Horse Racing is still one of the most popular sports to bet on at any bookmaker, and the bookies love it too, because it is rarely easy to call. Even when there is a very short favourite, upsets frequently occur.
It’s no surprise, then, that horse racing is one of the sports that bookies give the most attention to in terms of offers and promotions.
One of the most common approaches is to offer commiseration-style promotions – offers that provide some form of consolation when your bet narrowly loses, or helps turn a losing bet into a winning one.
A lot of things can happen in a horse race, such as falls, unseated riders, shock wins or losses, photo finishes, and so on, so there a lot of different offers to cover these scenarios.
I have explained them all below.
Best Horse Racing Offers Currently Available
Where a horse refuses or whips around at the start of the race, fails to come out or loses all chance in the starting stalls, BetVictor will refund all losing bets in cash up to £100 for single bets or £1000 for multiple bets. Applies to UK and Irish racing only.
On selected meetings each day, place a bet on a horse to win and if it finishes second to the start price (SP) favourite, you could be refunded with a free bet up to £10. Applies to singles and the win part of each way singles.
On a number of selected races each day, place a single bet on the winner and of your horse finishes in second place, your stake could be refunded with a free bet up to £20. This is available from 9am on the day of the race.
The higher the finish, the more you win! To qualify for this offer, place qualifying pre-race bets on any horse race that offers the Position Payout market. This offer is available pre-race on selected Horse Racing events before the start of the first race at the relevant meeting.
Extra Places
Arguably the simplest of all of these offers are extra places. I suppose this is as much of a change in the bookmaker’s terms as an offer, but it serves the same purpose.
All racing punters know what an each way bet or a place bet is: it’s when you bet that a horse will finish in the top few spots, usually the top 3 or 4, but it depends on how many runners are in the race. Think of it like a winners podium – did your horse make it onto the podium or not?
When a bookie offers extra places, it means they will pay out beyond the standard number of places on the podium. So while one bookie might pay out on each way bets up to 4 places, another bookie offering extra places on that race might pay out up to 5 places, or even 6.
This obviously increases your chances of getting a return, because the horse doesn’t need to perform as well for your bet to pay out.
Extra places tend to be available on selected races every day, but the number of them and the value of them often increases during big racing events.
One thing to be wary of with these is the payout of the places. Usually, a horse that places is paid out at 1/4 of the odds taken, so a horse priced at 4/1 to win would pay out at evens if it placed. However, sometimes bookmakers change their payout terms to 1/5 of the odds, especially when offering extra places. This obviously reduces any potential payout, so keep an eye on this.
Faller Insurance
Is there anything more demoralising than doing all of your research before making a bet, only for your horse to fall and not complete the race?
This is where faller insurance comes in.
Usually, a bookmaker will you give your stake back as a free bet if your horse falls, so you get another chance on the same money. The free bet is often limited to a certain amount (stake refunded as free bet up to £10, for example), so anyone lumping on hundreds won’t get the same value out of this offer as a regular punter.
It doesn’t always work in exactly the same way either – for example the bookie sometimes says the horse has to fall at the last or be in front when they fall – but they all follow similar lines.
You might see identical promotions offered if your horse is brought down or unseats their rider too.
Second Place Refunds
If you bet on a horse to win outright (not an each way bet), and they come second, it’s a bit gutting, isn’t it? It will probably have been a very exciting race for you to watch, but the result is a blow.
Second place refunds soften that blow, usually by offering you a free bet equal to the amount you staked on the race. As with faller insurance though, this will be capped at a modest amount. The highest I have ever seen is £100.
It’s not always as clear cut as a second place finish either. Some bookies might stipulate you have to come second to the favourite, or second to a long shot at odds of 50/1 or more. However they structure it, the promotion essentially offers the same thing.
Beaten by a Nose
Slightly different from second place refunds, a Beaten by a Nose promotion will offer some sort of compensation if your horse loses by a nose. That’s not just an expression either, the official result will need to state that the horse was beaten by a nose. It’s not based on your opinion.
Again, the compensation offered is almost always a free bet equal to your stake up to a certain amount, however, it’s less usual for other restrictions to be included such as needing to lose to the favourite or a long odds outsider.
That’s because winning by a nose is already very rare. A nose is the tiniest possible winning margin, anything from millimetres up to a few inches. It might happen in 1 out of every 100 races.
Common Terms and Conditions
You should always check the terms and conditions of the specific offer you are taking, as each bookie works things out in their own way, but there are some very common things to be aware of.
When it comes to free bets, they will almost certainly have an expiry date. In most circumstances, that will be 7 days. If you do not use the free bet within that timeframe it will disappear and you will have lost it.
The free bet might come with additional restrictions such as having to use it on specific sports, or having to use it all in one go (i.e a £10 free bet can’t be broken down into two £5 free bets). This isn’t always the case, but it can happen.
Free bets can never be withdrawn as cash.
Any promotion based on the result will be judged on the official rulings. It is not decided by the bookmaker. Therefore, in circumstances where the specifics or a result may be contentious, it is not the bookmaker ‘screwing you over’, they are just going by the official rulings as stated in their terms.
Last thing to say, is that while most of these promotions are usually automatically triggered, there may be occasions where you need to ‘opt in’. This is as simple as visiting the bookmaker’s promotion page and clicking the opt in button on the offer you want to use, but if you don’t do it when they require you to, the promotion won’t apply to your bet.