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I'm very much a novice on the horse betting, but I have been dabbling with SkyBet's Extra Place races with some moderate success over a small sample.
These are typically 12 horse races (and must have at least 10 runners) with 4 places paid at 1/5 odds for the place.
Is that good for us punters? If so how would you be looking to take advantage?
I have been betting 2 horses both e/w at odds where I will at least get my money back on the place.
There are usually a few horses we can totally rule out and I try and pick races with only 1 or 2 at shorter odds than my shortest selection but with some reason to oppose. I tend to pick one at around 5/1 and one at least 8/1 with a decent place record and hopefully some course/distance form.
So far I have 1 winner, 7 places (3 of those 4th) and 2 unplaced which is a nice return. Probably beginners luck though so I am very interested in your thoughts and anyone else for that matter.
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Comments
Hi Phantom,
You have definitely latched on something that Sky Bet offer as a loss leader and therefore, by definition, they should lose and you should win. That ought to happen whichever horses you pick as the offer is so good.
In order to maximise your profits you'd be better concentrating on races where one horse is a short price, perhaps 3/1 or less, as now the other horses are all pushed out for the win but really their chance of placing hasn't changed much so you are getting a place bet that is even better.
The second thing I would look for is horses that have solid form...you want to know that they are likely to jump round and finish in the frame even if they don't win. I would way rather have a horse that has a history of plodding on for a place without having the class to win than one which is a bad jumper which could fall or one that is very inexperienced and running in a handicap for the first time meaning it could win by miles or just do terribly.
The third thing to note is that due to something called the favourite/longshot bias, the horses that are close to the front of the betting, (those with the shortest prices), are priced closer to their true chance of winning and those at 25/1 and up should often "really" be 100/1 or more. If you focus on those horses in the 6/1 to 12/1 bracket you will do better.
Best of luck with it all.