You pick a horse you think will win. You choose how much to bet. If your horse wins, you get your money back plus profit. If not, you lose what you bet. That's it.
Odds tell you how much you'd win. They look like fractions: 4/1, 5/2, 10/1.
The simple version: the first number is what you win, the second is what you bet.
4/1 means: for every £1 you bet, you win £4 profit.
Bet £5 at 4/1 → £20 profit + your £5 back = £25 in your pocket
The bigger the first number, the less likely bookmakers think the horse will win — but the bigger your win if it does.
On TrackLab, we always show you the plain English version first — like "Bet £5, get £25 back" — so you never have to do the maths yourself.
We analyse past races, jockey form, trainer records, ground conditions and more to estimate each horse's chance of winning. Every horse gets a TrackLab Score — the higher the number, the better we think their chances.
Why is 20 a “strong chance”? In a typical race with 10 runners, the average score is around 10. A score of 20 means that horse is roughly twice as likely to win as average — that's genuinely strong in racing.
Important: a high score doesn't guarantee a win. Horse racing is unpredictable. The score just tells you which horses we think have the best chance.
Want the full breakdown of how the score works, what goes into it, and how value signals are calculated? Read: How the TrackLab Score works →
TrackLab helps you decide what to bet on — and tells you which bookmaker is offering the best price. When you're ready, the "Place bet" button takes you straight to that bookmaker.
Find a race, expand it, and tap on a horse. You'll see its TrackLab Score and the best available odds.
The button tells you which bookmaker has the best price — e.g. "Place bet with Betfair". Tap it and you'll be taken to that bookmaker's site.
Look for the venue name and race time. Find your horse in the list and tap the odds number next to its name. Not the horse name — the number. That adds it to your bet slip.
Type how much you want to bet (the "stake"). Ignore anything marked "E/W" or "Each Way" for now. Hit the "Place Bet" button. Done.
Betting sites are designed for experienced gamblers, not newcomers. They're packed with numbers, jargon, and options you don't need. That's exactly why TrackLab exists — we do the analysis for you, then point you to the right bookmaker.
When you land on a bookmaker's site, focus on four things:
Everything else — form strings, SP, going reports in jargon — is for experienced users. TrackLab has already translated all of that for you.
A normal bet wins only if your horse comes 1st. Each Way pays out if they finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd (at lower odds). It costs double. For beginners, just stick with a normal Win bet.
If you bet £5, the most you can lose is £5. You will never owe the bookmaker money. You will never get a bill. The worst that happens is you lose exactly what you chose to bet.
Most major bookmakers let you cash out early — look for a "Cash Out" button on your open bets. You might get less than your full winnings, but you won't lose everything.
Once the race is finished, the result is final. If your horse won, you'll see the winnings in your account within minutes.