WHAT are the best horse racing betting sites, and which ones provide the best value?

This is the question that every horse racing punter asks when looking for the best horse racing sites.

Which horse racing online bookmakers are best equipped to bring you the best value, promotions, and sign-up offers?

Here, we take a look at the best horse racing sites and give you the good and the bad of what they have to offer.

In addition to suggesting our favourite horse racing bookmakers, we also touch on main horse racing festivals such as the Cheltenham Festival and Royal Ascot and give you the best horse racing betting sites that will meet your needs.

We will cover everything from free bets to the best horse racing betting promotions.

Top online horse racing bookmakers in the UK

Horse racing betting sites reviewed

Now, on to the matter at hand, the best horse racing betting sites. Below are just some of our favourite bookmakers and what they offer for horse racing fans and bettors.

We leave no stone unturned.

Betway

• Promotions/Free Bets
• Live Streaming
• Betting Markets

When it comes to horse racing betting, Betway does it right. They have everything you expect from a leading player in the horse racing betting world: live streaming, free bets, special betting markets, and more.

Betway has weekly offers and free bets for new and existing customers if you place a set number of selected races over the weekend, and the free-to-play ‘4 To Win’, which gives you a chance to win cash prizes if you can predict the four winners of selected races.

From an ante-post betting point of view, they have all the usual suspects, such as the Cheltenham Festival, Royal Ascot, and more. However, they offer a unique chance to build up a Cheltenham Festival free bet pot by betting on selected offers each week in the lead-up to the Cheltenham Festival. If you meet the required stake, you will be credited free bets into your account for the Cheltenham Festival.

Betway has one of the best horse racing products out there.

SBK

• Sign-up offer
• Live streaming
• Ante-post betting

Founded in 2019, SBK is relatively new to the online horse racing betting scene, but they have quickly grown into a leading player in the industry.

With their generous sign-up offer to their industry-leading odds with Price+, SBK has a lot to offer as a horse racing betting site.

You get everything that you expect from a leading horse racing bookmaker. Live streaming on UK and Irish horse racing, ante-post betting on all the major horse racing festivals, and betting on horse racing in France, USA, South Africa and more,

Unfortunately, SBK does not offer best odds guaranteed, which reduces the gloss of what is a good horse racing product.

BetMGM

• Betting promotions
• Sign-up offer
• Betting specials

BetMGM has made a big splash since its inception into the UK horse racing betting market and has an array of horse racing betting markets to back it up.

Their welcome offer is one of the most generous on the market, and they also offer weekly free bets. BetMGM site is smooth and easy to use, which makes your betting experience even better.

They not only offer new customers great sign-up offers, but they don’t forget their existing customers with great daily and weekly offers.

With BetMGM’s sleek system and insight from horse racing experts, they continue to make giant strides in the horse racing betting world.

bet365

• Best odds guaranteed
• Price boost
• Live streaming

Dubbed the world’s leading bookmaker, bet365 provides some of the standout horse racing betting offers, as well as all the must-have horse racing betting promotions.

bet365 offers the promotions you expect from a leading online horse racing betting site, like ‘best odds guaranteed’, ‘extra place specials’, and more. But the one that sets them apart is their Racing Value promotion.

Racing Value guarantees getting paid out as a winner even if your horse is disqualified from a race, including ante-post bets.

To top off bet365 standout offers, you can also get their daily Bet Boosts, enhancing the odds of a selected runner each day in the UK or Ireland.

Coral

• Race preview analysis
• Live streaming
• Special markets

Coral has been a mainstay in the world for horse racing betting for decades and has a lot to offer to new and existing customers.

From their ever-growing betting options on UK and Irish racing and their Racing Post stats, tips, and analysis, Coral has one of the best horse racing betting products on the market, including BOG.

Pre-racing, you get a chance to watch back some of the runner’s previous runs (depending on what track they have run at), giving you that extra edge you may be looking for, in addition to the above-mentioned analysis.

From the standpoint of horse racing betting, you won’t find much better than Coral.

CopyBet

• Sign-up offer
• Ambassador insight
• Best odds guaranteed

CopyBet hits you straight off the bat with their industry-leading sign-up offer. But it doesn’t stop there.

They have put a lot of time into their horse racing product, including best odds guaranteed, each-way specials, and insight from their horse racing ambassador, Grade 1 winning jockey Johnny Burke.

Unfortunately, the lack of live streaming of horse racing has left them down.

How we picked the best horse racing sites

Many factors are considered when reviewing the best horse racing betting sites, and the steps we have taken are listed below.

1. BOG – This is a must-have for any horse racing betting site. Back a horse, and if your selection wins at bigger odds, you will get paid out.
2. Betting markets – Various betting markets are now common with horse racing betting sites. Some of the more popular ones are ‘length bets’, ‘betting without’, and ‘place betting’. Be sure to take your time to see which horse racing betting site offers the best variety.
3. Event coverage – Any good horse racing betting site should always have the option to watch every UK and Ireland horse racing event, including all the big ante-post festivals such as the Cheltenham Festival, Grand National, and Royal Ascot.
4. Horse racing promos – Promotions are incentives from horse racing betting sites to get new players onto their platform, and with the number of options out there today, you don’t have to go far to find your next horse racing promo to suit your betting needs.
5. In play betting options – In-play betting was something you could only find on betting exchanges, but now some of the leading bookmakers are starting to provide the in-play option, which is becoming very popular.
6. Quality of life features – The ease with which you can place a bet on horse racing betting sites is a big selling point for any horse racing punter. The easier it is to navigate through a platform, the more likely the punter will return, and that’s what we tried to outline on our list.

Most popular horse racing betting markets

There are many ways to bet on horse racing, and below, we explain the most popular horse racing bets.

1. Win – Bet on a horse to win.
2. Each way – Bet on a horse to place. The places vary according to the size of the field. (1-4 runners = win only – 5-7 runners = 1st and 2nd place – 8-15 = 1st, 2nd, & 3rd place – 16+ runners = 1st, 2nd, 3rd, & 4th place)
3. Without the favourite – This bet takes the favourite out of the equation, and a new betting market is formed with the remainder of the field at reduced odds. To win, your selection must finish 1st or come 2nd to the favourite.
4. Multiple (Acca) – Place a bet with four or more horses from separate races, and if all your selections win, you get paid out as a winner. You can also play this as an each-way bet.
5. Trixie – Multiple bets consisting of four bets involving three selections in different races. This bet includes doubles and one treble. A minimum of two selections must win for you to get paid out.
6. Lucky 15 – This bet must include four horses in separate races, amounting to 15 individual bets. The bet consists of 4 singles, six doubles, four trebles, and one four-fold. You only need to have one winner to get a return.
7. Lucky 31 – Allows you to pick five horses in separate races, making 31 bets from your selections.
8. Lucky 63 – Allows you to pick six horses in separate races, making six singles, 15 doubles, 20 trebles, 15 four-folds, six five-folds, and one six-fold accumulator.
9. Yankee – Gives you 11 bets on four horses in separate races. The bet consists of six doubles, four trebles, and one four-fold.
10. Canadian bet (Super Yankee) – Gives you 26 bets from five horses in separate races from doubles upwards. Ten doubles, Ten trebles, five four-folds, and one five-fold.
11. Super Heinz bet – Gives you 120 bets on seven horses in separate races. 21 doubles, 35 trebles, 35 four-folds, 21 five-folds, 7 six-folds, and a seven-fold accumulator.
12. Goliath – Gives you 247 bets on eight horses in separate races. 28 doubles, 56 trebles, 70 four-folds, 56 five-folds, 28 six-folds, eight seven-folds, and one eight-fold accumulator.

There are many other horse racing bets to choose from, but these are the most popular bets widely used in horse racing.

Most popular horse racing festivals and meets in the UK

Horse racing festivals are a big part of the tradition surrounding horse racing, but none more so than the four listed below.

Cheltenham Festival

The Cheltenham Festival is the mecca of national hunt racing. Once a year in March, the best horses, trainers and jockeys from Ireland travel to the Cotswolds to take on the best of the British in the Greatest Show on Turf, with the highlight being the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

The Grand National

Arguably the most famous horse race in the world, the Aintree Grand National attracts people from all walks of life to witness this unique horse race.

Held in April every year, 34 horses line up to take on the 30-strong jumping test in search of immortality.

Royal Ascot

It is the one week of the year when royalty meets horse racing.

This five-day horse racing festival brings runners and people from all corners of the world to try to claim victory on and off the track at the grandest stage of them all, Royal Ascot.

Epsom Derby

The Epsom Derby Festival is steeped in history, where the best 3yo fillies take each other on in the Epsom Oaks on Friday, and the colts battle it out on Saturday to claim this historical classic.

Legends are made at Epsom.

How to bet on horses and improve your betting strategy

Here, we touch on five horse racing betting tips to help you make your betting experience a more enjoyable and profitable.

1. Knowing the form

You must get to know the form to win big at horse racing properly.

Yes, there are many factors that you need to take into consideration when ‘knowing the form’, like the form of trainers, horses’ form at the course you are betting on, their form on certain ground conditions, and more.

Once you get a handle on knowing the form of horses, trainers, courses and jockeys, you will be on the right path to success.

2. Limit your betting stakes

When you are betting on horse racing, it’s good to have a limit on what you want to spend on each bet or day at the race. Not only will limiting your betting stakes help you keep control of your betting habits, but it will also enhance your enjoyment of being at the races.

3. Shop around for the best odds

Now that we have so much competition from bookmakers to gain and keep players, it is worth shopping around to gain the best odds. This is more prevalent around the festivals as this is when bookmakers are at their most competitive.

4. Keep a betting journal

It’s always good to keep a betting journal or spreadsheet to keep track of your bets and wagered amounts.

This way, you can track whether your betting strategy is working for you or if you need to make some slight adjustments on how you bet.

5. Make the most of each-way places

Major racing festivals are a big part of online horse racing betting, and these are the days when you can take full advantage of online horse racing betting sites competing against each other with extra-place specials.

Instead of an eight-horse race each way terms of the first three places, bookmakers may offer the first four or, in some cases, five places. In the big festival handicaps, you will get even better each-way terms, and it is in your best interest to make the most of these offers when available.

FAQ about horse betting sites

We know it may be hard for new bettors to understand some aspects of horse betting sites, so below, we have answered some of the more frequently asked questions to put your mind at ease.

1. How do I choose the best betting site for horse racing?

First, you will need to know what you want to get out of your betting experience. Be it a sign-up bonus, live streaming, money-back specials or whatever promotion you are looking for, be sure to take your time and study each online bookmaker because there is sure to be one from our top list to suit your betting needs.

2. Which site has the best odds for horse racing?

bet365 is known to come out on top when it comes to offering the best odds for horse racing.

3. Can I access live streaming of races on these sites?

Yes, but it depends on which online betting site you use. It will be clear on each online bookmaker’s horse racing page if they offer live streaming on races.

4. What payment methods are accepted by horse racing sites?

All major debit cards, PayPal, and other online wallets are accepted on horse racing betting sites. However, be sure to check out what is accepted before signing up for a new account because it varies from one site to another.

5. What’s the most popular horse race and racing festival in the UK?

The Aintree Grand National is widely known as not only the UK’s but also the world’s most popular horse race, while the Cheltenham Festival is known as the best horse racing festival in the UK.