For many players it is important to know what the odds for their selections may be. This is because of work or family commitments or simply an inability to be able to place bets at the time the races are going to be on. Or it could be they simply want to fit in a round of golf or game of cricket.

Newspaper form guides have always provided an odds line in the morning, called a Prepost market, although a lot of younger punters mistakenly believe that this is some sort of rating. It’s not, although to some extent it does become a self fulfilling prophecy and you will generally find that the Prepost market favourite is also the on course favourite.

In the past, markets were supplied by local bookmakers based on their knowledge of the owners, trainers and likely riders and how each horse was likely to be bet. Now the Prepost markets are supplied by mostly computer generated systems which still do take into account the popularity of the various jockeys and trainers.

What I have prepared below is the result of my analysis of several thousand horses and the odds they ended up with for different Prepost price brackets. It is far from the definitive answer but it is a guide that for the most part, time constrained punters will be happy with.


For those who do not know, the bookmakers Starting Price, is actually their finishing price. It is the price recorded by the betting stewards a couple of minutes before the jump.

Since the beginning of 2010 the TABs, in line with most corporate bookmakers, now offer a fixed morning price about most major Metropolitan races. This is obviously the best guide you can get and it could enable punters more certainty about their betting.

For the country and provincial races that feature Monday to Friday and Sundays the Prepost market adjusted as above is probably the best guide you will get.