How to crack the ante-post code - top tips for beating the bookmakers

Once you start to look closely at ante-post betting, it quickly becomes apparent the term is an unsuitably broad one.

By the modern definition, an ante-post market is offered on any race that is not yet at the final declarations stage. So, after reading this, you could go off and bet ante-post on anything from next Saturday's Haydock Sprint Cup to the Commonwealth Cup nearly ten months away. There are manifold reasons why these two markets, while strictly defined in the same terms, differ markedly in the practicalities.

Long-term ante-post betting tends to concern major events: the Classics, Cheltenham, the Grand National and so on. The main advantage to playing in these races is the certainty of target. If you see a horse who you think is good enough for the Champion Hurdle, and you're right, then you do not have to worry too much about connections giving precedence to the Imperial Cup instead.