Spread betting on horses, although initially deemed unviable, has become much more popular via the use of meet indexes. Take the following example, taken from the previously given explanation of spread betting:

It’s Derby Day at Epsom. A quote for the favourites index is 64-68, with 25 points awarded for a winning favourite, 10 points for a second place and 5 for a third (25:10:5). If you believe that at least three favourites will win, with perhaps a second or third somewhere, this will clearly be above 68 – so you buy a certain amount per point at 68. Alternatively, if you believe that the favourites will struggle, you sell at a certain amount per point at 64. Assume that two favourites win along with two second places and one third. This adds up to 75 (25+25+10+10+5). If your per unit amount the minimum stake of $1, you would make $7 by buying at 68, but lose $11 if you bought at 64.

These returns sound minimal, but consider that a miserly $1 per unit was nominated, and the spread was quite close to the result. If one of those second places had run first, and the unit price was bumped up to $5, the return for buying at 68 would be $110 – and the loss at 64 would be $130. Obviously the more correct, confident and wise that you are, the more your potential earnings.

Online horse race betting in the spread form is not confined to this method, however; you are also able to place a spread bet on how far you think one horse will finish in front of another. This is enticing for punters because it does not matter if the horse they bet on wins, but just as long as they finish in front of the other horse by a margin greater than the overs spread then they will win. This is referred to as a Heads-Up Index.

It is fair to say that horse racing betting is less suited to the spread betting format than football, golf and cricket. It is, however, easily the biggest sector in fixed odds betting and bat swapping. Some online horse race betting sites experiment with many aspects of the meeting, course, jockeys, trainers and horses. One online betting site may offer an index not for favourites, but for female jockeys. Spread betting is definitely not ideal for horse betting, but with some innovation it still has the potential to become a risky and widespread method of betting for those interested.