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In-play place betting: Prepare for gubbings a-plenty as new market is unleashed on the Flat!

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Short-priced losers and big-priced winners are not limited to the jumps, says Simon Rowlands...

A "gubbing", in Betfair Forum parlance, is when a horse gets turned over at short prices on the in-running markets. Horses get "gubbed" all the time on the win markets, Flat and jumps, including at the minimum odds of [1.01]. I had imagined it would be much rarer on the place markets, but it seems I may have to think again.

Take the case of Hawa Khana at Wolverhampton on Monday December 3rd, the first day that Flat place markets went in play on Betfair. She ran in a 10-runner race with three places on offer, got an easy lead, kicked two lengths clear over a furlong out (matched at a low of [1.67] on the win market) and.....and.....one-by-one three of her rivals went past her, the last of them no more than 25 yards from the line.

Ouch! A severe gubbing indeed: £466 was matched at [1.01] and plenty more at not much bigger. Who says that all-weather racing is dull or that place betting is for wusses?!

Of course, for every loser there is a winner, and the Betfair massive's fascination with gubbings is not just schadenfreude gone out of control. We all dream of being the type of person with the foresight, judgement or just plain luck to WIN £466 for peanuts. It clearly is possible in this sphere as well as others.

The roller-coaster ride of an ordinary contest at Wolverhampton on a Monday afternoon in December got me thinking what kind of action there might have been if in-play place betting (or even Betfair itself in some instances) had been available on Flat racing in days gone by.

What price would Terimon have been matched at in the 1989 Derby at Epsom, for instance? A 500/1 shot with "the books", and a moral certainty to have been matched at the maximum price of [1000.0] on the win market if Betfair had existed, he would surely have been a three-figure price on the in-play place market when having only one behind him in a field of 12 turning for home.

But Terimon got going, eventually, and stayed on into second behind Nashwan. There was a lot of head-scratching at the time. There would have been both joy and heartache on the in-running place markets on Betfair.

More recently, I wonder what price Hala Bek would have been for a place as he bore down on his rivals in the final furlong of the 2006 Derby. Not [1.01] but [1.1] possibly. What happened next? The "moral winner" (we've all had them, but none of us wants them) veered right, almost unseating his rider, and was beaten a short head, a head and a short head into fourth. Painful: or should that be pleasurable?!

Even more recently, what price would you have laid or backed Cockney Rebel at for a place at Royal Ascot (veered left and run out of third late on) or Rio de La Plata at Newmarket (travelled strongly before emptying out and finishing fourth)? Would professional loser Geordieland always be matched at [1.01] for a place and any price you like for a win?

Similar questions will be not just hypothetical but answered in the future. In-play place betting - Flat as well as jumps - looks like it's here to stay. Prepare for some lively times ahead!

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