Horse Racing Betting Sites

There’s no one thing that makes a horse racing bookie stand out from the pack.

The betting sites best for horse racing tick many boxes and, in doing so, provide punters with a comprehensive wagering experience.

But what exactly separates the best horse racing bookies from the rest?

The Best Horse Racing Betting Sites have...

• Plenty of horse racing betting offers - The top bookies have a regular stream of enticing horse racing promotions running every day, not just around big events like the Grand National and Cheltenham.
• Specific horse racing betting features - In addition to live streaming which is offered by every top horse racing bookie, tools like BetFinder can enhance your horse racing betting experience no end.
• A top betting app for horse racing - Chances are the majority of your betting will be done from your mobile. The best horse racing bookmakers allow you to enjoy the same features and promotions whether you're betting on the website or mobile app.
• A variety of horse racing betting markets - The more markets to bet on, the better. As well as the most popular bets like Winner, Each Way, Forecasts and Reverse Forecasts, the best bookies have a selection of Placepots, Multiples and Ante Post bets too.

The different components of a horse race, combined with the sheer number of races taking place each day mean you can expect horse racing betting promos aplenty.

But it’s not only the volume of betting offers we consider here at My Betting Sites Ireland but, also the variety and the level to which each is offered.

We've highlighted the most popular betting offers for you below and also recommended the bookies best for each promo.

Best Odds Guaranteed

A promotion that is offered daily by every horse racing bookie.

This offer ensures you are paid at the best odds whether that’s at the Early Price (price you took when placing your bet) or Starting Price (the odds assigned to a horse at the close of betting).

For example, let's say you take a horse at 5/1 and it wins at 7/1, you get paid out at 7/1.

In most cases, you will find BOG offered on the morning of a race, but BoyleSports and Bet365 trump the competition by allowing punters to lock in the best odds as early as the day before.

Extra Race Places

A promo you can also expect to find on horse betting sites every day, bookies will offer to pay out on more than just the standard 3-4 places.

It’s not uncommon to find up to six extra and even seven places offered for selected meetings on a regular day at BoyleSports.

However, it’s during the big racing festivals such as Cheltenham, Royal Ascot and Aintree that you will find the majority of Extra Places offered by bookies.

Horse Racing Free Bets

The vast majority of free bet offers are with new customers in mind.

Interest in these offers increases around major race meetings and festivals, especially Cheltenham and the Grand National.

There are also horse racing-specific free bet offers for existing customers too.

Cheltenham Free Bets

28 races over four days featuring the Unibet Champion Hurdle, the Betway Queen Mother Champions Chase, is rounded off with the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

A festival of racing featuring the best horses, trainers and jockeys

Many of the top horse racing betting websites have odds available all year round, giving punters the chance to back a long shot early on.

You will also find Cheltenham betting promotions rolled out a few weeks before the festival begins in March as bookmakers gear up for the pinnacle of the jump racing season and a hive of betting activity - it was estimated that almost €1 billion was staked across the industry during the 2022 festival.

Grand National Free Bets

Every April, three days of top-class racing at Aintree Racecourse featuring the Opening Day and Ladies Day culminate in the greatest steeplechase of them all - the Grand National.

Horse racing doesn’t get any bigger than the Grand National

Year-on-year, the much-anticipated race draws a capacity crowd, and a worldwide audience - the race prompts every man and his dog to have a punt!

Whether you’re a horse racing enthusiast, a casual racing punter, or, a football bettor who just enjoys the big event, you will find a whole host of horse racing betting offers and other special deals leading up to the race.

Money Back Promos

This type of betting offer acts as insurance and can you get your money back as a free bet or your stake refunded as cash if, for instance, your horse finishes 2nd to the SP fav or if your pick in the feature race fails to place.

Check out BoyleSports and 888sport for the best racing money back offers.

Each Way Promos

Bet365’s Each Way Extra promo allows you to add or remove the number of places when betting Each Way on selected races.

An each-way bet on your terms

Maybe you’re dead certain your pick will place in the top two? In which case you can remove places and increase the odds of your pick.

Or, perhaps you’re unsure your horse will place at all so the option of adding more places, albeit for a reduction in odds, is a great way of insuring your bet.

Either way, this promo is yet another reminder of why Bet365 is one of the top horse racing betting sites around.

Rewards Clubs

Loyalty-based promotions usually apply to all sports. However, Paddy Power has one specific for horse racing - Rewards for Racing, which is exclusive to customers from Ireland.

If you enjoy going to races as much as you like to bet on them, then get yourself over to Paddy Power

To redeem racing tickets to a range of race meetings in Ireland including the Dublin Racing Festival and Irish Champions Weekend, you need to opt into Paddy’s Rewards Club.

At Paddy Power, every €1 wagered on a horse race, sees you get 1 point. All your accrued points can then be exchanged for a day at the races.

When you dig deep into the features each bookie has and, also, the extent, to which they’re offered, you begin to find out which online bookmakers are ahead of the field, and, also, the ones lagging.

Here are some of the key features we look for when assessing horse racing bookies.

Horse Racing Live Streaming

Once a rarity, it’s now pretty standard for every horse racing site to live stream all races in Ireland and the UK.

Many also make selected international races available to watch on their platform allowing you to watch races in the US, South Africa, Australia and France, to name a few.

To watch a live stream of a race with any online bookie, you normally need to have an account in credit, or, have bet in the last 24 hours.

BetFinder

BetVictor was one of the first bookies to launch their BetFinder, a feature designed to simplify horse race betting for punters.

The BetFinder tool uses data from horse racing experts like Timeform and Racing Post to filter between horses, allowing you to personalise your search for the perfect horse.

We suggest you check out either BetVictor or 888sport for the best version of this tool. You will variations of BetFinder at Coral and Ladbrokes, though these are fairly basic by comparison.

As a horse racing punter, it’s vital a bookie has a dedicated app so you can bet on the horses whenever you wish. Ease of use, high-quality live streams and betting offers are three key factors to think about when choosing between horse racing betting apps.

We’re a big fan of apps with additional unique features too.

At Bet365 for instance, you can keep track of your favourite horses with the handy alerts feature and even add personalised notes.

Best Horse Racing Betting Apps

• Bet365
• Paddy Power
• BetVictor
• BoyleSports
• Betfair

While winner, each way and place markets are the most popular and also, often, the easiest to understand, the unpredictable nature of horse racing means there are opportunities to bet on a number of eventualities.

The best horse racing betting sites offer more than the standard markets and, provide punters with an array of other bet types to choose from. These include:

• Ante-Post Betting: The top bookies will often have odds for the big racing festivals a few months prior to the event getting underway, allowing you to gain an edge or get a higher price on a horse before the odds shorten. Bet365 has the most Ante-Post markets.

• Forecast Betting: Simply pick the horses you think will finish first and second.

• Tricast Betting: Predict the horses that will finish first, second and third.

• Betting Without Favourite: The favourite can often be priced at short odds, so short you need to bet a sizeable amount to yield a significant return. This type of bet allows you to bet on the horse you think will win if you don’t count the favourite. Like the Asian Handicap in football, it’s a great way to make a race more competitive.

• Accumulator: A single bet on four or more horses to win where all your picks must win. An each-way accumulator requires each horse to place.