Best prices

[tel21]

I know that Betfair is recommended when backing horses, but if for some reason you can only get your bet on in a betting shop, generally speaking is it better to take an early price or just take the SP at the off? I realise I may well be showing my naivety here :)

[paul183195]

some bookmakers let you take the early price and if the s.p. is bigger they will give you that. my advice would be to look around your local bookies and see who offers the best deal for you

[paul183195]

i may be wrong but horses tend to be a better price at s.p than in the mornings

[mathare]

There is no definitive answer here I'm afraid.

If you're limited to betting shops then you're taking the worst of it by not having the exchanges as an option and by being unable to shop around online for the best price. But assuming that limitation is in place then some horses will drift and some will shorten so there is no right or wrong answer here. But there are some guiding factors, such as horses heavily tipped in the press will probably (but not always) come in from the early price. Similarly horses ridden by heavily-fancied jockeys such as Dettori and McCoy. That said, the early prices will often take these factors into account and be short anyway.

What I suggest you do is note when you took an early price and compare it to SP at some point. Then as time goes on monitor whether you'd be better off overall using early prices or SP.

There's not much else I can say here really.

[tel21]

Thanks for the info. I should be able to use the exchanges in the long-term, however I wanted find out the situation re best prices with High St bookies in the meantime. I'm a total novice as regards betting exchanges - anyone have any hints or tips?