The Five Most Popular Horseracing Bets on Sky Bet Explained

If you are an experienced punter then it’s sometimes hard to remember that there was a time when everybody was just starting life as a punter. With cross-platform sites like SkyBet now attracting people who predominantly played slots, casino games, bingo or poker, as well as an influx of people new to betting, sometimes it is a great idea to refresh the basics.

In this article, we are going to do precisely that by looking at five of the most common, popular and easiest to place horse racing bets you can find on the popular SkyBet website. Remember, if you haven’t done so already, you can join the site now, via Sky Poker, and claim the exciting Sky new player offer.

So without any further ado, let’s assume you have your SkyBet account and some cash in it to spend on your first bet on the Sport of Kings. What are the best value and easiest to place options available to you?

Bet 1: Price Boost Specials

If you are a novice to betting on the horses and want to place a bet that you know will offer you the best possible return if successful, then the Sky Bet Price Boost options are easy to find and even easier to use.

Simply log into the Horse Racing section of the SkyBet website and at the top of the page you will see any Price Boost bets outlined by the highly recognisable yellow Price Boost badge. Next to the badge will be the details of the bet and the boosted price of the bet.

What this boosted price means is that for this selection on this specific race, SkyBet are offering punters the chance to back this horse at the stated odds, which is either the best or joint best price available from all the top UK bookmakers.

Simply put, if you place a bet with SkyBet on this selection and your horse wins, then you’ll win back more money with SkyBet than you would with any other UK bookmaker. There are many different Price Boost options available each day and they are also used across many other sports across the site, offering punters great value across a wide range of sports.

Bet 2: Alex Hammond’s Tip of the Day

If you are a novice punter then sometimes it can be a bit bewildering to log into a site and see so many races with so many different runners and so many different prices that picking the right horse to back can be somewhat daunting and confusing.

This is where the advice of an expert can come in useful and fortunately, if you are a SkyBet customer, then you have that option available to you every day with Alex Hammond’s Tip of the Day feature.

Alex Hammond is a TV presenter who works for Sky Sports as well as At The Races TV and she is married to jockey Richard Quinn. Each day she uses her knowledge of the sport to give SkyBet customers her Tip of the Day.

Backing this selection is very simple. Simply locate the Tip of the Day box on the right hand side of the screen in the main horseracing menu and then underneath the explanation as to why Alex backs this horse to win, is the odds for the selection. Simply click on the odds to add it to your bet slip and place your bet.

Remember too, if you place a bet of £1 or more on any UK or Ireland race with SkyBet, you can tune in to watch the race live via a streaming service. Just place your bet, log in just before the start of the race and you’ll be able to click on a link to bring you the live stream of the race to watch, even if it is not being shown on television.

Bet 3: To Win

Of course, you don’t have to use a feature in order to place a bet on horseracing with SkyBet and the bet most punters start their betting life with is the easiest to understand and follow. Also called betting “on the nose”, backing a horse to win a race is the simplest bet you can make.

To place this bet, you can peruse each of the days Horse Racing cards, which are freely available in the horse racing section of the SkyBet site. Peruse each of the races on a card until you find a horse that you think stands a chance of winning.

Then all you need to do is click on the odds listed in the Win/EW column. This adds that bet to your slip. Then you enter your stake in the empty Stake box and then click the Place Bet button.

Once you have completed this you have now backed that horse to win and if it wins the race, you are paid out at either the odds stated, or if the starting price is higher, you’ll be paid out at the higher price thanks to SkyBet’s Best Price Guarantee.

Bet 4: Each Way Betting

Placing an Each Way bet is different to backing a horse to win as it is essentially two bets rolled into one. Your stake must cover these two bets, with half of your stake backing the horse to win and the other half backing the horse to finish in the places.

The number of places paid out on depends on the number of runners in a race. It usually ranges from he first two horses to the first four home, though for some special races (such as the Grand National) bookies may offer each way payouts for more.

Placing an Each Way bet is completed in almost exactly the same way as a Win bet. Simply follow the steps outlined for the Win bet with just one tiny exception. Before you click the Place Bet button, simply tick the box with EW next to it. This makes your bet an each way bet.

What you will notice is that when you click the EW button, you will see “2x” appear in front of your stake. This is because an each way bet is, as we started earlier, two bets. Therefore, you will need to place two bets at that stake level.

This is important to get right as if you have, say £10 in your account and place your unit stake as £10 on an each way bet, that will cost you £20. So to place an each way bet using an account with just £10 in, you’d need a unit stake of a maximum of £5 (2 x £5= £10).

Each Way bets don’t pay out as much as winning bets, but the good news is, you can often earn a payout if your horse finishes second, third or even fourth.

Bet 5: Accumulator Betting

The final type of bet you may enjoy as a novice punter on SkyBet is an accumulator bet. This is when you string together a number of selections from across a range of races and if each of your selections win, then you win the bet.

Accumulator bets are very difficult to land, but they also offer the chance of a big payout if you manage to pick the winner of several races, especially if your selections are a healthy price.

The great thing about acca bets is that your winnings ‘roll on’ to the next bet, thus the amount you win increases markedly.

As a simple rule of thumb, let’s say you place a £10 accumulator bet called a Treble on three selections of 10/1, 6/1 and 2/1 and each of the selections wins.

Your first selection wins at 10/1 which means you win £100 plus your £10 stake returned, so on the second selection you have £110 riding on the outcome. That bet too wins at 6/1, which means you win £660 in winnings, plus your £110 stake, for a running return of £770. Then in your third and final selection, your horse romps home at 2/1. This means that you would win £1540, plus earn your £770 stake back for a total return of £2310.

The problem with accumulators is that if just one selection lets you down, you lose the bet. But they are a hugely enjoyable, low risk/high reward form of betting and you only need to land one big one to make a huge profit.

Placing an acca bet (as they are also known) is simply a case of adding selections to your betting slip and then picking the accumulator option from the multiple bets available.  Enter your stake and click the Place Bet button and your bet is on.