Horse Racing Betting With Bitcoin

Biggest Events in Horse Racing

There are so many prestigious and rich horse races around the world, but the best place to start is in the birthplace of modern racing – the United Kingdom. In the UK, there are two codes of horse racing that are prevalent: flat racing and National Hunt racing. Flat racing is – as you would expect – horses racing on the flat, whereas National Hunt racing is where horses compete over obstacles (hurdles or fences). National Hunt races are run over longer distances than most flat contests.

The flat season in the UK runs from March to November, with several big races held throughout. Among these, the 1000 Guineas, 2000 Guineas, Derby, Oaks and St Ledger are known as the five “Classics” on the schedule. The jewel in the crown of the National Hunt season is the Cheltenham Festival, a four-day horse racing bonanza that takes place in March. The bookies put out offers to drum up business for the event, which gives Bitcoin sportsbooks users the opportunity to make some seriously good money. The finale to the National Hunt calendar is the Grand National. This historic race involves a huge field trying to stay the course of a four-and-a-half-mile trip at the famous Aintree racecourse.

Of course, the UK does not hold the monopoly on all of the major international races. The premier race held in France is the Arc De Triomphe, a 12-furlong Group 1 race that attracts runners from all around the globe. The US hosts the Kentucky Derby, but the richest contests here occur during the Breeders’ Cup. A festival of top-class action, the Breeders’ Cup primarily pits the best American horses against their European counterparts, with millions of dollars of prize money at stake.

Heading over to the other side of the world, Asia is just as horse racing crazy as the rest of the globe. There are numerous big races and meetings, with the most prominent being the Japan Cup. The race is run at the stylish Tokyo course, attracting an enormous 100,000-plus crowd each year. With the Australian continent bearing a strong British influence, it comes as no surprise that horse racing also features as a prominent sport here. Reputed to be the race that “stops a nation”, the Melbourne Cup is a contest run over two miles. The event attracts a high level of interest from abroad, with many foreign runners taking their chance at each renewal. You couldn’t blame them, with fantastic prize money and such history surrounding the race – it was first run all the way back in 1861.

Most Popular Bets on Horse Racing

So many horse races being run daily provide individuals with endless opportunities to strike wagers. The sheer range of potential selections has led to sportsbooks becoming increasingly inventive in the types of bets they offer.

One of the most popular bets on horse racing is the win single, which entails placing money on a horse in the hope that it wins. If the horse places anywhere other than in first position, then the bet is a loser. Another popular bet that involves just one selection is the each-way bet. This is effectively one bet divided into two, with half the stake placed on a win bet and the other half on a place bet. The win bet is self-explanatory, and the place part of the bet is essentially for the horse to finish in one of the first few positions. The number can vary – for example, the horse has to finish first or second in a seven-horse race; but in a 16-horse handicap, it could place anywhere between first and fourth for the bet to still be a winner. For the most part, professional and profitable bettors will strike win or each-way bets since they only need to be right about one race to profit.

When picking two horses to win, this is known as a double (or a parlay, if you want to go American). There are also each-way doubles, which combine the two win parts and the two place parts of the bets.

There are many multiple bets that are popular with bettors. Sportsbooks market these well, with some of the most common ones including Trixie, Yankee, Lucky 15, Lucky 31, Lucky 63, Super Yankee and Round Robin. Depending on the bet type, bettors have to select multiple horses (three and up); their bets are then broken down into singles, doubles, trebles, fourfolds, and so on. The advantage of these bet types is that if the player is lucky enough to get mostly winners, then they are in line for making some very good money. The downside to this is that as soon as one leg of the bet loses, it wipes out a large portion of the other.

For the most part, horse races are measured and advertised in furlongs, an old imperial measurement. There are 8 furlongs in one mile, and most flat races are contested over 12 furlongs or shorter. National Hunt races start at 16 furlongs and up.

Horse Racing Betting Strategy

When starting out on betting, in particular betting on horse racing, it can be daunting. What is the best type of bet to place? How much should one put down? Should stakes change depending on the odds available? Hopefully we can help guide you to do this the right way.

A solid betting bank and staking strategy are essential to making a profit when it comes to horse racing. If an individual places too much of their bank on the selections, endures a losing run or has some bad luck, they can go broke very quickly. This is true for all sports, but it is especially applicable to horse racing. Why? Because the odds vary so much. When betting on a football match, the odds usually range somewhere between 1.25 and 7.0, but in horse racing these regularly vary between 1.25 and 101. Obviously a 101 shot isn’t going to win very often, so to protect a betting bank, one popular strategy is to aim to win a certain amount on each selection. Using this principle, bettors will wager more money on the short-priced favourites than on the outsiders.

A popular horse racing betting strategy used by many professional bettors and shrewd operators is the each-way single or each-way double in races which the sportsbook determines as bad for those types of bets. Picture the scene. There is one red-hot favourite in a race – a horse in very good form. The other eight runners are terrible and have no business being in the same contest. Effectively, it is a match with the red-hot favourite enjoying an 80% chance of winning and the second favourite having a 20% chance. Without taking into consideration bookmakers’ margins, the second favourite would be available at odds of 5.0. Now, when giving each-way terms, the sportsbooks have to do it for the whole race – they can’t give terms for each runner. So, despite being significantly better than the rest of the field, the sportsbooks have to give odds of 1.80 on the second favourite finishing second or third on the each-way portion of the bet. This is value, and when put in an each-way double with another second favourite with a similar profile, the bettor has an advantage.

Some bettors like to place multiple bets each-way. Although these give good returns if the selections win, unless the individual has an edge on each horse they are bad value. This is because the bookmaker adds their margins onto each horse, so that when combining several horses the bookmaker’s edge is multiplied. When starting out, it is best to stick to single bets and try and find a horse whose chance is greater than represented by the odds.

Verdict

Horse racing is woven into the sporting fabric of many countries around the world. Although the betting rules and norms vary across the different jurisdictions, the aim is ultimately the same: to find the horse which can run the fastest over a set distance. There are great thrills and spills with horse racing; plus, the excitement is intense, with most contests usually over in less than two minutes. Big returns can be generated from small stakes, and here are even more reasons why should you sign up with our top horse racing specialist Bitcoin sportsbook:

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