Horse Racing Betting

Bet UK's online betting has horse racing markets available every day, on all major single meetings throughout the racing calendar. As well as betting on standard meetings, we also have free bets available on a wide range of events such as the Cheltenham Festival and Royal Ascot.

Betting on Horse Racing

Before placing any horse racing bets, there are a number of factors to take into consideration. Form is obviously important for horse racing, with good form a strong factor in choosing a horse to bet on. As well as form, the trainer and jockey of each horse is a critical factor. An experienced jockey matched with an exceptional trainer can turn an average horse into a winner. Finally, there are also weight and age to consider, although they may not have as much of an impact as the other two factors. If you want to get into racing betting but aren’t bothered about form or trainers, then simply pick the horse with your favourite name, it can be as simple as that! The horse racing odds will be initially displayed as fractions. For example, 1/4 would suggest this is an 'odds on' horse and therefore a favourite. This means for every 4 units you stake you will receive 1 unit back if you win plus your stake. You can also change the odds to present them as decimals.

Horse Racing Betting Odds and Markets

Horse Racing betting odds can be viewed in two formats, with fractional odds and decimal odds. To alter the odds for horse racing bets, you can head to the settings section to alter these odds. When combining odds for multiple bets in Horse Racing, the fractional method is recommended.

Read more about our fractional odds and decimal odds and how they work in our betting guides. These betting odds often determine which betting market is best for our players.

Typically, horse racing betting markets are restricted to bets regarding the finishing position of the horse. Mainly, bettors may place bets on the winner of horse races. However, there are number of horses who look good as outside bets, this is where some bettors may wish to place Each Way bets. Each way betting allows bets on horses to finish in the top three of a race (sometimes expanding to top five depending on the race, Grand National is an example of a race that expands). For smaller races, you may wish to look at other horse racing markets such as tricast and forecast, this is where you look to correctly predict the top three of a race, for most horse races, this is an extremely risky bet, because you're banking on the performance of three horses rather than just one.

Watch Live & Bet on Horse Racing

Looking to watch Horse Racing live on BetUK? To find out how to live stream horse racing on Bet UK, check out our horse racing live streaming guide. You can also place bets live when you are viewing a race.

Horse Racing Betting Blogs & Tips

When looking at horse race betting, there are a number of ways to place bets on individual races or entire days of meetings. The most popular horse racing events have their own dedicated pages for both betting and tips. For our tips articles, check out our horse racing tips

Cheltenham Festival:

The Cheltenham Festival is set to take place between 12th and 15th of March 2024 with 28 races of action, you can find the best odds guaranteed on our Cheltenham festival betting page and you can find our horse racing betting tips for every single race of the Cheltenham festival by checking out our cheltenham tips and predictions

Grand National

Taking place at Aintree racecourse every year, the Grand National is one of the top races in the sporting calendar. It is also one of the largest fields in UK racing, making the horse racing betting odds significantly larger for favourites, leading to higher potential winnings. To bet on the Grand National, check out the outrights section of our horse racing meetings sportsbook. Alternatively, you can find our yearly tip for the Grand National and its surrounding races in our aintree Grand National tips.

Betting Calculators

Horse Racing is one of the few sports where it can be exceedingly difficult to figure out how your bets are going to work out. Whether you're placing a lucky 15 bet or going as far as a Yankee bet, you'll be able to find a betting calculator that suits you. For information on all the offerings we have, check out the BetUK Bet calculator.

Betting Guides: The sport of Horse Racing can be difficult to understand - while at the ground as a viewer, the race is as simple as which horse will pass the finish line first. However, when it comes to betting, there are a large number of opportunities available and some of these can be quite complex. Be sure to check out our betting guides which include our starting price betting guide.

Horse Racing Betting FAQs

How do I read Horse Racing odds?

Horse Racing odds can be read similarly to any other odds in the fractional, decimal or American bet formats. However, if you're looking to evaluate how good the betting odds are for a particular race, you should use the information provided on-page, including the form, and previous races. For example, if you found a horse running a 2l race, where it is unbeaten and all of its losses have come in a longer format, you'll typically find the best racing odds for that horse, as its form isn't fantastic but on a particular length of track, it performs well. This is just one of the many things you should consider when you select race bets. Remember that at BetUK, we offer best odds guaranteed meaning that you'll find the most competitive odds on the market when you place horse racing bets.

What is the best bet in horse racing?

The best bet largely depends on the horse racing betting odds. For example, if you're betting on a 20 horse race, it's a lottery, we recommend going for horses of slightly higher odds but there will likely be three or four horses you like the look of before the race.

For smaller races, it's likely that there will be a horse rated as under evens in the odds, if this is the case, you're better off trying to predict the horse that is going to come second and placing an each-way bet, that way if a shock occurs, you pick up a big win, if the horse comes second, you'll still make a profit due to the seismic odds of your chosen horse.

When does the National Hunt season start?

The National Hunt season never truly ends as there are jumps races across the 12 months of the year but the majority of the National Hunt fixtures take place during the Autumn and Winter seasons. As the bigger meetings begin at the back-end of October, this is widely regarded as the start of the season, this runs all the way through to the end of April, which is regarded as the official end of the campaign when flat racing takes centre stage.

What is the most popular bet for horse racing?

There are two bets that are particularly popular in horse racing, the first is the race winner and the second is the each-way bet available in racing sports which means you can bet on a horse winning upcoming races and if they finish in the top three you'll receive a payout.

What should I look for when making a horse racing bet?

There are a number of things that should be considered when placing a bet on the races such as form of the horse, jockey and trainer, if all three are in good form, then you'll likely find the horse has a good chance of being successful, you can information regarding the horses form on the BetUK website. Look for horses with lower odds as when these horses are combined into multiple bets, they have a higher potential for profit.

What are the big races for betting in the UK?

The biggest UK races mainly consist of two festivals, the Cheltenham Festival and the Aintree Grand National Festival. Taking part in March and April, the National Hunt season hits it's pinnacle with 25 grade one races during these two festivals. In comparison, there are only 14 grade one races taken outside of these two Festivals. Outside of the UK, races such as the Dubai World Cup and the Kentucky Derby are two of the most popular selected races for UK bettors.

What does nap mean in horse racing?

NAP is a common term in regards to Horse Racing betting tips, the term - NAP, refers to the tipsters best bet of the day. Typically, a tipster will give three tips and the NAP of these tips is the best of which the tipster is most comfortable with. These bets are the ones to watch for any tips across the day. The term NAP is derived from the card game known as Napoleon, where the highest-ranking card is called the 'Napoleon'. In Horse Racing, the NAP is usually a horse that has a variety of contributing factors in its favor varying from previous performances all the way to course conditions.

What does UR mean in horse racing?

If the horse you've bet on has UR next to its name, it unfortunately means that the horse unseated the jockey during the race. This can happen for a number of reasons, jockey error, poor jumps or something as simple as a horse misbehaving on the track.

What does BD mean in horse racing?

The acronym BD means that the horse has been brought down by another rider. It is possible that this is due to foul play. However, in most situations, this is due to an accident by another runner.

What does PU mean in horse racing?

PU means that the horse has been pulled up by the jockey, this can sometimes mean that the horse is injured but in most situations it means that the horse has started a race poorly and the jockey has decided it is best to pull the horse out of the race rather than continue it.

What does OR mean in horse racing?

This means the official rating of the horse, the higher the OR, the better the horse is supposed to be. However, just because a horse has a higher OR doesn't mean it will guarantee success, it just means that success is more likely.

What is handicap horse racing?

Handicap races are races where horses of varied ability race competitively in categories of weight, if a horse has a higher handicap, it means that it has to have a higher weight in comparison to opponents.

What does RPR mean in horse racing?

RPR rating is officially known as the Racing Post Rating, similar to the official rating but this rating is created by those at the Racing Post, this takes into account the weight of the horse as well.

What is a bumper horse race?

A bumper horse race is similar to the National Hunt flat races where there are no hurdles or fences. In-short, you'll see an increased number of bumper races during National Hunt season.