Keep an eye out for such gems as team news in Carling Cup matches and the like. Never be scared to request a price. If you don’t ask, you definitely won’t get. Betting exchanges match people who disagree on the outcome of an event; the more opinionated the layer, the bigger price the backer is likely to get. Sometimes, the price a layer is willing to offer will surprise.

 

On the other side of the coin, don’t be put off in offering to lay an eventuality at a much shorter price than you think it should be. You wouldn’t sign a contract or agreement in any other walk of life without reading the small print, so betting should be no different. This is true of all bookmaker markets, not just betting exchanges. Never over react. It is all too easy for some punters to see ‘free money’ on the screen when they see a horse trailing the field, or seemingly ruled out of an ante-post race.

 

However, in-running winners that have been backed and laid at 1,000 are becoming near-weekly occurrences – Family Business fell and remounted to win in 2002, and those who laid Kicking King at the maximum price after he was seemingly ruled out of the 2005 Gold Cup won’t need reminding of what happened next. Then there is the 2008 Derby winner, New Approach, for so long a non-runner.