Best Horse Racing Betting Sites in the UK 2023

Double

Once you get to grips with singles, the next logical step is to place a double. It’s simply a bet on two different horses in two different races.

Both horses must win or place (if you bet each way) for your bet to be successful, and you’ll win more money than if you were to back each horse as a single.

Example:

You bet £10 on two horses (both at Evens) to win their respective races. If both horses romp to victory, you win £40 for a profit of £30, as opposed to £20 if you were to back each horse as a single.

Lucky 15

A Lucky 15 is a bet on four horses in four different races. As the name suggests, it involves 15 bets in total, broken down as follows: four singles, six doubles, four trebles and one four-fold. The inclusion of singles means it only takes one winner to guarantee a return.

It may take a couple of wins and places to cover your stake (depending on the odds), but a Lucky 15 can be extremely lucrative.

Example:

You select four horses to win at 2/1 and stake £1 on each of the 15 bets for a total of £15. If all four horses romp home in first place, you receive the maximum payout of £255. If two selections win, you receive £33.

Lucky 31

If you receive several horse racing tips, why not pick five horses and place a Lucky 31? A Lucky 31 comprises 31 bets in total: five singles, ten doubles, ten trebles, five four-folds and one five-fold.

Again, one winning selection guarantees a return, but the profit from a single winner won’t always cover the cost of placing a Lucky 31.

Example:

You select five horses (all at Evens) to win in five different races. You bet £1 on each of the 31 bets for a total outlay of £31. If all five horses win, you get £242 for a total profit of £211.

Yankee

Another popular bet at horse racing betting sites is a Yankee. It’s a multiple bet that involves 11 betting combinations: six doubles, four trebles and one four-fold.

As there are no singles, at least two of your four selections must win to guarantee a return. It’s a riskier bet than a Lucky 15, but it’s also cheaper.

Example:

You bet on four horses (all at Evens) to win in four different races. You bet £1 on each of the 11 combinations for a total outlay of £11. If all four horses win, you receive £72 for a total profit of £61.

Cheltenham Festival Betting

Considered the Olympics of National Hunt racing, the Cheltenham Festival attracts enormous crowds from all over the UK and Ireland. First held in 1860, the four-day festival takes place every March at Cheltenham Racecourse in Gloucestershire, South West England. Feature races include the Queen Mother Champion Chase and Champion Hurdle, with the famous Cheltenham Gold Cup run on the last day of the festival.

Grand National Betting

First run in 1839, the annual Grand National takes place at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. It is one of the most famous and unpredictable races in the world, with horses required to jump 30 fences over two laps for a total distance of about 4 miles and 2½ furlongs. Famous fences include Becher’s Brook and The Chair, while notable winners include Red Rum and Tiger Roll.

Royal Ascot Betting

Founded by Queen Anne in 1711, Ascot Racecourse attracts the Queen and other members of the royal family every June for Royal Ascot. The Queen’s own horses have won races at Royal Ascot a number of times, including top-class thoroughbreds like Estimate and Whitechapel. The five-day festival features 13 Group 1 races each year, including the prestigious Gold Cup and Coronation Stakes.

Glorious Goodwood Betting

Officially known as the Qatar Goodwood Festival, ‘Glorious Goodwood’ is one of the undisputed highlights in the British Flat racing calendar. The annual five-day festival is held in July at arguably the world’s most beautiful racecourse, Goodwood Racecourse in West Sussex. The biggest races of the week are the Goodwood Cup, the Sussex Stakes, the Nassau Stakes and the Stewards’ Cup.

Epsom Derby Betting

The Epsom Derby Festival is a two-day equine extravaganza headlined by the Epsom Derby, also known as the Derby and the Derby Stakes. It’s the most prestigous and richest event out of the five classic English flat races, with 125,000 people flocking to Epsom Downs Racecourse on the first weekend in June. Legendary jockey Lester Piggott rode the winner of the Derby nine times.

Prix de Diane Betting

Run at Chantilly Racecourse over a distance of 2,100 metres, the Prix de Diane is often referred to as the French Oaks. The Group 1 race is open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies and takes place every year in June. Only six horses have completed the Prix de Diane/Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe double. The honours list includes Trève, Zarkava, Pearl Cap, Nikellora, La Sorellina and Allez France.

Galway Races Betting

Ireland’s biggest racing festival begins on the last Monday of July every year. The seven-day festival takes place at Galway Racecourse in Ballybrit, providing a mix of Flat and National Hunt racing. The Galway Plate and Galway Hurdle are two of the most prestigious races of the week. In addition to racing action, Ladies Day sees stylish ladies compete for Best Dressed Lady and Most Elegant Hat titles.

Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe Betting

Also known as the Arc, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is the richest horse race in Europe. The 2,400-metre turf race takes place on the first Sunday in October every year at the ParisLongchamp Racecourse in Paris. Eight horses have won the Arc twice, including Treve and Enable. French trainer Andre Fabre is known as the king of the Arc, as seven of his horses have won the race.

Kentucky Derby Betting

Almost always held on the first Saturday in May, the Kentucky Derby takes place at Churchill Downs racetrack in Louisville. Known as “the most exciting two minutes in sports”, the first leg of the Triple Crown is run on a dirt racetrack covering 1 1⁄4 miles. Secretariat, arguably the greatest racehorse of all time, won the race in a record-breaking time of 1 minute, 59.4 seconds in 1973.

Preakness Stakes Betting

First held in 1873, the second leg of racing’s Triple Crown takes place on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the shortest of the three Triple Crown races, run over just 9.5 furlongs. Secretariat set a still-standing record of 1 minute, 53 seconds to win the race in 1973 on his way to becoming the ninth Triple Crown winner in history.

Belmont Stakes Betting

The third and final leg of the Triple Crown usually takes place on the first or second Saturday in June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Nicknamed the “Test of the Champion”, the Belmont Stakes is the longest leg of the three races, covering a distance of 12 furlongs. The one and only Secretariat clocked a record time of 2 minutes, 24 seconds in 1973 to win the race by 31 lengths.

Breeders’ Cup Betting

First run at Hollywood Park in 1984, the Breeders’ Cup World Championships has established itself as the season-ending championship of Thoroughbred racing. The Breeders’ Cup Classic is the highlight of two days of racing. The Classic is the richest horse race in North America and considered the fourth leg of horse racing’s Grand Slam of Thoroughbred racing.

Pegasus World Cup Betting

First run in 2017, the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes is held in January at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida. The invitation-only race is run over dirt at a distance of 1 1⁄8 miles (9 furlongs). The Pegasus World Cup once offered $16 million in prize money and was the richest horse race in the world, but the purse has been $3 million since 2020.

Dubai World Cup Betting

Held annually since 1996, the Dubai World Cup is known as the “richest day of racing” on the international racing calendar. The Group 1 race is contested at the Meydan Racecourse, with previous winners including Prince Bishop and Thunder Show. The race was created by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and owner of Darley Stud and Godolphin Racing.

Japan Cup Betting

Japan’s flagship race of the year is contested annually on the last Sunday of November. The race takes place at Tokyo Racecourse in Fuchu, Tokyo, with a maximum of 18 horses competing across a distance of 2,400 metres. The Japan Cup was inaugurated in 1981 and is renowned for producing some of the most memorable finishes in recent history. Notable winners include Almond Eye and Gentildonna.

Melbourne Cup Betting

Held annually since 1996, the Dubai World Cup is known as the “richest day of racing” on the international racing calendar. The Group 1 race is contested at the Meydan Racecourse, with previous winners including Prince Bishop and Thunder Show. The race was created by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and owner of Darley Stud and Godolphin Racing.

Saudi Cup Betting

Boasting a $20 million purse (with $10 million set aside for the winner), the Saudi Cup is the world’s richest horse race. First run in 2020, the 1,800-metre race is run on the dirt track at King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh. The $20 million race completes two days of exhilarating racing, with a full undercard of international races ensuring spectators witness several dramatic finishes.

The Everest Betting

With a purse of $15 million, The Everest is the richest horse race in Australia and the world’s richest turf race. The weight-for-age race was first run in 2017, with a maximum of 12 horses running over 1,200 metres at Randwick Racecourse in Sydney. It has an unusual entry fee structure. Twelve slots are sold for $600,000 each, with the slot holder having the right to race or sell their place in the gate.

Tote Betting

The Tote is different from traditional bookmakers. Instead of picking horses for a fixed odds return, the Tote is a form of pool betting, also known as parimutuel betting. You pick horses and your stake goes into a cumulative pool, with every winning ticket sharing a percentage of the pot.

Pool bets offered by the UK Tote Group include Win, Place, Exacta, Trifecta, Quadpot, Placepot, Jackpot, Scoop6 and Swinger.

The Tote Placepot is one of the most popular pool bets in the UK, as you can win a substantial amount for a relatively small outlay. You select six horses to place in the first six races of a UK or Irish meeting. The Tote updates how many winning tickets remain after each race. The fewer punters who back your horse, the greater your share if it wins.

Horse Racing Exchange Betting

The main difference between horse racing bookmakers and betting exchanges is who you bet against. With online bookmakers, they set a price and you bet against them on outcome. Horse racing betting exchanges are platforms in which you can trade on the outcome of events. You can act as a bookmaker by setting the odds for an event, or act as the customer by backing the odds set by a fellow punter.

When you bet on something happening, you ‘back’ it. When you bet against something happening, you ‘lay’ it. Unlike fixed-odds horse racing betting, you aren’t limited to a certain price. You can set whatever price you like, and it’s up to fellow punters to choose whether to accept the price or not.

Many successful punters win at horse racing by betting on races as they happen. There are many benefits to betting in-running on horse racing, as opens up a plethora of opportunities to ‘trade’ horses. The main strategies for trading in-running on horse racing are to back and lay. There are benefits and drawbacks to both approaches, but the aim remains the same – to ‘green up’ and lock in a profit.

Horse Racing Spread Betting

Another alternative to accepting fixed odds at UK horse racing betting sites is spread betting. Although this form of gambling is more closely associated with financial trading, spread betting on horse racing isn’t as complex as it may first appear.

Spread betting companies create markets for each horse racing meeting every day, and your challenge is to predict whether the outcome will be higher or lower than predicted. If you think the outcome will be higher, you ‘buy’. If you think the outcome will be lower, you ‘sell’.

For instance, a horse racing spread betting company may offer a Jockey Index in which you can bet on the performance of a jockey over a meeting. They may award 25 points for each win, 10 points for each runner-up finish, and 5 points for a third-place finish. If the jockey’s spread is 34-37, you can choose to buy or sell. However, you can incur losses with spread betting. It’s important to have a staking plan for betting on horse racing to avoid heavy losses.

Get the Best Horse Racing Odds

Odds compilers at different bookmakers often have contrasting views on the chances of horses in each race, and horse racing is one of those sports where there are often big discrepancies in odds.

For this very reason, you should create an account with a few of the best horse racing betting sites in the UK and shop around for the best price on each race. With easy access to multiple horse racing betting sites, you can quickly compare the odds and lock in the best price.

Besides opening as many accounts as possible and shopping around for the best racing odds, we must reinforce the importance of joining a horse racing betting site with best odds guaranteed. This concession can enhance profits significantly, as you get the bigger of the price taken or starting price.

Identify Steamers and Drifters

Horse racing betting odds can change in the blink of an eye in the moments leading up to post time. If there is a lot of money coming in for a horse, its odds decrease. Likewise, if there is little interest in a certain horse, then its odds will increase to a price which becomes attractive to punters. But just how important are market moves when betting on horse racing online? Very important, actually.

A steamer is a horse whose odds continue to contract. It means there has been a big influx of money on the horse, and bookmakers shorten their prices to try and control their liabilities should the horse win. A drifter is the opposite – a horse whose odds are getting bigger from their opening position. Horse racing betting sites combat this by increasing the odds to attract more bets on the horse, with the aim of balancing their books.

We strongly recommend watching the horse racing betting odds in the moments before a race. Steamers and drifters can tell you a lot about the state of a horse. For instance, a well turned out horse may impress onlookers so much that they all rush to back it. On the other hand, horses who act up on their way to the start may scare off potential backers and their odds drift as a result of their behaviour.

Follow Horse Racing Tipsters

Walk into any high street bookmaker and it is odds on that you’ll bump into a so-called horse racing tipster. They’ll advise you to put your house on a ‘cert’ in one of today’s races. Should you trust their judgement, or assess the race yourself?

It takes a lot of time to assess races, which isn’t ideal for those with a busy schedule. However, horse racing tipsters seem to be everywhere nowadays. Many tipsters have a large following on social media, suggesting they pick more winners than donkeys, and their tips may be the perfect solution if you want to back a few horses without investing too much time analysing the races.

You can follow horse racing tipsters for free on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. They have dedicated pages, where they tell you their hottest tips of the day, share winning bet slips from followers, and much more.

The internet is also awash with premium horse racing tipping services. These tipsters operate professional websites, where subscribers pay for access to their horse racing tips. Some of these tipsters are serious players who have strong connections with horse racing trainers and jockeys.

If time is on your side, you can always make your own horse racing predictions. Check out our list of the best horse racing betting resources to take your knowledge to a new level and pick more winners.

Current Form of the Horse

In horse racing, form is a record of a horse’s performance in previous races. Form figures indicate whether the horse is on a winning streak, placing but failing to notch a win, posting inconsistent results, or running so badly that you know its only making up the numbers. However, form only shows historical results. Horses can fall from grace or improve exponentially from one meeting to the next.

The best UK horse racing betting sites show form figures in the racecard, alongside other details such as the horse’s name, jockey, trainer, age, weight, and current betting odds. Form figures read from right to left, with the rightmost number indicating the horse’s most recent result. Using ‘342211’ as an example, this means the horse has two wins and a second-place finish from its three most recent outings.

Trainer Nuances and Behaviours

Racehorse trainers are responsible for the daily care and conditioning of all the horses in their stable. Owners pay trainers substantial sums to get their horses in prime condition to win races. If you watch a lot of racing, you will appreciate the importance of understanding trainer nuances and behaviours. No two trainers are the same; each have their own methodologies and knowing this can help you profit.

How sharp are their young horses on debut? Does the trainer have a good record at this time of year? Does the trainer have a good strike rate at a particular racecourse? These are all questions you should ask before betting on a race. Horse racing betting sites always tell you who trains each horse, so learn everything you can about racehorse trainers in the UK and you might spot a value bet or two.

Ground Conditions

Horse racing is a year-round sport in the UK, with races taking place in a variety of weather conditions. The weather impacts the ground conditions, and it is one of the biggest factors that affect a horse’s performance. The clerk of the course is responsible for publishing a TurfTrax GoingStick reading on the morning of the meeting. The best horse racing betting sites in the UK state the going in each racecard.

The going is the description of ground conditions at a racecourse. Descriptions include soft, heavy, good to soft, good to firm, firm, and hard. Firm ground is common in summer months, with a dry surface creating fast racing conditions. Heavy ground is the result of significant rainfall, creating slow and unpredictable racing conditions. The going plays a significant part in the pace of a horse race and shaping the betting odds.

Race Types and Handicapping

If you haven’t grown up in racing circles, then we suggest learning how race types, class and handicapping affect races. In the UK, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) is responsible for assigning an official rating to each horse. This rating determines whether a horse is eligible to run in certain races. Flat racing and National Hunt racing have different scales and a different number of class divisions.

The best UK betting sites for horse racing state the classification of each race in the racecard. But how can you use this information to profit from races? If a horse has been successful in Class 3 company but is stepping up to Class 2 company for the first time, then it might struggle against tougher opposition. However, the handicap system ensures the horse carries less weight than if running in a lower grade.

Track Direction

Not all races are run in the same direction. Most UK horse races are run left-handed (anti-clockwise), including those run at Chepstow, Newbury and Southwell. However, some racecourses have right-handed (clockwise) tracks, such as Ascot, Goodwood and Kempton Park. But why should you care about the track direction when betting on horse racing? Well, there’s a few reasons.

In Flat races, track direction can pose a problem for hoses running in a different direction for the first time. The horse may run wide at the bend, which can be the difference between winning and finishing last in sprint races. In National Hunt racing, not all horses jump straight. If a horse veers right when jumping on a left-handed racecourse, the horse ultimately covers a greater distance than its rivals.

Breeding

Why should you care about a racehorse’s parents? The genes of the sire (father) and dam (mother) alone determine the traits of their offspring. Knowing the horse’s pedigree can give you an advantage when betting on horse racing online, especially in those early career starts. Since retiring to stud, Frankel, one of the greatest horses of all time, has sired superstars such as Adayar and Hurricane Lane.

Successful horse racing punters consider the influence of the sire when betting on young horses. Sire statistics include distance, ground, age and ability to win on debut. But what about the dam? There is a common perception that female horses are inferior to males, as they are generally smaller and weaker. This is known as female gender bias. However, Azeri and Zenyatta were female superstars of the sport.

Draw Bias

Flat races in the UK utilise starting stalls. They are the horse racing equivalent of starting blocks used by sprinters in athletics. Stalls ensure all horses start at the same time, avoiding any of them getting an unfair advantage. A draw takes place to determine which stall each horse starts the race from. But with racecourses varying by shape and size, it’s vital you understand the impact of the draw in horse racing.

Each racecourse exhibits varying degrees of draw bias. For instance, Chester Racecourse is one of the oldest and smallest racecourses in the UK. A low draw is advantageous because it’s the equivalent of running a bend, whereas a high draw is the equivalent of running further. Horse racing bookmakers include the draw beside each horse’s name and number, so use the information to your advantage.

Horse Racing Odds

You must understand how to measure value in horse racing to be a profitable punter. As horse racing betting odds can move significantly in a short period of time, you must be able to identify what odds represent value for each runner in the field – and remember that favourites don’t always win. One lucky punter won £3,000 by putting their faith in He Knows No Fear to become the first-ever 300/1 winner in horse racing at Leopardstown in August 2020.

Of course, you may come across multiple runners whose odds you believe are under-priced. Multiple value in horse racing means it can often be profitable to back more than one runner. Your mission is to identify horses whose odds exceed their true chance of success. Circumstances in which multiple value is likely to exist include large flat races, front runners and hold up horses, and those unknown on the ground.

The Dutching System

Arguably the most famous of all horse racing systems, dutching involves betting on multiple outcomes in the same event as opposed to just one. Basically, you spread your chances of winning across multiple selections with the aim of winning the same amount, regardless of the winner of the race. Therefore, we recommend using a dutching calculator to ensure you bet the correct amount on each horse.

For instance, you might want to win £30 from a race. You bet £7.50 on the favourite at 3/1 and £10 on an outsider at £2.50. Your total outlay is £10, and a win for either horse means you receive £30.

Beaten Favourite System

The favourite-longshot bias is a theory which suggests punters will be more profitable backing short odds runners as opposed to longshots. However, favourites don’t always win. Who remembers Tree Of Liberty becoming the shortest-priced loser in horse racing history in 2018 as a 1/20 shot in the three-runner Alfa Aggregate Novices’ Chase at Ludlow? Many other odds-on favourites have lost.

But favourites losing can also present an opportunity. When a red-hot favourite loses, there may be less money behind it for its next race and it may have longer odds at UK horse racing betting sites. This often results in classy horses being under-priced (their odds are longer than they should be), and you can take advantage by capitalising on the bigger odds.