Why you should be including Tote World Pool in your betting strategy for Royal Ascot

It is becoming harder to avoid the footprint of the Hong Kong Jockey Club-driven World Pool. There are several reasons for that, only one of which is people like me banging on about the unique opportunities World Pool provides. 

World Pool now features on more meetings, across more territories, than at any point since it was launched in its current form in 2019. It is getting more popular, too. 

On Derby day at Epsom, World Pool bets amounted to more than £5.1 million just on the big race itself. Despite that impressive liquidity, winner Lambourn still paid 9.35-1, nearly three points bigger than his 13-2 SP and more than a point bigger even than his Betfair SP.

The next UK dates on the World Pool roadshow will be Royal Ascot, covering all 35 races. World Pool commingles various pool bets from across the world, including the UK Tote. That means you do not need to seek out World Pool bets during Royal Ascot. Simply bet through the Tote and, assuming you are playing in a commingled pool, you will automatically be using World Pool.

What bets are part of World Pool?

On World Pool days, these are the Tote pools which are commingled:

Win
Place
Exacta
Quinella (reverse Exacta using one stake)
Quinella Place (Swinger)
Trifecta
Treble

The glaring omission here is the Placepot. There is a reason for that . . .

What other rules do I need to know?

Place betting works differently in World Pool. All bets follow the Hong Kong Jockey Club's place terms. You get two places if there are four to six runners. Three places are offered on fields between seven and 20. And all races (not just handicaps) with 21 runners or more pay four places.

To spell it out: you get an extra place in races with four or seven runners, and non-handicaps with more than 20 runners. There is one less place on offer in handicaps with 16 to 20 runners. Note also that these apply to the declared field size, rather than the number of horses that enter the stalls.

You can see how including Placepots could have become a bit of a nightmare.

Why and when should I play World Pool? 

World Pool offers Betfair-level liquidity against what is often less-informed money. The pools in Hong Kong are ruled by big syndicates using sophisticated analysis. But they are also optimised to the local racing. A lot of the money flowing into World Pool bets is therefore going to be from casual players. This clearly gives an edge to the clued-up British or Irish punter.

Pay attention to the names

In the same way that if you or I were betting at Sha Tin, we would likely look for Zac Purton's name, Hong Kong punters will put outsized faith in Ryan Moore, William Buick and other global names riding at Royal Ascot.

William Buick: popular rider with World Pool playersCredit: Edward Whitaker

Look beyond the win pool

In countries with a pool-betting culture, the straight win market is often not the most popular in a race. According to the Tote, across Royal Ascot last year there was nearly £2 million more put into Quinella pools than win pools.

Because switched-on domestic punters have more of a knowledge edge the further down the market you go, this makes the Swinger (Quinella Place) in particular a much more attractive bet than usual. Largely unloved at home, the Swinger often has big pools full of dead money during World Pool meetings.

Be careful with outsiders

There is a flip side to the money from abroad being spread around largely at random. It means that outsiders will not always overpay to the extent you would normally expect from a Tote dividend.

Be especially careful when backing horse or stall number eight, a lucky number in China, or a horse with a particularly catchy name. The Royal Hunt Cup won by Jimi Hendrix, with Sonny Liston second, did not return the sort of Exacta dividend you would otherwise have expected, and you do not need many guesses as to why that was.

Still, most dedicated racing fans would fancy their chances playing against a betting public that can be moved by a horse sharing its name with a rock star. It would not be optimal play to place all your bets through World Pool at Royal Ascot, but given the opportunities involved even reluctant pool bettors should be dusting off their Tote accounts for the odd Swinger this week.

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