What does SP mean in Betting on Horse Racing & Greyhounds?

Horse racing is one of the most popular sports to bet on here at Betfred, mainly because there are many different ways to have a punt, which all adds to the excitement it generates. You are never short of meetings throughout the week, each boasting an action-packed race card.

If you are someone who likes to look ahead for your bets in both horse racing and greyhound racing, you will sometimes see SP instead of odds next to the runners for a race. This explainer article will inform you what this term means and how it affects your betting.

To put it simply, SP means starting price and if you put a bet on while this is showing for your horse or greyhound, it means you will get the price of the runner at the start of the race.

For each horse or greyhound running, the prices on offer from bookmakers are put into a listed order from longest to shortest prices. Once compiled, it is then divided into two equal halves and the starting price (SP) will be the shortest odds that you can get from the half that has the longest odds.

On the day of the race, bookmakers will offer a choice between placing a bet at starting price, or a fixed price. Some bookmakers offer best odds guaranteed (horse racing only), something we at Betfred offer across selected races, which means if a bettor takes fixed odds when the bet is placed and the starting price turns out to have higher odds, the payout is calculated using the starting price, should the punter's bet win.