Understanding betting on a horse to win or to get placed (finishing in a position that will generate a return) is a lot more straightforward than getting your head around Laying (betting not to win).

We think we all understand that the winner of a race is the horse that finishes first or is declared the winner after any disputes or photo finishes are settled.
To bet on this horse to win whether it is on a Betting Exchange, Betting shop or even the Tote is pretty easy. You see the horse’s name and you take the odds on offer or put in an offer if you are using an exchange, life couldn’t be simpler.

We use 2 methods for making the selections, win & place (1) and win & place (2). If there are 2 selections made for a race then we do them both without trying to choose between them.

We will not accept a price of less than 2.0 (decimal odds)for a win only bet. This is known as "evens" and effectively means that for each £1 you risk, you will receive £1 + your original £1 back if the selection wins. We will only take a win only bet if the market price is over 2.0 for that selection and will not take on a win only bet if the price is under this minimum.

Placed position only betting is pretty much the same as win only betting but it allows your selection to come second, third or even fourth and still get something back over and above what you staked.
The downside to this chance to benefit from not quite making it is that the prices paid are considerably lower than a straight bet to win and for obvious reasons.

The number of places depends on the number of horses in the race.
Without splitting hairs the general rule is up to 4 horses it is win only, 5 to 7 horses it is 1st & 2nd, 8 to 15 horses it is 1st, 2nd & 3rd and finally anything over 16 horses will pay out on the first 4.

We are happy with placed position betting even allowing for the much reduced prices on offer, although we will only accept prices over 1.8. This means that for every £1 we risk, the minimum we will receive our £1 + 80P winnings if the horse gets placed. Where the price is under 1.8, but over 1.5, for a placed position bet then the stake will be added to the win only which in effect doubles the size of the win only bet, so long as this price is over 2.0 of course.

If the placed position price is below is below 1.5 then we just go for the win only, assuming that is over the 2.0 minimum and the stake not used for the placed position is kept back.

You can of course opt for each way betting. This is effectively a win only bet and a place bet put together, but the place bet price could be a 1/4 or a 1/5 or even a 1/6 of the stated odds. You should check this before placing the bet.

As we said earlier the availability of betting to win is not an issue but places only betting is restricted to the Totes (UK & Ireland), the Exchanges and only a few Betting shops.
If you are at the races then you can use the Totes very easily without the need for an account, but it does pay to have an account with either of the Totes or a Betting Exchange to take out place bets.

There is a distinct difference in how the Totes and Betting Exchanges handle place betting.

The Totes run “pools” and these are literally pools of money that have been bet on the race that are then divided up by the number of people who bet on each of the horses that ended up getting placed.
The number of people who have correctly chosen each of the placed horses directly affects the price. The prices displayed before a race are not necessarily the price you will receive if the horse gets placed. This is because it is not until the total numbers of winners are calculated that a price can be declared.

For example: you would imagine that a lot of people would pick the favourite to at least get placed in a race and if it does the price would be pretty low to reflect this.
On the other hand a complete outsider, who no-one thought stood a chance, coming in the places would merit a much higher price because not that many people would have picked it.

Using the Tote place pool betting facility runs the risk of ending up with a return of less than our minimum 1.8. To reduce this risk we wait until the last moment before placing the bet and build in a safety factor of at least 10% above the minimum. So when we are at the racecourse and the price is heading below 2.0 we tend to sit it out. We shy away from betting on horses with place prices of over 5.0 due because on balance these tend not to get placed and don't justify the risk.

Betting Exchanges run markets for place betting as they do with straight win only betting. You use them exactly the same way as you would for laying, but with the obvious difference being you are looking for the horse to win and not lose.
It is worth taking some time to wander around an Exchange site and see these markets in action before ever taking the plunge for real.

There are no hard and fast rules as to which is best for prices and again all we can say is that we have accounts with both and compare them before deciding which to go for.

Our simple rules with betting to win & place are:

• We only bet on to win when selections priced over 2.0 (evens)
• We only bet on placed position selections that are over 1.8 but not if they go over 5.0. If the price of the placed positiononly bet is under 1.8, but over 1.5, then this stake is added to the win only bet, assuming that the win only price is also over 2.0. If it under 1.5 then we just go for the win only and keep back the placed position stake.
• Never increase stakes
• Have no fear of walking away once a profit has been made.
• Don't Panic.