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3-2-1 Horse Racing System

Welcome to the 3-2-1 staking system. This system is primarily based on its staking procedure and operates in Handicap races where the prices available have to be at a certain minimum for it to be successful. It’s fairly straight forward and the steps below will show in detail how we use it.

Rules:

1). Head over to Racing Post site at www.Racingpost.com as below and you will see a list of the day’s races.

2). Next from the above list we look for races with 6 OR LESS runners and make a note.

3). We then head over to Betfair and Click on ‘Horse Racing’. Then ‘Horse Racing – Todays Card’ as shown.

Next check the races you have made a note of and then we need to apply these two filters;

  • The race is a HANDICAP

 

  • The FAVOURITE is priced at 0 or greater.

4). Given the above filters have been checked we next check each race and pick ‘3’ that have shortened in price on Betfair from the price shown on the Racing Post betting forecast.

So 30 – 40 minutes before the potential race is due off check the Racing Post and Betfair Exchange prices.

Here’s an example below of the Racing Post prices:

And here are the Betfair prices for the same race;

So let’s go through the runners and compare the price difference (you can line up the 2 screens if you wish for ease of evaluation).

 

Going by the above rules you can see I have listed in BOLD the 3 where Betfair and the Racing Post are the closest in price around 30 mins before the race off time.

5). Next as you can see above, we start to place our stakes and we do so in 3-2-1pt fashion. That is; 3pts on the selections with the closest gap between Racing Post and Betfair prices, then 2pts on the next shortest price gap and finally 1pt on the next shortest price gap.

Please NOTE: We must ensure that the favourite in the race identified is AT LEAST 3.0 (2/1) or greater – If not NO BET!

Looking at the example above you can see that;

  1. Pendleton has the shortest price gap at 15pts so we stake 3pts
  2. Dominus has the second shortest at 20pts so we stake 2pts
  3. The Night Watch has the third shortest price at 30pts so we stake 1pt

Now the main Betfair site has a minimum unit stake of £2.00 so if we set our unit stake at £2.00 then 3pts is £6 (£3 x £2 = £6.00): 2pts is £4.00 and 1pts is £2.00.

If you are using one of the Betfair interfaces such as Fairbot or Bet Angel among others then your stakes can be below £2.00.

Bet Placement…  

Based on the above we stake as follows;

3pts (£6.00) on Pendleton at 3.90

2pts (£4.00) on Dominus at 5.20

1pt (£2.00) on The Night Watch at 3.80

Result:

We did trap the winner with our 2pts bet at 5.20!

Pendleton = 3pts @ 3.90 Lost -3pts

Dominus = 2pts @ 5.20 WON +10.40

The Night Watch = 1pt @ 3.8 Lost -1pt

 

Out = 6pts

In = +10.40pts (Inc Stake)

Profit = +4.40pts

 

Another Example;

Racing Post prices;

 

Betfair prices…

Looking at the example above you can see that;

  1. Betsy Trotter has the shortest gap at 0.12 so we stake 3pts
  2. Miss Elsa has the second shortest at 0.20 so we stake 2pts
  3. Mollys Game has the third shortest price at 0.70 gap so we stake 1pt

 

Bet Placement:

 3pts (£6.00) on Betsy Trotter at 3.00

2pts (£4.00) on Miss Elsa at 6.20

1pt (£2.00) on Mollys Game at 7.20

 

Result:


 

We did trap the winner with our 2pts bet at 3.00!

Betsey Trotter =  3pts @ 3.0  WON +9pts

Miss Elsa = 2pts @ 6.20 Lost  -2pts

Mollys Game = 1pt @ 7.20 Lost -1pt

 

Out = 6pts

In = +9pts (Inc Stake)

Profit = +3pts

 

Staking Plan… 

Level stakes is the best for this one. In the above example the total stakes comes to £12.00 based on the £6 – £4 – £2 monetary staking.

Therefore that would be the total stake throughout or until you decide to step up.

 

Conclusion…

Here we have a decent ‘Coverage’ system whereby we are backing the Top 3 that are the closest in terms of bookie and Betfair prices. Such horses where Betfair prices and industry bookie prices are near to price parity are what I call ‘Interesting Horses’. Bookies may have taken heavy money for them ‘on course’ and then Layed off on Betfair to reduce their liability and thus keeping their prices steady and close to parity on both markets.

So give it a trial when you have the time, sticking religiously to the rules and give it at least a 20 race trial to see if it suits your style of betting and time available.