What is the Best Time to Place Your Racing Bets?
Horse racing odds often fluctuate so it pays to place your bets at the best time to ensure you maximise your chances of getting best odds.
Best Odds Guaranteed
First of all its worth pointing out that bookies who give Best Odds Guaranteed (BOG) will payout at the SP (Starting Odds Price) if it is higher than the price you took.
BOG can be removed from bookmaker accounts and not all bookies have BOG so be sure to check with your bookie whether you have it or not or if you need a new bookie why not view our free top free bets here our top 6 on this list all have BOG for new customers.
BOG gives you an excellent advantage as you don’t need to worry about the price changing for the better before you place the bet.
Most bookies now will only give BOG on the day of racing usually from a certain time of day e.g. 8AM or 9AM so check your bookie to find out the exact time.
Evening Before Racing
Because of the tightening up of BOG from the bookies the night before betting this way has become less attactive, however it is still worth considering if you are a value backer.
The reason for this is horses will not have been picked up the evening before like they have the next day so it could suit you to bet this way to get the best price possible.
However please be aware most bookmakers aren’t fans of those who manage to get incredible odds and win, it looks suspicious and you could find you are limited for being too good!
Mid Morning of the Racing Day
Our personal favourite here at ExclusiveBonus. Around 10AM – 11:30 seems to be the sweet spot.
This allows you to get BOG with most firms.
You also can monitor market movers on Oddschecker.com anything marked blue is an odds decrease suggesting a popular bet anything marked red is a drifter suggesting an unpopular bet but potential better value bet.
Just Before the Off
The advantage of betting just before a race starts is two-fold. Firstly you may see some late money come in for a horse (you see this through a late odds decrease) and secondly you can bet and instantly watch the race so it doesn’t require pre planning.
However for me the disadvantage is that the odds price is often shorter than mid-morning and it requires you to be available to bet throughout the day rather than getting your bets on all at once.
Antepost
Antepost bets are usually only available on big races and festivals. These types of bets can be really rewarding for the astute bettor as you often get much higher odds e.g. you may get 20/1 on a bet that is 7/1 on the day. The disadvantage is the horse may not run so you lose money. Although sometimes bookies will run a “No Run No Bet” offer which is worth taking advantage off.
Hopefully this article gives you some clarity on the differences and best time to place a horse racing bet!