What is the starting price?
The starting price (SP) is the official odds of a horse at the moment the race starts. It is determined from the betting market as it stands at the off, and it is the price used to settle any bet placed "at SP".
When you back a horse you usually have two choices:
- Take a fixed price, you lock in the odds shown when you place the bet. Those odds are yours regardless of how the market moves afterwards.
- Bet at SP, you do not fix a price; your bet is settled at whatever the official starting price turns out to be.
Fixed price vs SP, the trade-off
Neither is automatically better. It depends on which way the market moves:
- If the price shortens (the horse is well backed), a fixed price taken earlier was the better choice.
- If the price drifts (lengthens), SP pays you more.
A common approach is to take a fixed price on a horse you expect the market to back in, and to be relaxed about SP on one you think may drift.
Best Odds Guaranteed
Best Odds Guaranteed (BOG) removes much of the dilemma. Offered by most major bookmakers on UK and Irish racing, it works like this: take an early fixed price, and if the SP is bigger, you are paid at the SP instead. You get the locked-in safety of a fixed price with the upside of a drift. Always check the terms, BOG usually applies only within certain time windows and bet types.
SP and Rule 4
One useful quirk: betting at SP means no Rule 4 deduction. Because the SP is calculated after any non-runners are removed, the adjustment is already baked in.
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