Horse Racing Guide

The simplest and arguably the most common type of bet placed on horse racing is a straight win bet, or win single. As the name suggests, a win single is a bet on just one horse, which must win to produce a return.

However, for punters who enjoy betting at long odds and/or in large fields, each-way and place bets may provide a ‘safety net’ in the event that a selection runs well, but not quite well enough to win.

A each-way, or win and place, bet is, as the name suggests, a two-part bet, or two bets in one. The first bet is a win bet and the second bet is a place bet, which produces a return if a selection finishes second, third or fourth, depending on the number of runners in the race. Indeed, in some of the major handicaps of the season, the Grand National being the prime example, some bookmakers may offer enhanced place terms and pay out on horses that finish fifth, sixth, seventh or further down the field. Of course, being effectively two bets, an each-way bet costs double the stake of a straight win bet.

Unlike an each-way bet, a place, or place only, bet is a straight single bet on a selection to finish in the first two, three or four, depending on the number of runners. Place betting odds are a fraction of the win odds, though, so can produce a disappointing outcome is a selection does actually prove good enough to win.

When it comes to betting on horse racing, you can do so online or in person, in a High Street betting shop or on a racecourse. Placing a bet online essentially involves opening account with the bookmaker of your choice, depositing funds, making your selection(s), entering an appropriate stake or stakes and confirming your bet. Placing a bet in a High Street betting shop is exactly the same, fundamentally, but rather than filling in an on-screen betting slip you need to fill in a physical slip and hand it over the counter to the cashier along with your stake money.

On a racecourse, you once again have the choice of an on-course betting shop, which works in exactly the same way as the High Street equivalent, a traditional bookmaker, in the betting ring, or the Tote. A Tote bet is what is known as a pool bet, insofar as all the money staked on a particular market, say, the win market, is pooled together and, after a deduction, is shared among the winning tickets in that market. The downside of Tote betting is that you do not know at what odds your bet will be settled until the winning dividend is declared.

A traditional bookmaker, on the other hand, will display the odds on offer on a board, so you can see what price you are taking at the time you place the bet. In either case, it is simply a question of making your selection, deciding what sort of bet you wish to place, to what stake, and convey this information to the Tote cashier or bookmaker. In return for your stake money, you will receive a ticket containing the details of your bet, which you should retain until after the ‘weighed in’ signal.

Racehorses retire from racing at various ages and what happens to them afterwards depends not just on their age, but also on other factors including their physical condition, sex, breeding potential, the financial goals of their owners and so on. On the Flat, many horses are retired to stud, as stallions or broodmares, at three or four years of age. Of course, if a colt has been gelded breeding is no longer an option, so many geldings go on racing much longer. In National Hunt racing, in which colts are customarily gelded in any case, horses typically reach their peak at seven years of age, or older, and may go on racing into their teenage years.

Breeding aside, post-retirement options may include racing, abroad, or in point-to-point races, retraining in another discipline, such as showjumping, dressage, three-day eventing or polo, or, if a horse is physically unfit, a retirement home. It is worth noting that, in Britain, owners who wish to prevent their horses from racing again cam register a so-called ‘Non-Racing Agreement’ with Weatherbys, which assists the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) under contract.

As far as second careers are concerned, Thoroughbred racehorses typically adapt well to retraining in other disciplines. Recent success stories included the 2018 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Native River, who qualified for the 2024 Horse of the Year show at his first attempt, and the 2015 Paddy Power Gold Cup winner Annacotty, who continues to excel in showjumping as a 16-year-old.

From the perspective of horse racing connections or, in other words, owners, trainers and jockeys, ‘P’ and ‘PU’ are undesirable abbreviations to see in the form synopsis of any horse. ‘P’ is more likely to appear in the at-a-glance form figures that appear to the left of the name of a horse on a typical racecard, while ‘PU’ is more likely to appear in detailed results, but both abbreviations stand for ‘Pulled Up’.

As the phrase suggests, if a horse is ‘pulled up’ during a race, it is brought deliberately, and safely, to a halt by its jockey, takes no further part in the race and is recorded as a non-finisher, on which all bets are lost. Horses may be pulled up for a variety of reasons, including exhaustion, distress, injury or any other set of circumstances that make it impossible, or unsafe, to continue. A tack failure, such as a slipping saddle, may render pulling up nigh on impossible and continuing to race, especially over hurdles or fences entirely out of the question. Pulling up is a more common in National Hunt racing than Flat racing, but not unknown in the latter.

Incidentally, instructing a racehorse to come to a halt does not pulling or tugging on the reins; voice and seat cues, followed by steady, even pressure on both reins, if necessary, avoids tug-o-war with a 1,000lb Thoroughbred. Once pulled up, a jockey can decide to walk or canter a horse back to the unsaddling enclosure, dismount and walk back or, if necessary, await the arrival of a horse ambulance.