
Best sites to bet the horse racing favourites
Below you can find the top 3 bookmakers that you can bet the horse racing favourites. We chose them by evaluating the odds and payouts for the market leaders as well as whether they offer enhanced odds on them.
Players Rating: (12 Rates) 8.6
Players Rating: (12 Rates) 8.6
What does 'horse racing favourites' mean
A favourite is simply the horse with the shortest price. Market leaders have the smallest odds because it is believed they have the highest chance of winning the race. There can be more than one favourite. If there are two, then these are called joint-favourites. Should there be more than two horses at the head of the betting at the same price, then they are called co-favourites.
How often do the horse racing favourites win
Race Type | Runners | Favourite Wins | Favourite Strike Rate |
Handicaps (all types) | 35,051 | 9,000 | 25.68% |
All-Weather Stakes | 4,754 | 1,905 | 40.07% |
Flat Tire Stakes | 9,531 | 3,626 | 38.04% |
Hurdles | 6,652 | 2,764 | 41.55% |
National Hunt Flat | 1,178 | 392 | 33.28% |
Steeplechases | 3,574 | 1,492 | 41.91% |
Average Favourite Strike Rate | 31.69% |
Horse racing trends to look out for

What do the odds on a favourite tell you
Behind the odds, for every horse, there is implied probability. Specific races are only run once a year, but this model shows you how many times a horse would need to run the race to win. For example, a horse returned at 3/1 (4.00) was thought to have a chance of winning the race once in four attempts. The implied probability, therefore, is 25%. Even-money (2.00) favourites have a far greater chance. They are thought to win once in every two attempts, which is an implied probability of 50%.
Best odds horse racing bookies
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Benefits and drawbacks of backing favorites
The first plus side to backing a favourite is they have the highest implied probability of winning. In theory, you have the best chance of winning. If the market speaks in favour of a horse, then it is likely that most other bettors are supporting it too. You can feel confident if the majority have reached the same conclusion and fancy the horse. Horse racing favourites are often the horses best suited by race terms; so, if they have form, fitness and other reasons to support them, it makes sense to do so.
What to look out for before betting on favourites
The form is key to every horse race. You don’t know for sure what a horse will do in its next race, but you can make informed choices based upon past performances. Particular attention should be given to how a favourite has done over the course and distance for the race in question. What conditions and surface does it act best on? A favourite who is switched from turf to the all-weather may not like the artificial ground underfoot.
You have to consider how a horse’s trainer and jockey have been doing lately, too. Also, if a horse has to carry a penalty for previous success, that makes things harder. How well-handicapped is the favourite? If there looks to be further improvement to come, then it could be worth siding with. Is the race its real target or just prep for another event in the future? All of these are things you must look out for before betting on the favourite.
Varying your stakes

What are false favourites
There are also times when it is worth taking the favourite on. False favourites exist because betting traders are only giving their opinions based on similar data and questions that you should be using and asking when looking at racehorses. However, people can reach different conclusions from the same information. Learning how to spot a false favourite is part of your horse racing betting education.
Is betting on the second favourite a better option
How many second favourites win horse races? Recent studies showed that the horse behind the market leader wins about 20% of the time. That is roughly one in every five races. Such horses can still be prominent in the betting market. The closer a horse is in price to the favourite, then the more of a danger, the bookmakers believe it to be. A 2nd favourite may be a better option, but it is all relative. If the favourite is definite but the next horse in the betting weak, then it doesn’t make sense to back a drifting second favourite for the win. What these horses can be, however, is each-way or forecast value and considering alternative betting markets to just a straight win is something you should do.
Should you always bet on the favourite
The short answer is no. There will be times when you simply cannot make a case against the favourite in a horse race, no matter how hard you try. In such scenarios, however, there may be little or no value supporting it for a win, especially if the horse is odds-on (shorter than 2.00).
Is there value backing favourites: by Book Spy

Full list of horse racing betting sites
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