If you’re new to betting on horse racing, it’s always worth seeking out bookmakers that offer the Best Odds Guaranteed (BOG) promotion – as one jubilant William Hill customer can attest.
With BOG, your bet will be subject to the very best odds available; that could be the price you took, or the SP of your selection – either way, your bet could be supplemented by a more generous price.
On a single bet, the monetary difference between a BOG and non-BOG wager might be negligible. But over a series of bets, it can soon add up… and for multiples and cover bets like a Lucky 15, the difference can be quite extraordinary.
Winning the Battle
Easter Monday is a great day out for racing fans, with jumps and Flat meetings held up and down the country – as well as in Scotland, Wales and Ireland, of course.
Such variety is generally good news for punters seeking value too, so one William Hill customer got stuck into the stacked card on Monday with four picks, backing them in a £0.25 Lucky 15 that amounted to a total stake of £3.75.
| Time | Course | Horse | Odds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17:30 | Redcar | City Of Strangers | 14/1 |
| 17:40 | Fairyhouse | Battle It Out | 10/1 |
| 17:50 | Kempton | Dr Strangelove | 12/1 |
| 18:20 | Kempton | Orchestra | 8/1 |
The first race on the agenda was the 17:30 at Redcar, where our plucky punter had opted for a relative outsider in 14/1 chance City of Strangers.
Ivan Furtado’s three-year-old was making just her second start for her new yard, having finished sixth of ten on her maiden outing on the all-weather at Newcastle eleven days prior.
The frenetic early pace didn’t suit the filly there, but at Redcar – where the early speed was rather fairer, she soon came into her own. Both the 5/2 favourite and 7/2 second favourite were prominent throughout, but City of Strangers had gotten to the stands side rail early and was impossible to haul in from there… running out a five-length victor.
Next up was Battle It Out in the 17:40 at Fairyhouse. Donning the famous green and yellow stripes of the J.P. MacManus enterprise, who enjoyed plenty of success at the recent Cheltenham Festival, the seven-year-old had Charlie O’Dwyer in the saddle, who let his mount – that hadn’t won in over a year – settle into the three-mile trip.
A gruelling race, which saw five of the 13-horse field pulled up, was settled in the home straight when Better Times Ahead, the 3/1 favourite, could find no extra. Folly Master, the 4/1 second favourite, looked the most likely down the straight, but could find no extra gear when Battle It Out, despite making an error at the final flight, rallied in the final throes and headed him off by a neck.
It was a case of two down, two to go four our intrepid punter…
Guaranteed Joy
They didn’t have to wait long for their third pick either, with the 17:50 at Kempton starting before the 17:40 at Fairyhouse had finished – our punter no doubt multi-tasking with two devices on the go.
Their selection at Kempton was Dr Strangelove, named no doubt after the Stanley Kubrick film of the same name. However, the performance of this three-year-old on the Flat was far from apocalyptic, despite the novice stakes race being his first competitive outing.
That inexperience saw him installed as a 12/1 chance, which looked fair enough given how slow he was out of the traps.
But the good doctor soon rallied, making good headway from halfway in this 6f sprint before asserting in the final furlong. Dr Strangelove commanded the lead from 9/4 favourite Lazzar close to home, just getting his head ahead at the line to complete the narrowest of victories.
Our punter was already sitting on a decent profit, as is the nature of three winning long odds picks in a Lucky 15, with the 18:20 at Kempton the destination of their fourth and final selection.
Believitanducan had campaigned over hurdles for much of the winter, but was switched to the flat for this race and looked to be a fair favourite at 11/8, having won so well at Newbury earlier in the season.
That didn’t reckon for Orchestra, Fergal O’Brien’s five-year-old who had ran well at Kempton before. Kieran Shoemark made all the running on the 8/1 chance, staying on gamely to hold off the challenge of Believitanducan by a length.
And so our punter was left celebrating a four-timer, which at the odds taken would have yielded a return of £7,391.
However, three of their selections lengthened after they had struck their bet, meaning that the addition of SP – courtesy of BOG – changed their payout massively.
| Horse | Price Taken | BOG |
|---|---|---|
| City of Strangers | 14/1 | 18/1 |
| Battle It Out | 10/1 | 10/1 |
| Dr Strangelove | 12/1 | 16/1 |
| Orchestra | 8/1 | 16/1 |
And so a payout of £7,391 had morphed into £21,383… nearly £14,000 more than the punter would have trousered without BOG!
Lee Phelps, a spokesperson for William Hill, commented:
“We’ve been reminding customers to opt in to Best Odds Guaranteed and this is exactly why.”