Horse race betting is a classic American pastime. This culture, with a base in the Kentucky heartland, has become part of the national character.
Horse racing is one of the world’s oldest sports. It has remained essentially unchanged since classical antiquity.
Betting goes hand-in-hand with horse racing. In 2008, horse race gambling generated $115 Billion. You can follow the odds for the biggest races to stay ahead of the pack.
But not all of us live in Kentucky. So we have reviewed some of the best off-track horse betting locations. We’ll go over the best horse betting sites and tell you exactly how horse betting works.
Horse Race Betting Sites
Horse betting is a classic in the betting world. If you want to get in deep with one of the biggest betting spectacles around, read ahead.
With so many betting sites for horse racing, it can be difficult to widdle down the options. We’ve gone through a number of sites to recommend the very best horse race online betting sites.
Bovada Horse Betting
Bovada is the biggest name in online horse betting. Their site is very complete and easy to use. They even offer horse racing FAQs to guide newcomers. They keep up-to-date information about upcoming races and the biggest ones of the year.
Bookmaker Horse Betting
Bookmaker is a great option for making the best horse bets. It is a modern sportsbook that accepts over forty types of cryptocurrencies.
If you bet with Bitcoin, your deposits come in faster. With the excitement and the ever-changing odds of this betting-heavy sport, having your funds available for you to use quicker could help you stay ahead of other bettors.
Intertops Horse Betting
Intertops is a solid online betting site. With sleek casinos and a superb sportsbook, you can’t go wrong. Check out their “hottest bets” on their horse racing homepage.
GT Bets Horse Betting
GT Bets is great for anyone new to horse race betting. They have their own guide and layout the rules quite nicely.
BetNow Horse Betting
BetNow has great odds. They bring them in from over 200 tracks from around the world. What more could a horse bettor want?
MyBookie Horse Betting
MyBookie keeps it simple. They offer odds and futures on all the major horse races.
Horse Betting Terms
Horse races come with a whole world of terms. It can be overwhelming as you try to figure out how horse betting works.
Now you’re here, and you finally have horse racing explained. Check out this list of horse racing terminology. It will be a great guide for anyone who is sick of feeling like a horse racing dummy.
Understanding the horse racing types and breeds is the first step to making the best horse racing bets!
Horse Race Terms
- Flat Racing: Flat Racing is the most common type of racing worldwide. The most prestigious races, such as the Kentucky Derby, are flat races. They tend to be made of turf or dirt.
Flat races do not generally have steep elevation changes and are oval in shape. Though they may also be figure-8. They are generally between 440 yards and 2.5 miles long. The most prestigious races are in the middle of this range of distance, testing both speed and endurance.
- Jump Racing: Jump racing involves obstacles that horses have to jump over. These types of races are then divided into steeplechasing and hurdles. Hurdles are obstacles more than 3.5 feet.
Steeplechasing involves a variety of obstacles over longer distances. This is considered a much harder type of race. So, only experienced horses tend to participate in these difficult races.
Horse Breed Terminology
- Thoroughbred: Thoroughbred horses are the most select of all. They can be traced back to three specific sires: the Darley Arabian, the Godolphin Arabian, and the Byerley Turk. They can measure between 15 and 17 hands. One hand is equivalent to four inches. Artificial insemination is not allowed, for a horse to be considered thoroughbred.
- Standardbred: They come from thoroughbreds, morgans, and extinct breeds. They are typically bred for harness racing and are known for their bravery.
- Arabian Horse: Arabian horses were bred by the Bedouin to accompany these nomadic people over long-distances. That’s why these horses are ideal for endurance racing. These horses were introduced to the United States in 1725, and have become a favorite.
Horse Betting Strategy
Know that you’ve become an expert in horse racing terminology, you will need to develop a horse betting strategy.
This strategy will be similar to other sports. So if you are an expert in MLB or NFL odds, you will have a leg up. Understanding odds is a transferable skill in this case.
The first thing is to always do your homework. In order to compare your predictions against the odds, you will have to understand the odds and be clear about what you think the outcome will be.
This requires not only knowing the horses and the jockeys. This is like in every sport you have to know the teams, and which players are out on injury.
In order to make the best horse racing bets, you have to also know the tracks. Is it dirt or turf? Are there uphill or downhill portions? And then know how each horse fares in these different conditions.
It is also a good idea to make different bets. This is like diversifying your portfolio. It is a strategy to mitigate risk.
This may also mean that if you make a great bet, it will get lost in the noise a bit. Then again, so will any less-than-fantastic horse bet you make.
Horse Race Betting Apps
Like the horses, we are also racing around, leading busy lives. Many of us want to be able to check results, odds, and place bets on our commute or wherever we happen to be.
All of our partners are extremely mobile-friendly. If you just go to their website with your browser on your Android or iOS device, they will automatically take you to the mobile version.
You can even login with the same account information. Just like that!
The best part is that you do not have to download anything. No app here taking up space on your phone or your home screen. Just bookmark the website and you’ll always have it at your fingertips.
