Horse racing spread betting | Everything you need to know

Interested in spread bets on horse racing? Read our guide in which we provide useful instructions on how to make spread bets and make a profit out of this betting form.

Horse racing spread betting explained

Today the sports betting market is really extensive and there are quite a lot of diverse types of bets offered to punters. Spread betting is among those forms of betting that are becoming more and more popular nowadays, especially in Great Britain and the United States. It may be applied to many sports disciplines such as basketball, cricket, football but also horse racing.

Unlike moneyline betting where there are fixed odds which give bettors the option to win or lose, sports spread betting provides them with a unique opportunity to wager not on the outcome of the match or horse race, but on the accuracy of the bet. Therefore, the more precise bet you place, the more money you will make. In this article, you will find out everything that you need to know about horse racing spread betting.

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Why should you bet on spread in horse racing?

Sports spread betting gives bettors a better chance of winning and creates an active market in which horse racing odds are significantly higher. Spread betting in sports is used by betting sites to evaluate a specific race and allocate points between the horses that participate in it. By announcing a spread for a horse race, bookies try to force players to bet on the favourite. The spread is not much distinct from the handicap in relation to the loser. In this case, the question is whether the favourite horse will win by more or less margin than the stated spread.

The loser may lose the game, but still score enough points to hit the assigned range, known as spread coverage. Thus, the bettor may win money on the losing team if he manages to cover the spread. In the same way, the winning horse that wins the game may end up losing to some punters if they don't win with enough points to cover the spread.

Although spread bets may seem confusing at first, but they are actually quite easy to understand. You will need to analyse the statistics as with traditional moneyline bets in order to make precise bets. Here the main benefit of spread betting is that bettors may not only benefit from the success of a horse but also sell them in those betting markets that they consider to be not profitable. Also, there are quite a lot of betting markets accessible in horse race spread betting.

How to spread bet on horse racing?

The distribution of points permits the horse racing betting site to level the field between two teams that are not close in quality. Your goal is to predict if the final result will be higher or lower than the announced spread. The distribution of points is displayed with + and – signs.

With a negative spread (for instance, “minus 10 points”), it is assumed that the horse on which such a spread is set must win with a difference that will remain positive if the value specified in the spread is subtracted from it. So, in this case, this will be a victory of 10.5 or more points, which will provide an advantage to the winner even after subtracting the spread handicap value.

Accordingly, a spread with a plus or positive value is a handicap that must be added to the final score by the outsider. If after that the score of the match turns out to be in favour of the outsider, the positive spread plays, otherwise the sports bet loses. In the case of a plus 10 points spread for a horse race, the horse must lose by no more than 9.5 points or win the race for the bet to pass.

What are the top horse racing spread betting markets?

There are a lot of great horse races that take place throughout the year. Here are some of the most famous ones: Grand National, Kentucky Derby, Royal Ascot, Cheltenham Festival, Belmont Stakes, Triple Crown and many other ones. As was mentioned before, there are also a great number of betting markets presented for spread bets on horse racing. Below you will discover the top spread betting markets on horse races.

The market index type of bet concentrates on each race individually and awards points to horses participating in it based on their finish position. For races with eleven or fewer horses, the winning horse receives fifty points, the 2nd horse receives twenty-five points, and the 3rd horse receives ten points. For races with twelve or more horses, the winning horse receives fifty points, the second horse receives thirty points, the 3rd horse receives twenty points, and the fourth horse receives ten points.

Another famous horse racing betting market is winning favourites. The favourite horse is awarded points in each race. If the horse wins, it will receive twenty-five points, it comes second, it will get ten points and if it comes third, it will acquire five points.

The jockey index also belongs to the top betting markets for spread bets. It relates to the performance of the jockey over the course of the race. The jockey is awarded twenty-five points if he wins, ten points if he finishes second and five points if he comes third. What is quite interesting in this market is that if it happens that the jockey stops riding on a horse, but the horse still continues to run, then it is presumed that the intended jockey rides the horse.

The match bets focus only on two participating horses in the competition which means that other horses are regarded as unimportant. So, the two horses are selected and the distance is predicted between them at the moment when they reach the finishing-line. Thus, you simply wager on how well one horse performs in comparison to the other one.