A Betting Guide to the QIPCO Guineas Festival at Newmarket

Horse Racing bets

For many, placing bets on races is part of the thrill of the experience. The sight of the horses bolting down the track and round the corners is made more exciting when you have a few bets on and the rush of adrenaline makes the race even more breath-taking.
Betting on horses is not a new phenomenon, bookies have been making odds and bets for horse racing since the first official races in the early 19th century and it continues to be a popular endeavour. In the modern day and age, the popularity of horse race betting is as high as it ever was with the additional comfort of having online bookies where bettors can see odds and place ante bets without having to queue up at the racetrack on the same day.
Here at mr.play we offer our customers a wide range of horse racing bets, with some of the most competitive odds in the market. When placing bets ahead of time, we have ante bets on any horse to win any of the upcoming events, but when the event draws nearer, a number of new markets will open.
There are three standard bets that can be placed on races, these are the Win, Place and Each-Way bets. The win is a straight bet on which horse will win the race, this bet can be placed on any of the horses and each will have its own odds that are determined by factors such as the horse's age, form, track preference, distance preference, jockey's history and more.
The place bet is a safer bet to make as it backs a horse to finish in either first or second place. Coming with lower odds, the risk of a last minute disappointment is reduced as the bet will still pay out if the horse finishes in second place. This bet is useful in situations where it is more difficult to determine a favourite because there may be two or more horses that could contend for the win.
Each-way is a bet that backs a horse to win, but will also pay out a portion of the winnings if the horse finishes second. It is comparable with the place bet in that the horse can finish in either place, though the each-way bet will pay higher if the horse wins, whereas the place bet will pay higher if the horse finishes in second place.
Horse racing bets have higher odds than most sporting events, as there are more contenders involved than a football match or game of tennis, though there are some bets which have far higher odds than the standard bets. For those who feel they have the edge and can predict more than just the winner, or those bettors who want to try their luck; there are a number of exotic bets that offer some truly outstanding odds. The Exacta, Quinella, Trifecta and Superfecta are far more specific bets that offer massive odds.
The Exacta is a bet on which horses will finish in first and second place, in the correct order. The Trifecta is a bet on which horses will finish in first, second and third place, and also needs to be predicted in the correct order. The Superfecta is a bet on which horses will finish in the first, second, third and fourth place in the correct order. The Quinella is a "boxed" bet, in which the bet is on which horses will finish in first and second place but do not need to be in the correct order. The odds for each bet will reflect the difficulty of winning it; the Superfecta being the most difficult has the highest odds.

How to Bet

There are a number of ways to choose which horse to bet on: some people will simply choose based upon the horses’ names but to improve your chances of winning, there are several factors that you should be considering. Researching individual horses may be useful, especially the form of the horse going into the race, the horse's track and distance preferences, the weather conditions on the day, the horse's previous experience on the track (if they have run it before) and the form of the jockey. These criteria may be helpful when forming a bet that has improved chances of winning.

Ignore Prep Runs

There are a couple of other factors that may help when placing a bet. The prep runs are never a good point of reference when it comes to how the horse will perform on race day. Most of the top trainers decide to not give their horses a prep run as they do not want to risk their horse in a non-competitive race. The Craven Meeting and Greenham Stakes are two runs that take place 2 or 3 weeks before the main event, and trainers are wary of entering their horses into the race because an injury would almost certainly rule out the horse for the bigger races.

Research Two Year Old Horses

Another important point is to never rule out two year old horses. A number of two year old colts have won the 2,000 Guineas Stakes and 1,000 Guineas Stakes before, and though they will not have a long list of victories for reference going into the race, they may have the right hunger and determination to cause an upset. It is never easy to predict whether a two year old horse will make an impact in the race, but it is always worth considering as they will not be high on the list of favourites and therefore offer very generous odds should they win.

QIPCO Guineas Festival Betting

Until the official entries are published, it is not easy to do research on specific horses. There are, however, some indicators that may help when it comes to which horses to follow in the races preceding the event.
Aidan O’Brien has the most wins as a trainer, and surely he will want to extend his record. Any horse that is trained by the award winning trainer will certainly be in contention for the win. Frank Dettori, Donnacha O'Brien, Kevin Manning, Wayne Lordan and Ryan Moore are jockeys who have won multiple times in both of the races. Ryan Moore has won the 2,000 Guineas Stakes 2 times and the 1,000 Guineas Stakes 4 times. Usually looking at the jockeys is also a good indication of which horses may be running.