Horse racing – Qualifying Losses

As always, the qualifying loss that you should be willing to take is dependent on the probability of achieving a second place. I think too many people feel inclined to make their decision on the absolute loss (i.e. £2 or £5 etc). Obviously if the horse has a 1% chance of finishing second then the £2 qualifying loss is not worthwhile; if the horse has a 50% chance of finishing second then a £5 loss is profitable. Take today’s Sky offer… Some posters were put off by the high qualifying loss of roughly £5 – yet, it was still profitable in the long run. The best approach is probably to estimate the probability of the horse finishing second (if the place market on the exchange is only 2 horses to be placed then you don’t need to estimate) and make an informed decision based on that. This approach will also help you to choose the optimal horse, given the back and lay odds.