Betting
The betting window. It asks for three things — a formula, a type of bet, a stake — then the horses, and it displays the outlay before you confirm.
The seven types of bet and the calculation of the dividends are explained in Being a punter. This page deals with the formulas, which are the real subtlety of the screen.
When the window is open
Between the close of entries and the start. Before, it displays You cannot bet on this race yet; after the start, You can no longer bet on this race.
For an ordinary race, that leaves you a quarter of an hour. But the Prix du webmaster races leave you an hour, and competitions up to six hours. If you are starting out, begin with those: there you have time to read the field and think about your formula.
The “Start” tab: the runners' form
Before choosing anything at all, open the Start tab. It gives on each runner a piece of information you will find nowhere else — neither on the race's card, nor in the ordinary list of entrants: its recent form.
Besides the number, the horse's description, its handicap if there is one and the names of its owner and its jockey, the table carries the Last ranks column. It is what racing people call a horse's form figures: its last eight races, from the most recent to the oldest, summed up in as many characters.
- A figure is the place obtained.
- A 0 is a place of tenth or beyond.
- A D is a race the horse did not finish: a fall, or a stride break penalised in trot.
- A number in brackets is not a race but a month: that of the performances which follow it.
So 2 1 D (09) 5 0 3 4 7 reads: this month, second, first, then a race not finished; in September, fifth, outside the first ten, third, fourth, seventh. And if the form figures begin with a bracket, it means the horse has not run since that month.
Under the form figures, the last race is detailed: its date — clickable, it leads to the race as long as that one has not been purged —, then the turf, the distance, the place and the time. The Km reduction column next to it is the kilometre reduction of that race, and not the horse's record: read it with the turf and the distance that precede it, without which it does not mean much.
What the form says, and what it does not
A run of low, regular places means a horse in form, entered at its own level. A run of 0s means a horse out of its class, being made to run events that are too hard — or one that is not up to the day's field.
But it has three blind spots you should know about:
- It does not say against whom. A first place in a small field is not worth a fourth in a cup with twenty runners. The form gives places, not the value of the opposition.
- It mixes the classes. Regulated races, free races, competitions and cups follow one another there without being distinguished; only the fun races do not appear in it.
- It does not say how fresh the horse is. Brackets close together with few races between them signal a horse that rarely runs: its current form is an unknown.
A lone D in trot is no disgrace, a stride break happens to the best. Several Ds in the same form figures, on the other hand, point to a horse that does not always finish: a poor candidate for a bet that requires all your horses to be in front, like the double win or the quinto; a good candidate for a place bet or for a range.
Once the race has started, this tab changes its content: it displays the finish, with the places and the times.
The stake
It is chosen from a list: 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1,000, 5,000 or 10,000 sulkies. It is a starting bet: depending on the formula, it will be multiplied.
Always look at the You will be spending line before confirming. It is what says what you really pay, and the gap with the starting bet can be considerable.
The four formulas
This is where the difference between a 100-sulky bet and a 4,600-sulky one is played out.
Normal
One bet, exactly the number of horses required. Outlay = the stake. Simple, legible, and it is where to begin.
Combined
You designate more horses than are needed, and the game plays every possible combination between them. Each combination is a bet in its own right, so the outlay is multiplied by as much.
A combined trio on 5 horses is ten combinations — ten times the stake. On 6 horses, twenty. The progression is brutal: the combined is limited to ten horses, and well before that limit the outlay becomes unreasonable. Count before ticking.
Range
Available from 6 entrants, and on every type except the two singles. You designate a basis — the horses you are sure of, in the exact number minus one — and a range — all the candidates for the remaining place.
The game then plays one bet per horse in the range. Outlay = the stake × the number of horses in the range, which is far more economical than a combined for comparable cover.
Example: you are certain of two horses for a trio, but not of the third. Put the two in the basis, tick four candidates in the range: four bets, four times the stake. The same bet as a combined on six horses would cost twenty.
The range is the cleverest formula on the screen, and the least used. A horse obviously cannot be in the basis and in the range at the same time.
Multi
Reserved for the quinto, from 10 entrants. You designate five horses, and the game plays every type of bet at once on those five:
| Type played | Number of bets |
|---|---|
| Place, each of the 5 | 5 |
| Win, each of the 5 | 5 |
| Double place, every pair | 10 |
| Double win, every pair | 10 |
| Trio, every triplet | 10 |
| Quarto, every quadruplet | 5 |
| Quinto, the five | 1 |
| Total | 46 |
Hence an outlay of 46 times the stake — 460 sulkies for a stake of 10, 4,600 for a stake of 100.
In exchange, the multi cannot be entirely losing if your five horses are worth anything: it is enough for one of them to finish in the first three for the place bet to pay. And if the five occupy the first five places, you collect on all seven types at the same time — without having had to guess which one won, since the finishing order counts in no type of bet.
It is therefore the bet of the player who has a conviction about a group of horses without knowing how many of them will finish in front: the multi covers every depth at once. But 46 stakes remain 46 stakes: at an equal stake, the multi costs far more than it seems.
Basis and range, in practice
The list of entrants is displayed with, for each one, two boxes: basis and range. The number of horses to tick depends on the type and on the formula, and the game tells you so in plain words when the selection does not fit — You must select three horses in the basis, two horses in the basis and at least one horse in the range, and so on.
As long as the selection is invalid, the outlay displays zero and the bet cannot be confirmed. Read the message: it says exactly what is missing.
After confirming
The game confirms and announces your remaining balance. The bet is final: there is neither cancellation nor modification.
The window's tabs let you watch the race again, and once the dividends have been calculated, read them. Your bets, for their part, are listed in My last bets — without their winnings, to leave you the pleasure of watching the race first.
One piece of advice to begin with
The formulas are made to cover uncertainty, not to increase winnings: playing ten combinations does not multiply the dividend by ten, it only multiplies the outlay. A combined that wins pays only on the winning combination; the other nine are lost.
So begin with Normal, learn to read a field, and only move on to the range or the multi when your conviction really bears on a group of horses.