Before we start talking about how to bet on horse racing i would like to take a moment and give you a glimpse of the history regarding horse racing that surprisingly enough, they were taking place hundreds of years ago. The first known traces found by archeologists linking horse racing to different cultures or events taking place in ancient times, where dating back from Babylon. Also excavations in Syria brought to light proof that horse racing was an activity practices in that region.
In ancient cultures horse racing also had a somewhat divine link also. In ancient Greece a chariot has the means of transportation for some gods and was present in mythical confrontations between titans. Back then horse racing was extremely different from what we see nowadays (but they had one thing in common: betting). The most common horse race encountered in that time was with a chariot of 2 or 4 horses dragging it. The track was a dirty oval and in most of the cases it was inside of a special arena that had sitting space for the public that came to witness.
Those involved in the race, will often decorate their chariot so that the spectators will differentiate them in the race, also the horses where gives some decorations that accompanies the chariot design. In terms of the speed, the race was a very quick pace one and also very dangerous. Often the chariots will get loose and disintegrated in the middle of the race with the drivers experiencing serious injuries and even death. Also the horses drawing the chariot suffered from many fractures and broken bones. But those times where a thing of the past, now races are regulated and there is a examination process that every team must pass between races.
Nowadays chariot racing is banned in some countries and the most common type of race is flat racing. But there are also other types of racing involving horse, not all of them all available for betting. Now let’s take an in-depth look into horse race betting in our era.
How to bet on horse racing?
Now that we know a little bit more about the history of horse racing, let’s start focusing on the betting procedure. Knowing that flat racing is the most popular form of horse racing will take it as an example in this article so you could better understand the basics. First of all you must know that all the advices given here are available for online and also offline betting at your local brick and mortar betting shop. As a note, when you want to place a bet at the betting shop you must fill the betting slip by hand and often read the odds and statistics from a sheet of paper. In the online department things are a little bit more advanced thanks to the internet. In the online betting space, the first thing you do before you start betting, is choosing an online betting platform.
How you choose the online betting platforms depends on your preferences mostly. But you must see how is the general experience with the betting websites and if it’s available in your region, if the available payment methods are functioning in your region and if it website offers mobile support or mobile apps. The last aspect, regarding the mobile apps and mobile website, is not necessarily mandatory, but it certainly a plus to have in this situation.
After deciding on which platform are you willing to place your first bet on horse racing, then you need to navigate to the Sports section, after that you will find horse racing there. When you click on the category you will see a bunch of text and numbers, now i will explain to you what is the meaning of all this. The races are separated by region and by time they are taking place. When you select a particular race, there you will find all the horses and jockeys that are participating in the competition at the given time.
In terms of betting, there are multiple ways you can place a bet. You can bet for the favorite to win the race, you can bet on the favorite to be placed on the first 3, or an each way bet that represent you making a bet for a jockey to win or come in the first 3. In some betting platforms maybe you will encounter other betting options, but they are pretty self explanatory.
Next to the jockey’s name there is another person marked as a trainer. The trainer is preparing the horse for the race, if the trainer doesn’t do a great job in the evolution of the animal, when the competition will take place there is a very high chance that the horse will not perform well. Also in the box with the jockey and trainers name, you will see the odds, which i advise you to change in a decimal form so you won’t get confused. In some case, next to the odd, there will be mentioned the horse age, weight or past evolution, but if you cannot find it there inline, most likely there is an option on the website to see more details about the jockey, horse and trainer.
Now let’s take a closer look at the odd. Basically the odd gives you a numerical representation of the statistical probability that the horse will win the race. If the odd is closer to 1 then the horse has a higher chance of winning, if the odd is greater than 1 by a significant margin, the probability of it winning the race is low. The bigger the odds the lower the chance, the lower the odds the bigger the chance.
The next step in the betting process on horse races is to choose on which horse you want to place a bet. Select the horse with the outcome of course and the bet will show up in the betting slip. Here you can input the desired stake. The stake, or the sum of money you are betting, is multiplied with the odd thus resulting you potential win. You can place multiple bets on different outcomes, it all comes to what you think will happen. In order to place a successful bet, i advise you to look into the history of the horse. See how many races did he won, how many did he lost and so on. Do not trust always the odds. Try to be patient and analyze thoroughly the performance, in this way you are increasing you chances of winning by a significant margin.
With all this knowledge, you will be able to place a horse racing bet in a breeze. If you have any questions regarding betting, please feel free to leave a comment down below. Also share this article with a friend that you think will be interested.
