How getting around stake restrictions isn't as tough as you might imagine

Few regular horseracing bettors have not been affected by stake restrictions in some capacity. If you bet on the sport frequently and have never encountered issues placing a bet I would prescribe a strategy rethink.

Stake limitations are a necessary measure for bookmakers controlling liabilities and not exposing themselves to customers destined to prosper in the long term.

However, they need not disillusion punters. I have landed most of my biggest wins ante-post and although personal restrictions are prevalent for the firms I bet with, there is a trick to get around it.

Take the Richard Hughes-trained Brentford Hope, who I recently backed at a standout 100-1 for the QEII Stakes on Qipco British Champions Day in October.

The strong-travelling quirky son of Camelot can be lethal on a galloping track with juice in the ground, and with regular rider Jamie Spencer excelling on the straight course at Ascot I felt he could pick up the pieces late to hit the frame at a massive price.

I knew it would be impossible to get my full point on each-way at 100-1 in one bet slip. However, I returned to Hills a couple of days later and they laid me some more.

Eventually, over approximately ten days, I had completed my staking. I could rest easy knowing if Brentford Hope springs a major upset I will not rue only having £3.50 each-way on and will be rewarded in line with my points system.

The beauty of the wager is the increments were so trivial they perhaps flew under the radar of the firm’s traders, and Brentford Hope remains backable at three-figure odds with Hills at the time of writing. Use that information as you wish.

Value can often be found in a bet by shopping aroundCredit: Mark Harvey

Exercise a modicum of patience and you will eventually get your full stake on at (hopefully) the price you seek, with bookmakers stretching their parameters as market liquidity increases.

Betfair Sportsbook and Paddy Power’s amalgamation in 2016 and gradual morphing into two almost identical platforms is also excellent news for punters.

In 99 times out of 100 their odds and place terms are in unison, with the most noticeable differential in the respective interfaces being one is gold and one is green.

Through my own experience it seems the two firms offer the chance to strike the same ante-post wager 24 hours after the first bet has been placed.

This uniform pricing approach means you can in theory speed up the staking process two-fold. I was restricted to £8.30 each-way on Aidan O’Brien’s unbeaten juvenile Luxembourg for the Royal Lodge at Newmarket this month at 12-1 with both firms, although I was theoretically able to get my cash on twice as quickly.

These examples focus on ante-post betting, but similar sentiments apply to backing horses the day before a race. It is worth returning on raceday to top up your initial stake if you have been knocked back previously.

You have to be in it to win it, though, and it never ceases to amaze me when I speak to bettors who admit to only investing with one firm.

Creating new accounts is merely a mundane administrative task. It takes little brain power and is a fundamental procedure if you strive to find value through discrepancies between bookmaker opinion.

If you solely bet online with Betfred and a horse you like is trading at 8-1 with that firm but 10-1 or bigger elsewhere, you are directly weakening your bottom line due to laziness and incomprehensible blind loyalty.

I understand a significant number of punters consider themselves casual followers of the sport and fear becoming consumed by the pursuit of churning out a profit.

However, at the very least it is worth making the effort to set up multiple accounts, keeping money in each and not resorting to placing poor-value bets.

It is not even hard work – it is smart work. If you are reading this in the knowledge you only bet with one company online I hope my words might trigger a change in philosophy.

Inexplicable clash in race times in Ireland and France

Admittedly I was out on Sunday afternoon and missed the lion’s share of the top-class racing at the Curragh and Longchamp, but were I watching the action live I would have felt dissatisfied with the timings of four of the major races.

The Flying Five Stakes and Prix Vermeille – two Group 1 contests with major purses and future breeding ramifications – were scheduled to start at 2.55pm. The Moyglare Stud Stakes and Prix Foy were also slated for 3.30pm. These agendas detract from the overall viewing spectacle for no logical reason.

Teona's Prix Vermeille win clashed with the Flying Five StakesCredit: Scoop Dyga/France Galop

I cannot recall another scenario where two top-level races clashed in this manner and one can only assume there was a lack of communication between Irish Champions Weekend officials and those calling the shots at Arc trials day.

Aidan O’Brien and the Coolmore team would be forgiven any ill feeling for the avoidable reality of watching Concert Hall and Prettiest in the Moyglare simultaneously with Broome’s Prix Foy bid in France.

Of course it is sometimes an inevitability for French races to coincide with those in Britain or Ireland. However, with respect to Bath, Chelmsford and Musselburgh, the prudent call would have
been to clash with racing at one of those meetings on Sunday.

Group 1 events must be prioritised and none of the aforementioned courses would begrudge that. The weekend in question has developed into one of the most exciting of the season and hopefully a repeat scenario is avoided next term.

Read more:

Keeping a record of every bet, good and bad, will make you a better punter

'You've got to know what punters want' – the on-course bookie trying everything (Members' Club)

Brentford Hope fuels Hughes optimism for a big day, but only on desperate ground

Irish and French officials eager to avoid future Curragh-Longchamp time clashes

Why William Hill could be on our high streets for a long time after all (Members' Club)

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