Before heading online to take advantage of free bet offers at Timeform, take a look at our guide to pick 4 so that you can answer the question: what is a pick 4 in horse racing?
A pick 4 is pretty much what the name suggests – a bet that consists of four choices. With a pick four bet, you select a winning horse in four consecutive races. It sounds like a bit of a long shot, doesn’t it? But if you are careful and considered in your selections then it can be a wager that leads to an astronomical win.
When preparing to make a pick 4 bet it is important to make sure that you know about all of the races and runners that you are planning to place a stake on. It is easy to get excited about one tip off in a certain race and then feel it’s worth the risk taking a punt on a couple of other races to build a pick four. However, this very rarely proves to be a winning strategy as it takes knowledge and insight to be able to pick four winners in a row.
When it comes to wagering a pick four bet there are some things to keep in mind and some strategies that it is worth considering. Firstly, regardless of whether the race is taking place at a big meet or whether it is a more low key affair, it is always worth considering investing in a race in which a handicapper can beat one or more of the favourites. Ideally, you would be best singling out a horse in one or more legs and also spreading out a little in more contentious races. Picking a single horse on one or more legs will help to reduce the cost of the wager and therefore give you more funds to play with when it comes to betting on the more open races.
Betting on a short-priced favourite in the first leg is also a strategy that many bettors favour when it comes to placing a pick 4 bet. Seeing as the odds can be seen when making a bet on the first leg used in the pick 4 bet, it makes sense to bet on a short priced favourite in the first leg.
Another thing to keep in mind when building a pick four bet is that if you aren’t one hundred percent sure which horse to back in a single race, you can narrow down the choices by selecting several horses. Of course, you could always back all of the horses in a single race if you really wanted to.
The most important thing to keep in mind when building your pick 4 bet is to make sure that you keep your eye on the cost of your ticket so that you do not end up betting more than you intended to at the outset of the bet.
