Spread Betting on Horse Racing - Match Bets

What Are Match Bets?

A Match Bet spread bet is a prediction of the distance separating two horses when they cross the line. The market is a supremacy market, where the more fancied horse is listed first and the less fancied horse second. The maximum winning distance on the flat is 12 lengths and 15 lengths for national hunt races. The market can have a negative result. If both horses fail to finish the race the match is void.

The spread betting firm specify a distance they think one horse will beat another horse by in a particular race. If you feel the first horse will win by a greater distance you would bet high (buy) on the Match Bet market. If you feel the second horse will perform better than their quote you would bet low (Sell) on the Match Bet market.

It doesn't matter what position the two horses finish in the race, it is only the distance between between the two that counts.

Example Of How It Works

To illustrate this bet we'll take a look at the York Ebor Stakes:

You'll see that in the Racing Post forecast they have Group Captain and Minkowski at 12/1. Sporting Index have therefore created a Match Bet market between these two horses.

Sporting Index give Minkowski a slight edge over Group Captain. In their spread they think it will finish ½ to 1½ lengths ahead.

If you felt one of the Minkowski would finish further ahead you would Buy the market at the higher figure of 1.5 quoted in the Sporting Index spread. If you felt Group Captain would finish less ½ length behind or in front of Minkowski, you would Sell at the lower figure of 0.5. If Group Captain beats Minkowski the final points total would be a negative amount.

Your stake will depend upon your personal circumstances and how much you like to risk. The important thing to remember is the amount you stake is not the amount you stand to win or lose on the race. The stake entered is the amount per point. E.g. If you were to Buy £10 at 1.5 and Minkowski beat Group Captain by 4 lengths you would win £25, £10 x 9 (4 - 1.5). However if Group Captain beat Minkowski by 2 lengths you would lose £25, £10 x 2.5 (0.5 - -2).

In the actual race you'll see Minkowski finished fourth and Group Captain was 10th. But what's important for the Match Bet market was how far Minkowski finished in front of Group Captain. The Racing Post results show the distance between each horse finishing the race.

We can work out the distance between 4th and 10th was made up of a short head (0.1 length), 1¾ lengths, 3½, 1¾, a neck (0.3 lengths) and another neck (0.3 Lengths). If we add them all together we get 0.1 + 1.75 + 3.5 + 1.75 + 0.3 +0.3 = 7.7 lengths. Of course Sporting Index will automatically workout the distance for you.

If you'd brought on the Match Bet spread at 1.5 points at £10 you'd have made a profit of £62, £10 x 6.2 (7.7 - 1.5). If you'd sold at 0.5 points you'd have made a loss of £72, £10 x 7.2 (7.7 - 0.5).

Example 2

As a second example if we look at the York 3.10 Race:

You'll see that in the Racing Post forecast Silkwood was 9/4 and Allegretto was 10/1.

Sporting Index created a Match Bet market between these two horses. In their spread they put Silkwood to beat Allegretto by a distance of 1½ to 2½ lengths.

In the actual race you'll see Allegretto finished second and Silkwood was last of the 7.

The distances between the two were 5 lengths, 1¼, ½, ½ and ½, giving a total of 7¾ lengths. You'll see Sporting Index represent this a a negative figure because on their spread they had Silkwood as the more fancied horse.

When calculating the profit/loss on this bet you need to remember the result went against the more fancied runner, If you'd brought on the Match Bet spread at 2.5 points at £10 you'd have made a loss of £102.50, £10 x 10.25 (2.5 - -7.75). If you'd sold at 1.5 points you'd have made a profit of £92.50, £10 x 9.25 (1.5 - -7.75).