Category: FAQ

Timeform, the company, is nowadays a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) Group which is, in turn, part of Flutter Entertainment plc. Based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, Timeform was founded as a publishing company by the late Phil Bull – once billed ‘racing’s most celebrated and successful punter’ – in 1948. Until December, 2020, when it closed the remaining elements of its mail order service, Timeform publications included the ‘Racehorses’ and ‘Chasers & Hurdlers’ annuals and the weekly ‘Black Book’. However, in recent years, Timeform has focussed on its digital customer base, so much so that those celebrated publications are now a thing of the past.

Part of Timeform, right from the start, was an innovative technique for analysing form by awarding performance figures, which translate into Timeform ratings, by means of which the calibre of one racehorse can easily be compared with another. Indeed, the company has evolved over the years to become an acclaimed provider of data, form and ratings to a broad range of customers, including print, broadcasting and Internet media. Printed Timeform race cards are no longer available to the racing public by mail order, but can be downloaded, in Portable Document Format (PDF), from the Timeform website or, under normal circumstances, purchased on the racecourse at major meetings.

In many racing jurisdictions, including Britain and Ireland, the vast majority of Flat races are started from electromechanically-operated starting stalls. The purpose of starting stalls is to allow an even break, where participants start on level terms, in as straight a line as possible. Starting stalls are numbered, from left to right if viewed from behind, and stall numbers are drawn, at random, by Weatherbys, which provides administrative services to the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) on the day on which declarations are made.

An even break is one thing, but various other factors may introduce draw bias, such that horses drawn on one part of a racecourse hold an advantage over those drawn elsewhere. These factors include the design and characteristics of the racecourse, including the racing surface, its level of usage and, of course, the weather.

Some parts of a racecourse may drain quicker than others after rainfall, creating a disparity in going across the width of the track. Similarly, the use of movable running rails has become increasing commonplace in recent years. This can have the effect of creating a ‘golden highway’ of fresh ground next to the rail, such that horses drawn on that side hold an advantage. The location of the start and the position of the starting stalls may also create draw bias, one way or another. If the start is located close to a bend, the horses drawn on the outside need to travel further than those on the inside and are naturally disadvantged.

‘Rule 4’ is a general, industry-standard rule of betting, which allows bookmakers to legitimately make deductions from winning bets in the event that one or more horses are withdrawn from the race in question. If you place a win or each-way bet and take an early or board price, the odds you receive obviously reflect the chance, in the eyes of the bookmaker, your selection holds against the other horses in the race at the time you place the bet. If one of the other horses is withdrawn, the chances of your selection increase, so to prevent you having an unfair advantage, the bookmaker makes a so-called ‘Rule 4 deduction’ from your winnings, consummate with the price of the withdrawn horse at the time of withdrawal.

If a withdrawn horse was offered at odds longer than 14/1, no Rule 4 deduction is made. Thereafter, deductions are made at all rates from £0.05 in £1.00 for horses offered at odds between 10/1 and 14/1 right up to £0.90 in £1.00 for horses offered at prohibitive odds of 1/9 or shorter. Obviously, horses may be withdrawn at differing times, possibly leading to two, three or more Rule 4 deductions, depending on their respective odds. However, the maximum cumulative deduction on any race is £0.90 in £1.00.

The main reason that bookmakers are keen to promote multiple bets, such as doubles, trebles and accumulators, is that they are inherently more risky and therefore more profitable, for the layer, than single bets. Of course, such bets provide tasty bait for small-stakes punters – even without the added consolation of three, four or even five times the odds for a single winner in some cases – and bookmakers are quite happy to risk the occasional huge payout in return for regular profits.

By contrast, the single bet, specifically, the single win bet, is the least profitable of all horse racing bets for bookmakers. From the punter’s perspective, a single win bet is straightforward, involves no wastage of stakes and affords better bankroll management than any form of multiple bet. Furthermore, attempting to find a single selection to win a race focusses the mind on the strengths and weaknesses of the horse in question; the unit stake could be, say, 10, 50 or 100 times that placed on a typical multiple bet, so the selection process becomes a sharp, decisive – and, hopefully, profitable – exercise.