South African racing
05 South African Racing 
/ Betfair Education / 07 March 2008 / Leave a comment
Often seen on UK screens as a pundit on South African racing, Betfair's Andrew Riddell shares a few pointers on racing from his homeland and how to make it pay.
A South African's View of Betfair
Coming from a country which was originally split between the Totalisator (pool betting) and bookmakers it was very refreshing when an exchange was offered to the S.A. market, albeit only to the bookmaking fraternity (people with licenses). Being connected and involved with people in the industry though, it was freely available to me. At this stage Betfair was in its infancy and was not involved with SA racing.
It was like being a kid in a candy store except these sweets could often cost a pretty packet! Normally I would never punt more than two horses in the same race but, on occasions, would punt up to five horses in the same event on the exchange, finding it hard to believe what phenomenal value I was getting. I, and others, soon learnt though that value did not always guarantee profit! It was a good learning curve and, to survive, things had to change.
Increased Margins
Betting margins (Over-rounds) are much bigger in SA and at opening call the market can be well in excess of 200%. (The simple reason being that punters in South Africa rarely take the price: they always ask for the next price up). Even with the extra stretch afforded to clients the markets were still out of proportion, but a bit truer, due to the fact that very rarely do big priced winners over 20/1 win, and therefore are seldom backed by the public, leading to lopsided books for bookmakers, and in effect causing them to be betting to well under 100%.
Making SA Racing profitable on Betfair
1. I generally start laying from the bottom up. I would rather lay and have a big liability on an outsider than a hot-pot favourite: smaller profits but more regular! Another reason is that longshots usually drift - the earlier you get in, the less it is likely to cost you in risk.
2. I look for markets where horses are trading at an incorrect prices due to factors not related to form i.e. A strong jockey on board (Strydom, Marcus, Shea, Khan) meaning punters are taking much shorter prices than the horses form merits. Better value = more money in the long run.
3. If you are predominantly a layer, the best market is a well funded market. This leads to more activity and prices that are often similar to the course price, especially on favourites that are fairly strong in the betting market.
4. If you are a punter looking for extra value in a race, look for a quiet market and request bigger than normal prices. You will be surprised how often you are matched at prices you thought impossible to get.
5. Like US racing, the SA markets are busiest during the final minutes before the off (post time). This is when you sometimes get to lay horses at completely the wrong price, people start to panic which can lead them to taking prices much shorter than course price.
Last but not least, sometimes you have to get lucky. But as South Africa's greatest golfer, Gary Player, said "The more I practice the luckier I get."
