to pick which horse will come first and which will come second, you can also use the same market to bet on a horse to come first or second. The Tricast bet is very similar, but you need to pick horses to come first, second and third. These bets are more accurately called Straight Forecast/Tricast, and they require you to select the horses in the correct order. There are also Reverse Forecast/Tricast bets, which simply need you to pick the horses that will finish in the places, but not the order they will finish in.
The Betting Without markets offer many interesting opportunities. For these you need to predict the result of a race but without the favourite horse. The finishing position of the favourite will be ignored for the bets. For example, a bet on horse x to win while horse y is the favourite will win if horse x wins the race or finishes second to horse y.
Horse Racing in the UK
A huge amount of horse racing takes place in the UK almost every single day. There are 60 Flat and National Hunt racecourses in Britain including 17 multi-purpose tracks offering both disciplines. However, some tracks are more famous than others are. For instance, Cheltenham is probably the most famous track of all and the Cheltenham Festival one of the best-known events. There has been racing at Cheltenham since 1815 and today the racetrack attracts crowds of up to 68,000 people. The Cheltenham Festival takes place each March and includes 14 Grade 1 races; it is the most popular National Hunt meeting in the world and the pinnacle of Jumps racing.
Equally famous to Cheltenham is Ascot. Many consider it to be the heart of British horse racing and it hosts 26 days of top class racing including 9 Group 1 Flat races each year. It is a mixed purpose track with Flat and National Hunt fixtures taking place. The highlight of the year is Royal Ascot, a five-day summer festival that combines the best racing with fine cuisine. Royal Ascot was founded by Queen Anne in 1711 and has maintained its association with the British Royal Family to this day.
One of the best-known events in horse racing calendar is the Grand National, which has been taking place since 1839. The race is held at Aintree, in the middle of Liverpool, and it is the longest jumps race in Britain. More than 70,000 people travel to watch the Grand National each year and many more watch live television broadcasts.
There are many additional famous racing venues in Britain, such as Newmarket, York, Goodwood, Doncaster, Haydock, Newbury, and Epson. Here at mr.play Sports you will find betting markets for races taking place at all of these venues and more.
