What Is A Starting Prices Bet?
A Starting Prices spread bet is a prediction of the total starting prices
of all the winners, at a particular meeting. For example a 5/1 winner
counts as 5 points, a 7/2 winner counts as 3.5 points etc. It's a nice
bet, as it gives you an interest in all races at a particular meeting
and gives you more than one horse to shout for in each race.
If you feel the fancied horses will do well at a particular meeting,
you would bet low (Sell) on the Starting Prices market, as the shorter
the price of the winners the lower the total. If you think the outsiders
have a chance of upsetting the odds, you would bet high (Buy).
Example Of How It Works
To illustrate this bet we'll take a look at the racecard at the York
Ebor meeting:
There were 7 races on the card, ranging from 7 to 20 runners. Before
the start of racing Sporting
Index priced the market up with a spread of 55 58.
If you felt Sporting
Index had priced the spread too high for the meeting you would Sell the market at the lower figure
of 55 quoted in their spread. If you felt their spread was too low, you
would Buy at the higher figure of
58.
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 amount per point. E.g. If you were to Buy £5 at 58 and the total
finished at 65 you would win £35, £5 x 7 (65 - 58). However
if the total finished at 50 you would lose £40, £5 x 8 (58
- 50).
The Starting Prices market remains active throughout the race meeting. Sporting
Index update the spread after each of the races, adjusting it
up or down depending upon the earlier results. This is a great aspect
of spread betting in that it enables you to take a profit, if the spread
moves in your favour, or cut your loses, if the spread moves against you.
Race One
The first race was won by Greek Well at odds of 8/1, which meant
it scored 8 points towards the Starting Prices total.
Although at first glance it seems a fairly big price, it was actually
the 3rd favourite in the race, so it's price had been pretty much
on par with what was expected. Sporting
Index adjusted their spread down slightly to 54 - 57. |
 |
Race Two
The second race was won by Sir Gerry at odds of 4/1, adding 4 points
to the total of 12 points after two races.
Again pretty much as expected and Sporting
Index again adjusted their spread down slightly to 53 -
56. |
 |
Race Three
The third race was won by the favourite Purple Moon at odds of
7/2, adding another 3.5 points to the total of 15.5 points after
three races.
With the favourite winning it was the smallest increase possible
to the Starting Prices market and consequently Sporting
Index made a bigger adjusted to their spread down to 45
- 48. |
 |
At this point if you'd initially sold on the market at 55 you could lock
in a profit by buying on the revised spread at 48. A stake of £5
a point would have given a profit of £35. However if you'd brought
on the original spread at 58, you'd now have to sell at 45 to cancel the
bet, which with a stake of £5, would have incurred a loss of £65.
Of course you don't have to close your bet out and with 4 more races still
to run there's still for a few bigger priced winners.
Race Four
The fourth race was won by the odds on favourite, Peeping Fawn,
at odds of only 4/9 it added just 0.4 points to the total of 15.9
points after four races.
Not too much of a disaster for those who'd brought, with the favourite
being such a short price it had been fairly well factored in to
the Starting Prices market already. Sporting
Index reduced the spread slightly to 43 - 45. |
 |
Race Five
The fifth race was won by another favourite, Captain Gerrard. At
odds of 6/4 it added only another 1.5 points to the total of 17.4
points after five races.
With the third favourite in a row winning it was now looking an
excellent decision for anyone who sold on the original spread. Sporting
Index reduced the spread further to 37 - 39. |
 |
Race Six
The sixth race was won Moynahan at odds of 5/1, which added 5 more
points to the total of 22.4 points after six races.
Moynahan was the second favourite in the race, so it was another
great result for those who'd sold. Sporting
Index reduced their spread even further, to 33.5 - 34.5.
At a stake of £5 a point you'd have been able to close out
the bet with a profit of £102.50, £5 x 20.5 (55 - 34.5).
Anyone having brought on this market would have been looking at
a pretty big loss at this point. |
 |
Race Seven
The seventh race was won at a big price by Northern Fling, at odds
of 25/1 it more than doubled the total to give a final tally of
47.4 points.
This would have been welcome relief for anyone who'd brought on
the initial spread and had held their nerve to the end. |
 |
The total of 47.4 finished below the initial quote of 55 - 58 from Sporting
Index. If you'd bet low you would have been on a winner throughout,
although the result in the last race would have taken some of the gloss
off the winnings. This illustrates an important aspect of spread betting,
that it can be a good plan to lock in your profits before the end of an
event. A £5 stake would have ended up with a profit of £38
, £5 x 7.6 (55 - 47.4). Compare that with the £102.50 profit
that could have been taken before the final race.
If you had bet high, at no point would you have had the opportunity to
sell out for a profit. Things got steadily worse with each race, but the
result in the last race would have cheered you up considerably. A £5
stake would have ended up with a loss of £53, £5 x 10.6 (58
- 47.4). |
