The answer to the question “How Many Favourites Win Horse Races In The UK?” is something everyone one should know who bets on horses as it is probably the best variable for targetting potential winners. So what is the answer?
The figures below clearly show that of all the horse racing favourites over the last 5 years just under 32% won, this includes turf, NH and AW. That is pretty decent, but then when you look at the losses you would have had with a normal bookmaker to £1 stakes your eyes may pop out!!!
Runners |
Wins |
SR |
P/L Exchange |
ROI Exchange |
P/L to SP |
Lay P/L BF |
62079 |
19672 |
31.69 |
-2003.34 |
-3.23 |
-4850.76 |
-1996.08 |
Even losses with an exchange look pretty daunting, although nowhere near as bad as with a bookmaker. Losses if you laid all the favourites are huge as well.
This leads us to two other questions, and also one way of easily targetting more winners:
How Many Favourites Win Handicaps In The UK?
How Many Favourites Win Non-Handicaps In The UK?
Type |
Runners |
Wins |
SR |
P/L Exchange
|
P/L to SP |
Lay P/L Exchange
|
HANDICAP |
35051 |
9000 |
25.68 |
-1184.32 |
-3122.59 |
-1270.7 |
NON HANDICAP |
27028 |
10672 |
39.48 |
-818.72 |
-1728.17 |
-725.09 |
Now we see something not a lot of people in High Street bookmakers are aware of. The fact that out of all the Favourites that run in non-handicap races, nearly 40% win!!
The picture gets a bit mudddied when I tell you that both sets have a negative exchange ROI of 3%. So in reality although the SR’s of both are far apart, they actually both produce the same losses, and this is because non-handicap favourites start at lower prices.
Let us concentrate soley on the non-handicap winners from here on, and we will split the stats into turf,NH and AW and see if anything stands out.
Race Type |
Runners |
Wins |
SR |
P/L Exchange |
P/L to SP |
Lay P/L Exc |
A/W |
4754 |
1905 |
40.07 |
-111.35 |
-297.93 |
-159.89 |
Chase |
3574 |
1498 |
41.91 |
-103.28 |
-212.9 |
-91.93 |
Hurdle |
6652 |
2764 |
41.55 |
-206.54 |
-382.1 |
-159.25 |
NHF |
1178 |
392 |
33.28 |
-115.69 |
-161.65 |
44.9 |
Turf |
9531 |
3626 |
38.04 |
-249.91 |
-582.95 |
-309.31 |
Well the one thing that stands out here is that you need to be extremely careful when getting involved with National Hunt Flat races (NHF). The other 4 categories are fine, but as chase and hurdle races shower a higher edge we will dig a little deeper into individual race types. The reason for additional edge with jump racing Favourites is that the form is more reliable with most horses running year after year.
Type |
Runners |
Wins |
SR |
P/L Exchange |
ROI Exchange |
P/L to SP |
ROI to SP |
Lay P/L Exc
|
Lay ROI Exc
|
Amateur |
38 |
13 |
34.21 |
0.22 |
0.59 |
-1.72 |
-4.53 |
-2.8 |
-7.37 |
Auction |
8 |
6 |
75 |
5.08 |
63.55 |
4.71 |
58.88 |
-5.56 |
-69.46 |
Chase |
3569 |
1496 |
41.92 |
-105.22 |
-2.95 |
-214.02 |
-6 |
-89.58 |
-2.51 |
Claiming |
155 |
52 |
33.55 |
-21.35 |
-13.77 |
-23.58 |
-15.21 |
12.51 |
8.07 |
Classified |
15 |
7 |
46.67 |
6.98 |
46.52 |
5.71 |
38.09 |
-8.17 |
-54.44 |
Conditions |
95 |
41 |
43.16 |
3.85 |
4.05 |
0.23 |
0.24 |
-9.29 |
-9.78 |
EBF |
20 |
8 |
40 |
-3.78 |
-18.91 |
-3.61 |
-18.06 |
2.75 |
13.75 |
Fillies |
36 |
14 |
38.89 |
-2.79 |
-7.75 |
-3.98 |
-11.06 |
0.68 |
1.89 |
Grade 1 |
254 |
106 |
41.73 |
-1.57 |
-0.62 |
-10.25 |
-4.04 |
-13.03 |
-5.13 |
Grade 2 |
412 |
156 |
37.86 |
-62.22 |
-15.1 |
-71.23 |
-17.29 |
41.18 |
9.99 |
Grade 3 |
113 |
47 |
41.59 |
-2.35 |
-2.08 |
-5.91 |
-5.23 |
-4.09 |
-3.62 |
Hunters |
308 |
127 |
41.23 |
0.5 |
0.16 |
-9.68 |
-3.14 |
-18.49 |
-6 |
Hurdle |
6651 |
2764 |
41.56 |
-205.54 |
-3.09 |
-381.1 |
-5.73 |
-160.2 |
-2.41 |
Juvenile |
529 |
212 |
40.08 |
-57.92 |
-10.95 |
-69.76 |
-13.19 |
29.56 |
5.59 |
Listed |
89 |
38 |
42.7 |
-7.06 |
-7.93 |
-9.25 |
-10.4 |
2.5 |
2.81 |
Maiden |
2380 |
912 |
38.32 |
-66.54 |
-2.8 |
-135.52 |
-5.69 |
-72.31 |
-3.04 |
Mares |
761 |
281 |
36.93 |
-84.45 |
-11.1 |
-103.81 |
-13.64 |
42.4 |
5.57 |
Novice |
4426 |
1965 |
44.4 |
-148.03 |
-3.34 |
-256.78 |
-5.8 |
-83.01 |
-1.88 |
Rated |
4 |
3 |
75 |
4.15 |
103.73 |
4 |
100 |
-4.47 |
-111.75 |
Selling |
440 |
167 |
37.95 |
22.87 |
5.2 |
6.57 |
1.49 |
-50.04 |
-11.37 |
In order to make use of the above table you need to target those races that are either showing a profit already, and remember these are based on favourites (including joint), non-handicap races over jumps. You also want to pay close attention to any showing a small loss with less than -2% ROI, as a bit of targetting on your part should easily turn them into profits.
Using the information here you should have no problem putting together a profitable horse racing system.