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Horse Racing Free Bets & New Customer Open Account Offers

Horse racing and betting go hand in hand. This is one of the sports that has grown with betting throughout its existence, in the past if there has been a horse race, people have been betting on it. That is still true to this day, with multiple daily horse racing meetings take place across the UK & Ireland, each with many races in which you can bet on. Whether it is a big meeting on a weekend where the ITV cameras are live and reporting from, or a quiet Monday evening on the all-weather, each horse racing fixture is unique and offers many different gambling opportunities.

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Horse Racing New Customer Betting Offers

When you sign up with a new bookmaker, you may receive a welcome offer from them. These offers are designed to get you off to a great start with your betting and they will involve a number of different things. Here is a look at some of the offers you can expect to see when you open a new account to place your horse racing bets.

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Free Bets

The most common horse racing welcome offer is the free bet which gives you a fixed amount that you can spend providing you meet the requirements of the offer. This usually means you will have to open up an account, make a first deposit that is a minimum amount and then usually bet a minimum amount. After doing this you may receive a free bet, sometimes more than one, and these can then be used when you are next placing your horse racing bets. More often than not, these have an expiry on them, so be sure to check that and work out when you need to spend them by so that you don't lose them. 

Bonus Funds / Bet Credits

Another common offer is when you receive bonus funds or credits to use in your new account. These can be used spread across many different bets if you wish, which is the advantage they have over free bets, which must be used in one go. This is an advantage for smaller punters or those who like to do small multiples on the horses, they can use their bonus funds across many different bets so get good use from them. These may also come with an expiry date on them, and there could be wagering requirements too, so look out for those. 

Enhanced Odds

This type of offer is not as common as the first two, but you will see a lot of these when we are heading towards a big race or meeting. These offers give you enhanced odds when you sign up and place a bet on a particular horse to win their upcoming race. For example, an even money favourite for the big race may be available at 33/1 using this offer. The bet will be paid out to you in bonus funds.

Horse Racing Existing Customer Offers

The way that horse racing offers work is changing, with more and more enphasis being put on exisiting customer offers alongside big welcome offers as the bookmakers realise how important customer retention is. For many years, bookmakers have created big welcome offers to get customers to sign up with them, but then failed to follow that up with anything, leaving their players to move on to another bookmaker who had an equally big horse racing betting offer available to new customers. 

Now things have changed, and the best horse racing bookmakers are offering their existing customers a better deal. From a punters point of view, when you are choosing which bookmaker to sign up with for your horse racing bets, you should take into account both the welcome offer that is available plus the existing offers that you can take advantage of in the period after you have spent your welcome bonus. Here are some of the offers that you should be looking out for. 

Best Odds Guaranteed

The best horse racing offer out there, it is imperative that your bookmaker offers you this. This applies to bets you place on races during the advertised period, usually on the day of the race from a given time. When you place your bet, make sure you take the price on your selection. Then if the price goes down, you have the value locked in as you took the price. However, if your horse drifts and returns a bigger SP, your bookmaker will pay you out on the larger SP, you are in a no lose situation with this offer, which is why it is vital to find a bookmaker that gives you it.

Consolation Money Back Offers

There are many of these out there, they come in many different ways and each have their own benefits. Some will give you your money back if you are beaten by a small margin, usually a head or less, others will offer money back if finishing 2nd to the SP favourite.

There are also offers like faller insurance that give you your money back in selected races if your horse falls, while other bookmakers may offer a 'run for your money' offer, so if for example your horse doesn't come out of the stalls in a flat race, you will get your money back. 

Free Bet Offers

These are generally associated with welcome offers, but some bookmakers will offer free bets to their existing customers too. These can be if you back a winner on a selected meeting, with some bookmakers offering this for those who back a winner that is in a race live on ITV at certain odds, while other free bets may be to those who bet a certain amount or place a bet in a certain race and are rewarded for doing that. These are not as common as the other existing customer offers you will see, but they are worth looking for as we all like free bets when they come around. 

Price Boosts and Bonuses on Multiples

Price boosts are a great way of finding bigger odds on the selections you fancy. These are something that you will usually see around the big events, but if you fancy the selection that is being boosted then you are going to get bigger odds than you expected on your bet. These may sometimes be restricted to a certain time frame, for example, some bookmakers will run a Cheltenham happy hour where they boost the odds of certain selections during a specific time on the morning of this huge festival. 

Bonuses on multiples are given out by many bookmakers and if you like to place these, make sure you take a look around and ensure you are getting the best deal. These can be a bonus if every one of your selections wins in a multiple bet, a bonus for having just one winner or something like an acca boost, which gives you a percentage of the return if all selections are successful.

Enhanced Place Terms

Many punters love placing each way bets on big races. Here, people usually search for value and aim to find a big priced winner of the race in question. Enhanced place terms will give you an additional place paid out on each way bets, some bookmakers do these on the big races while others may choose one race per day to boost, so you have chance to take advantage of this every single day. While enhanced place terms are no use to those who bet win only, if you like to bet each way then they are certainly worth looking out for. 

As an example, if your current bookmaker offers you three places on a race you bet on and your selection comes fourth, this bet will be a loser. Another bookmaker could have enhanced the place terms to pay out on four in that race, so if you placed your bet with them, it would have been a winner. When an offer can be the difference between winning and losing, it is certainly one you should be looking at using to your advantage. 

Placing your Horse Racing Free Bet

A horse racing free bet is just like any other free bet, you can use it in any way you see fit, providing you comply by the T&Cs that are attached to it. If this is a free bet for opening a new account then check out the terms on the deal, but you will usually see this appear in your account within 24 hours of opening the account, although some are given out instantly.

When it comes to actually placing a free bet, most bookmakers work in the same way. After choosing the horse you wish to back, you will see this appear in your betslip. On this page you should see a box where you can either select or tick to use the free bet token or bonus credits that you have available in your account. Using these will then deduct the amount from those, rather than from your main balance although it is worth remembering that pretty much every free bet offer does not include your stake back. 

With daily horse racing meetings taking place, you won't have to wait too long until you can place your free bet. Simply choose from the upcoming races, or if you have enough of a time limit on the free bet, you can wait until the weekend for a big race and spend it on that. 

Horse Racing Betting Markets

The beauty of horse racing betting is that it is simple. There are no complicated betting markets, you don't have three figure options in front of you like you do with some sports, this is a nice and simple betting sport that you can enjoy without going to deep. The easiest way to bet on horse racing is with win singles. This doesn't get any easier, simply choose a race, select your horse and place a bet on that horse to win. If it does, you get paid out based on the odds, if it doesn't then you lose, it really is that simple. 

For those looking to expand there are a few more markets you can use, with the most popular being the each way betting market. This is usually used by punters who back bigger priced selections and by betting on the horse rach way, they are covering the horse to place as well as win. In essence, an each way bet is actually two separate bets, one on the horse to win and one on the horse to place. If the horse wins, then they have also placed so you would get paid out on both, if the horse places but doesn't win you get paid out on the place bet only and if the horse is unplaced then both bets have lost. 

Place terms for horse races vary depending on two things, the type of race and the number of runners. This can vary from win only, which has no each way betting, all the way up to four places. This is officially the most you will get, although it is worth watching the bookmakers from time to time as they may enhance the place terms on big races and pay you out on five or sometimes even six places on the race. These are certainly worth looking out for because if you finish in one of those extra places, who you bet with will determine whether you have had a winner or a loser, and you always want to be winning. 

Of the other betting markets that you can use for horse racing, betting without the favourite is probably the next most popular. This is the ideal market to use when you think the favourite will win the race, but it is too short in the betting to back. Here you are betting on the race at special prices which completely discount the favourite. No matter where the jolly finishes, your bet is settled based on the result as though the favourite wasn't there. For example, if you bet on this market and you finish second behind the favourite, your bet will actually be settled as a winner as your horse has beaten the rest of the field. 

Winning distances are becoming more and more popular with punters, and this is another market that is best used when there is a big favourite in a race. When this happens, many bookmakers will allow you to bet on the winning distance that the selected horse will win by. This is a way of adding value to your bet if you still want to side with the favourite, instead of simply backing them to win at a short price, you back them to win by more than a designated number of lengths, which is offered at a much better price.

Betting on horse racing is pretty simple, and you can use markets such as :

  • Winner of the Race
  • EW bet on the race, which is both win and place
  • Your selection to be placed only
  • Match Betting - one horse in the race against another
  • Winning distance
  • Number of finishers in the race
  • Betting without the favourite - always useful when there's a short-priced favourite
  • Overall winning distances at a meeting
  • Overall winning favourites at a meeting
  • Match Betting between jockeys and trainers

Big meetings in the UK

Almost every day of the year there is at least one race meeting in the UK with many more taking place around the world. In the UK there are a various different racecourses with action on the flat, over the jumps, on turf and on the all-weather. The latter can be a big help for punters in winter, if we have bad weather then there is a threat of the racing being cancelled, but all-weather racing is usually capable of continuing unless things are really bad.

UK Jump Racing

When it comes to big meetings over jumps, the Grand National and Cheltenham Festival dominate proceedings, they are the centre of the season for many of the leading horses in training. This is the dream for owners, trainers and jockeys at the start of the season, to win the Grand National or have a Cheltenham Festival winner. There are many big races along with way in the build up to those meetings, and each one of those gives us a taste of what is to come when the big Spring meetings arrive.

The Grand National meeting lasts for three days and we have many Grade One races to look forward to, although the entire meeting does revolve around the big one, the Grand National. This is a gruelling handicap, with over four miles in front of the runners and larger than normal obstacles. It takes a special horse and jockey to win this race, and with 40 runners going to post, if often takes a special punter to be able to work out the winner of it!

The Cheltenham Festival lasts for four days, from Tuesday to Friday with seven races on each day. The festival covers pretty much every single discipline and race type, giving horses in training a significant target to aim for at the end of the season. There are four feature races of the festival, which stand above the rest and these are the four championship races of the meeting. The first is the Champion Hurdle which takes place on the opening day and this tests the ability to run at speed and jump over hurdles, with the race coming over the minimum jumps trip of two miles. On the second day we test the two milers again, but this time it is over fences with the Champion Chase. Again this is a test of speed and jumping, and the race is often not without drama, as the past few years have shown us.

Day three is the turn of the stayers to come to the fore, with the Stayers Hurdle taking centre stage. This is a race over three miles so stamina is needed, as well as the ability to jump well and not make mistakes. The final race of the day is home to the biggest of them all, the Cheltenham Gold Cup. We have seen some classics down the years, and this is certainly not a race for the faint hearted. Three miles and two furlongs stand in front of the horses, with the gruelling test of the Cheltenham Hill at the end of the race just to ensure that everyone involved really has given it their all. Those beaten in a Gold Cup often struggle to show the same form, this is a race that can take everything out of the horses and jockeys, while those who are lucky enough to win a Gold Cup will go down in history alongside some of the greats of the game.

UK Flat Racing

On the flat, the season is dominated by two things, the five classics for three year olds and the Royal Ascot meeting which takes place in June. The five horse racing classics are the 1000 & 2000 Guineas, the Derby, The Oaks and the St Leger. These five races test the very best three year olds, with the Guineas kicking things off over one mile, the Derby and Oaks taking place over 1m4f and lastly the St Leger wrapping things up in September over the longer distance of 1m6f.

In June, the finest horses in the world descend on Royal Ascot, a meeting that is equally about the action on the track as it is off it. From the glitz and glamour of those enjoying a day out, to the daily visits made by The Queen, this is a meeting that shines, without actually mentioning the horses taking part. Of course, for a lot of the people both at the track and watching at home on TV, the action on the track is why they are watching. From the opening race to the last of this five day festival we have top quality Group One action taking place. International runners are common at this meeting, and in the past we have seen raiders from Japan, Australia and the USA all come to the UK and try to take home the prize with them, some have been successful while others have been left struggling, showing the quality of UK racing. 

Horse racing free bet offers are usually enhanced in the lead up to big horse racing meetings, with punters and bookmakers each looking to cash in on the event.

The flat season has a number of prestigious meetings that attract plenty of punters such as:

  • The Derby and Oaks at Epsom Downs
  • The 1000 and 2000 Guineas at Newmarket
  • Royal Ascot
  • Glorious Goodwood
  • York’s Ebor Festival
  • The St Leger meeting at Doncaster

These are among the most famous and popular meetings in the UK, while the likes of the Breeders Cup and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe have punters putting down their cash on races away from these shores. These races often attract many British runners in them as well as the supporting races at these meetings, so it is often worth looking to see if there are any runners you would normally back in the UK taking their chance abroad.

When it comes to racing over jumps we have a handful of big meetings to look forward to and enjoy such as: 

  1. The Grand National at Aintree
  2. The Cheltenham Festival
  3. The Boxing Day Meeting at Kempton
  4. The Betfair Million - The Betfair Chase at Haydock, the King George at Kempton and the Gold Cup at Cheltenham

When we are on the eve of any of the big meetings above, this is usually a great time to look out for horse racing betting offers. Whether this is a free bet or an enhanced price about one of the favourites, you will usually find something you can take advantage of during this time. The Cheltenham Festival and Royal Ascot meetings would be the two biggest in terms of how many free bets are available for punters, so if you are looking at these then make sure you check back here at FREEbets.org.uk to see the big offers we will have lined up for you.

<h2">Racing Around The World

The UK has some of the best horse racing anywhere in the world. However, that is not to say that it is not worth looking elsewhere, especially when the big meetings come around as many UK and Irish horses will travel abroad to run in these. In terms of countries that offer top quality horse racing action, these include Dubai, Australia, Hong Kong, France and America. These all have their own big meetings which are the centre of their racing season's, and it is here where you will normally find the British runners.

In France, the Arc meeting in October grabs the headlines, with the Prix de L'Arc de Triomphe taking centre stage. We have seen many British winners of this race in the past, and this is not the only race that our horses travel across for, we also have plenty of runners in the supporting races on both days of the Arc meeting.

Horse racing in America all builds up towards the Breeders Cup meeting, a two day event where we have many of the best horses from that continent, plus others from around the world, getting together to take each other on. With both dirt and turf action, sprints and staying races, there really is something for everyone at this meeting. You will see a number of British runners head over to contest for the huge prize money on offer over in America, and we have had winners in the past there, so don't discount our runners when looking at the form.

Australia is home to the Melbourne Cup, the race which stops a nation and this is one of the biggest sporting events in the country, not just horse racing but any sport. This race attracts interest from all over the world, even though it is only a handicap, albeit a top quality handicap with huge prize money at stake.

If there is one place to concentrate on in the Dubai then it is certainly Meydan. At the start of the calendar year, just before the action gets going on the flat in the UK, they have the Dubai Carnival with racing every Thursday at the track. This all leads up to their big meeting, Dubai World Cup night, with the World Cup taking centre stage on a card that is worth millions in prize money. British runners go out to Dubai either for the full carnival and to race every week, or specifically for the Dubai World Cup night itself. This is an expensive trip for owners and trainers, but with such huge prize money on offer, many people roll the dice and give it a go.

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