What Is A Cover Bet In Horse Racing?

Horse racing has provided excitement for bettors for many years now thanks to the unpredictability of winning.  Over those years, the bookmakers' bet offers have evolved beyond imagine. Bettors aren’t just limited to win only bets or basic accumulators. There are now a number of more complex types of bets such as Exotic Bets available.

One such type of bet that has grown immensely in popularity is the cover bet.  Cover bets can be a huge addition to a betting strategy as they can reduce risks while adding significant profits to potential returns.

This article will walk you through what a Cover Bet is, the types of Cover Bets available, when to use them and the pros and cons of using Cover Bets.

Standard Bets In Horse Racing

Before you get the low down on Cover Bets, let’s go through the more traditional bets so you get a clear perspective on the difference between the two:

• Win Only Bets: You are placing a single stake and your horse must win the race. Anything else is a loss.
• Each Way Bets: You’re splitting your stake in half with an each way bet (half on the win part and half on the place part) and Your horse must win or place (in the number of places on offer from the bookies).
• Forecast Bets: A standard forecast bet requires you to predict the top two race finishers in the correct order. There are variations of forecast bets such as reverse forecasts and combination forecasts that offer some flexibility in terms of where the horses finish. Straight forecast bets only require one stake but the other variations will require multiple stakes.
• Double Bets: When placing double bets you need to pick two horses. However, they must be in different races and the first runner of the two must win for the bet to continue.

This is just a handful of the types of bets that are more common.  The general rule of thumb is that the larger the potential returns, the more complex bets can get.

What Is A Cover Bet?

That’s the basics out of the way so let’s look at Cover Bets. A Cover Bet can help reduce risks and provide a safety net should any horses be unsuccessful.  Just to add a bit more confusion in addition to all the types of bets and different rules in horse racing, there are two different types of Cover Bets to contend with.  There is a Cover Bet and a full Cover Bet.

Full Cover Bet

This type of bet combines multiple legs within one bet. As the multiples are on different horses and cover multiple outcomes, bettors have a safety net should any horses be unsuccessful. Full Cover Bets include Yankee Bets, Heinz Bets and Canadian Bets.

How much breathing space you have in terms of the amount of winners required will very much depend on the type of Full Cover Bet you place.

Cover Bet

This type of bet requires you to bet on the place markets which are widely available at most bookmakers. With this type of bet you are hoping the horse wins. However, if it doesn’t but it lands a place (usually second or third) then you will get your stake back. This will of course depend on whether you have chosen the two or three place Cover Bet.

Now let’s have a look at each type of Cover Bet in more detail.

Full Cover Bets

The below table provides information on the more common Full Cover Bets available. This will give you an overview of how many horses you need for each bet type, the amount of individual bets that make up the structure for each bet and the types of combinations involved (singles, doubles, trebles etc).

If you aren’t a fan of tables, see the below information about each of the bets:

Yankee Bet

A Yankee Bet combines eleven different bets into one combination across four horses. That combination is made up of six doubles, four trebles and one four-fold accumulator. So, what are the possible outcomes for this?

• No winners: Your bet loses
• One winner: Singles aren’t included so your bet loses
• Two winners: You have one double win
• Three winners: You have one treble and three double wins
• Four winners: all eleven bets win – time to celebrate!

For a more in-depth look at Canadian bets and how to place them, read our What Is a Canadian Bet article.

Heinz Bet

The Heinz bet takes you to another level up from the Canadian bet. This time, you pick six horses to add them into a bet of fifty seven combinations.  The breakdown of the bet is fifteen doubles, 20 trebles, 15 four-folds, six five-folds and one six-fold accumulator.  Let’s have a look at the potential returns:

• No winners: Your bet loses 
• One winner: Singles aren’t included so your bet loses 
• Two winners: You have one double win 
• Three winners: You have one treble and three double wins 
• Four winners: You have one four-fold, four trebles and six doubles 
• Five winners: one five-fold, five four-folds, ten trebles and ten doubles. Six winners: all fifty seven bets win – begin the celebrations!. 

For a more in-depth look at Heinz bets and how to place them, read our What Is a Heinz Bet article.

Lucky Bets

All of the bets we have looked at so far have been multiple bets without any singles included.  This means that at least two of the horses need to win or the bet loses.  This brings us to the Lucky 15, Lucky 31 and Lucky 63 bets. All three of these bet types include singles so even if just one horse wins, you would get a return. Lucky bets are often called full cover with singles bets.

• Lucky 15: One bet made up of 15 individual bets across four horses. It’s constructed of four singles, six doubles, four trebles and one four-fold. This is basically a Yankee bet but with single bets included
• Lucky 31: One bet made up of 31 individual bets across five horses. The combination of bets is five singles, ten doubles, ten trebles, five four-folds and one five-fold
• Lucky 63: One bet made up of 63 individual bets across six horses. The combination of bets is six singles, fifteen doubles, twenty trebles, fifteen four-folds six five-folds and one six-fold

Just be aware that you are placing a unit stake per individual bet when doing Lucky type bets.  So for a £1 unit stake you will be placing £15 for a Lucky 15, £31 for a Lucky 31 and £63 for a Lucky 63 bet.

Cover Bets

Placing Cover Bets is very straight forward and nowhere near as complicated as the structure of Full Cover Bets. This time you are only placing a bet on one horse. However, some bookies offer a Cover Bet market where you can usually bet on two and three place markets.

Should your horse win, you will get winning returns as you normally would.  However, because you have a level of insurance involved, the odds on a Cover Bet will be lower than a normal win only bet.  Should your horse not win but finish second or third, the bookie will refund your stake so you don’t lose any money. 

Let’s now take a look at how you place Cover Bets using Bet365 for the example.

To find the Cover Bet market, just access the race card markets as normal and then click on the ‘More Markets’ option as highlighted.

Once you click on the ‘More Markets’ tab, you will see various other betting options but the first tab it defaults to is the ‘Cover Bet’ tab highlighted below:

From here you can then choose which horse you want to back and make a decision as to whether you want to back it for two or three places. To place the bet of your choice, you just click on the odds as you normally would and place the bet.

In this example, the bet is on the horse called Better on the three places market. So, what does that mean when it comes to the outcomes? 

The first thing you might have noticed is that the odds are relatively low compared to the win and each way market.  To back the same horse on a win or each way bet, the odds were 7.5 (13/2).  By backing it on a three place Cover Bet, the odds are reduced to 5.5 (9/2).

• Better wins: £10 (stake) x 5.5 (odds) = £55 returns 
• Better finishes second: £10 stake refunded 
• Better finishes third: £10 stake refunded 
• Better finishes outside the top three: Bet loses

If you had decided to do the Cover Bet on the 2 places market, if the horse finishes outside the top two, again your bet will lose. Only a win or second place (stake refunded) would see any returns.

We decided to hang around and see how ‘Better’ got on in the race. He only went and won.

Based on the above real-life example, your bet would have returned £55. As you can see, Better won at odds of 12.0 (11/1).  The odds of Better when the bet was placed were 7.5 (13/2) for win only and each-way but because the bet was a Cover Bet, the odds were reduced to 5.5 (9/2).

NOTE – One disadvantage to doing Cover Bets is all promotions are excluded.  Had this been a win only or each-way bet, Bet365 would have paid at odds of 12.00 (11/1) thanks to their Best Odds Guaranteed promotion.

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Using Cover Bets

Now you understand what Cover Bets are, let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages of using the two different types of Cover Bets:

Full Cover Bets

Advantages

• Multiple chances: You don’t need all your horses to win to still get returns from other bet combinations
• Entertainment: Due to the amount of individual bets and races involved, it’s more engaging and exciting for bettors
• Potential profits: Compared to single bets, full cover bets offer potentially huge profits with multiple winners
• Good for knowledgeable bettors: If you know your horses, jockeys and trainers, these types of bets can give you an edge when picking your horses
• Spread stakes: Instead of putting larger stakes on a win only, you can spread your stake into smaller amounts across many combinations

Disadvantages

• Higher stakes needed: Covering multiple combinations with individual unit stakes can soon mount up. Always stick to your budget
• Complexity: The more multiples that are in your bet, the more complex it becomes to understand and calculate
• Winners: It’s rare that one will winner will return your outlay so you need more selections to succeed to get decent returns
• Lower Odds: compared to accumulator bets, Cover Bets offer lower odds per combination

Cover Bets

Advantages

• Less risk: The main reason for doing Cover Bets is to give you a form of insurance in case your horse doesn’t win. Finishing second or third (depending on which places you took) will see your stake returned and no loss incurred
• Covering uncertainty: You could follow a top tipster or have an in-depth knowledge of the race markets, but horse racing is unpredictable and even odds-on favourites have bad days. A Cover Bet could protect your stake if there are unexpected results
• Providing reassurance: Bettors who use Cover Bets can find it less stressful than average bettors because they know they have a safety net in place that minimises the risk of losing everything
• Simplicity: Before the bookies started offering Cover Bets, many bettors used to create their own Cover Bets by putting win only bets on and also placing small side bets on the same market. This is still possible and no doubt there are some experienced bettors doing this but it does require a lot of concentration to catch the right odds and work out the figures. However, the modern option offered by the bookies is very straight forward. Just back your selection on the Cover Bet market and you’re done

Disadvantages

• Reduced odds: The odds for a Cover Bet are always lower than if you’re backing a horse to win in a straight single bet. With the added level of cover, comes a reduction in odds. The more places you choose on a Cover Bet, the lower the odds will get and your potential profits reduce. That’s completely understandable as the bookies don’t like throwing money away
• Cover Bet availability: You may find that not all bookies offer a Cover Bet market. It’s probably best to stick with the bigger bookmakers. As mentioned previously, it is possible to make your own cover bets but that is more suited to very experienced bettors. For simplicity, find bookmakers that do the work for you
• Miss Out On Offers: Pretty much any bookie offering the value of Cover Bets, will remove any promotions associated with that race. Foe example, Cover Bets are exempt from Bet Boosts and Best Odds Guaranteed. This could mean whilst you have a safety net in place, you could miss out on bigger potential returns

When Should You Use A Cover Bet?

Cover Bets won’t always suit the markets and should be used as part of a strategic betting strategy.  Guessing which horse will win isn’t suited to Cover Bets. You need to do your research and make sure the risk and reward balance is correct.

Here’s a few things to consider before deciding if a Cover Bet is the way to go:

• Backing Favourites: There’s no such thing as a banker in horse racing. Betting on favourites doesn’t guarantee a return. In competitive races where there are a few possible winners, a Cover Bet could help protect you from potential losses
• Value Bets: Sometimes the bookies are slow to react to market movements and adjust their odds. Keep an eye out for horses that are offering more value at one bookies compared to the others. Similarly, if you have good knowledge of the markets, you might see a horse that has generous odds considering its form
• Safe Betting: if you’re a little averse to taking big risks and want to keep potential losses to a minimum, a Cover bet may suit you. If you get any returns from your bets, hopefully you will at least come out even. If you do, you get another shot at getting that elusive winner

Conclusion

Cover Bets can be a great addition to any betting strategy when used at the right time. They reduce loss risks whilst increasing a bettors chance of getting something back from their bets.  That said, they do provide some insurance, but they also reduce the potential for bigger wins.  This can make Cover Bets less appealing to bettors after the big wins.  Bettors should consider using full Cover Bets if they want to increase their profit potential whilst still having a lower risk bet.

It's vital that you know when to use the different types of Cover Bets.  Whether that’s when backing favourites or betting on large competitive fields, it’s about balancing the risks and rewards to suit your own betting strategy.

Ultimately, it’s down to personal preference as to whether a Cover bet is for you or not. Consider if it suits your risk tolerance and betting goals.  It’s a good option if you want to have fun betting without the worry of big losses.  Cover Bets won’t suit those bettors who want maximum returns.