Horse racing rules

This article explains horse racing rules and terminology. It covers Rule 4 deductions, dead heat, non-runner no bet and starting price.

What is a Rule 4 deduction?

When one or more horses pull out of the race and don't take part, we usually reduce the odds of all the others. This is called a Rule 4 deduction and is standard practice in the betting industry.

The reason why this happens is that the odds change when one or more horses don’t take part in the race. The deduction amount depends on the odds of the horse when it withdrew. If a strong favorite pulled out, the Rule 4 deduction would be higher. On the other hand, if the runner was a long-odds outsider, the deduction would be minimal.

For example, if a horse that had odds of 12.0 pulls out of the race, a deduction of 5p might be applied. This means that for every £1 you bet, you would lose 5p or 5% of your stake. In this case, if you bet £10 at odds of 4.0 and your horse won, you would get £9.50 * 4.0 = £38 in winnings instead of the full £40.

Although most common in horse racing, Rule 4 might also apply to motor racing or greyhounds.

If you'd like to check if there was a Rule 4 deduction on a race, check our horse racing results page here.

My selection didn’t run in the race. What now?

If you place a single bet and your selection doesn't take part, what happens next depends on whether the event was non-runner no bet or 'all-in run or not'.

In a non-runner no bet event, if you place a single bet and your selection doesn't take part, we refund your stake. If you place a multiple bet and your selection doesn't run, we void that part of the bet and settle it at odds of 1.0. The rest of the bet then stands as normal.

‘All-in run or not’ bets stand whether your selection takes place or not.

What does starting price mean?

SP is an abbreviation of starting price. When betting at the race course finishes, the bookmakers announce the starting prices for all the runners.

When you bet at SP and your bet wins, we settle the bet based on your horse's starting price. If you see 'SP' instead of the odds next to a runner, it means we're taking bets on that selection at SP only.

What happens if a race finishes in a dead heat?

A dead heat is when two or more competitors finish at exactly the same time with no tie option or way to separate them.

If two winners tie, we halve the stake and settle the bet as normal. If three winners tie, we split the stake in three.

For example, two horses tie for first place in a race. You wagered £10 at odds of 5.5. In this case, we would pay out £5 * 5.5 = £27.50.