- Horse Racing Terms and Abbreviations
- All Weather Racing Tips
- Horse Racing Form Reading Made Easy & What to Look For
- How to Find Winners - 101 Tips to Choose A Winning Horse Racing Bet
- Laying Horses
- Becoming A Professional Gambler
- Ante Post Horse Racing
- Types Of Horse Racing Bet
- The Tote
- Betting At The Racecourse
Non Runners and Deductions
Do You Get Your Stake Back? Day of Race Market If you place a bet on a horse after the final declarations have been made and that horse doesn't run for any reason you will get your full stake back. Ante Post If you
Do You Get Your Stake Back?
Day of Race Market
If you place a bet on a horse after the final declarations have been made and that horse doesn't run for any reason you will get your full stake back.
Ante Post
If you back a horse in an antepost market and the horse doesn't run you will not receive any money back unless the bookmaker is offering Non Runner No Bet terms on the race. This normally only applies to the very biggest races (Grand National and Cheltenham Festival) and even those will have normal ante post rules until maybe a week or two before the race. If the bookmaker has gone Non Runner No Bet it should be clearly marked near the place terms on the bet placement page.
It's also worth noting that if you place an ante post bet you are guaranteed the place terms on offer at the time. So if you are offered 4 places 1/4 odds and then 15 or fewer horse make the final declarations, bets placed after the final declarations will only get 3 places on each way bets but the 4 places are retained for ante post bets.
Rule 4 Deductions
As bookies are giving punters their money back when their bet doesn't run there have to be deductions on other bets to cover that. This deduction is known as a rule 4 and explains why sometimes you'll find winning bets don't return as much as you thought they would. Remember that deductions only apply to the profit from your bet, your stake is not affected.
If a horse is 14/1 or bigger the bookies don't deem it necessary to make a deduction to bets. If the horse that is withdrawn is 12/1 or shorter there will be a deduction. The deductions for each odds are as follows.
| Odds | Deduction |
|---|---|
| 1/9 or shorter | 90p in the £ | 2/11 to 2/17 | 85p in the £ | 1/4 to 1/5 | 80p in the £ | 3/10 to 2/7 | 75p in the £ | 2/5 to 1/3 | 70p in the £ | 8/15 to 4/9 | 65p in the £ | 8/13 to 4/7 | 60p in the £ | 4/5 to 4/6 | 55p in the £ | 20/21 to 5/6 | 50p in the £ | Evens to 6/5 | 45p in the £ | 5/4 to 6/4 | 40p in the £ | 13/8 to 7/4 | 35p in the £ | 15/8 to 9/4 | 30p in the £ | 5/2 to 3/1 | 25p in the £ | 10/3 to 4/1 | 20p in the £ | 9/2 to 11/2 | 15p in the £ | 6/1 to 9/1 | 10p in the £ | 10/1 to 14/1 | 5p in the £ | Over 14/1 | No Deductions |
Although officially you should get a 5p deduction if a horse in your race priced between 10/1 and 14/1 is a non runner, many online bookmakers are now ignoring that as a concession. So with those bookies you will only find a deduction to your bets if there is a non runner at shorter odds than 10/1.
However many withdrawals there are in a particular race, the bookies won't apply more than a 90p deduction to bets.
Example
You bet £10 on a horse at 4/1 at 10am on the day of the race.
At 11am there is a non runner that was priced up at 7/1 with the bookmaker you placed your bet with.
Your horse wins and had there been no deduction you would have been paid £40 in winnings plus your £10 stake.
With the rule 4 of 10p in the £ 10% of your winnings are deducted. Therefore your bet now returns £40 x 0.9 = £36 + £10 stake = £46
Multiple Rule 4s
Often when there is a going change, or sometimes because of bad luck, you will find that several quite well fancied runners are withdrawn from a particular race and this is going to result in multiple rule 4 deductions being applied to the same race.
Bookies will usually apply the rule 4 based on the price of the withdrawn horse when you placed your bet. This is also the case if there are subsequent withdrawals. This works in the backer's favour as a rule 4 might see a horse cut from 6/1 to 4/1 and then that horse could be withdrawn. In that case you'd only receive an additional 10p deduction on your bets for the 6/1 shot and not an additional 20p rule 4 because the horse was cut to 4/1.
Best Odds Guaranteed
If the bookmaker you are betting with offers best odds guaranteed this will still apply to races when there is a rule 4. If the SP of your bet is bigger than the price you took minus the deduction you will be paid at SP.
Non Runners In Forecasts and Tricasts
The rules for non runners when you have placed a forecast or tricast varies between bookies. If there is one non runner in either a forecast or a tricast bet some bookies will make the bet a single on the remaining one runner at SP and a forecast on the two remaining runners respectively whilst others will simply make the bet void. If all horses in the bet are non runners the bet will be void with all bookies. Check with each individual bookies terms and conditions to see which ones use which method of settlement.
Non Runners With Tote Bets
If you place an exacta, trifecta or swinger with the Tote and any of the horses in the bet become non runners the bet will become void and you will receive your money back.
