Follow Us on Google
Sports betting is a fairly simple activity which makes it one of the easiest forms of entertainment to start. However, it can be a bit complex for people who have never gambled before. If you are new to horse race betting or online gambling in general, then this is the guide for you.
This will teach you the basics of choosing horse races to bet on, the definition of ‘markets’, and features of an online betting site you can use. Everything here is universal for all types of horse races around the world so learning the basics gives you a ton of fun options to earn money in a game of luck.
Identifying available horse races for betting
You can find all major horse races around the world available at some of the best sports betting sites like Sportsbet.io. Each one is divided by when they are scheduled with the most recent ones falling under ‘next to jump’. This means that the races on this list are scheduled within the next few minutes, with one or two races labelled ‘starting soon’.
For other races scheduled much later, they would fall into the ‘today’ category. Races that are scheduled within 12 to 24 hours, however, would fall into ‘tomorrow’s horse racing’ category. Any scheduled events beyond that would be called ‘upcoming races’.
Bookmakers only categorise races for the convenience of the user. If you want to go deeper into understanding horse races, then you should also learn about the grading system. All races you see at bookmakers are graded, meaning that they have high stakes and winning is a big deal. Non-grade races are local events that are not often featured at online bookmakers.
There are three levels in graded stakes namely Grade 1, Grade 2, and Grade 3 from the highest to lowest. The difference between each one is vast because the Grade 3 races only have a minimum purse of $100,000. Grade 2 races, on the other hand, have $200,000 minimum. Races in Grade 1 are at the level where the winner can be invited into international events and these have a minimum purse of $300,000.
Higher-grade races are more intense and you can find more information about their participants in online databases. If you want to raise your chance of winning a bet, then you should take advantage of this by researching matchups before placing bets.
Types of bets you can make at an online bookmaker
Every bookmaker has three markets available and those are the winner, fixed top 2, and place. Each participant in a race shares the same set of three possible outcomes and one of them can be the winners at a time.
Betting on a winner means you believe that the horse this market is aligned to will be the top placer in the horse race. Fixed top 2 means that it will be in second place exactly. Place bet wins if the horse you chose finished either as the winner or the runner-up.
You can combine bets at the best bookmaker like Sportsbet.io with its bet builder feature. You can place one stake for multiple markets but the potential payout is multiplied by the sum if you bet on them separately. The best way to do this is to bet on tomorrow’s horse racing winners and runner-ups.
Just remember that there can only be one winner and runner-up in a horse race. You can bet on one horse as the winner and another as the second placer for the highest-possible payout in that race. There is a safer option which is to bet on two horses as ‘place’. It wins as long as both horses appear as the top two in whichever order.
