Spread Betting on Horse Racing - Starting Prices

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).