While the Ascot brochure "Come Racing" has this phrase "It is a common misconception that betting is an essential part of going racing. It is not, and racing enthusiasts can have a highly enjoyable day -- reveling in the atmosphere and spectacle without betting at all" (does Pam Trotter work for Ascot?), most of us where there to bet. In fact at the end of the BBC's coverage of each day of racing they did the "Punters (bettors) vs Bookies" wrap-up (I'm still not sure how they determined that, it had something to do with the way the lines moved during the day, and the payoff of the winners).
Betting in the UK is different. For one thing there are bookies who give different odds for your horse. You can "shop the bookie ring", like these folks when looking for odds:

Most bookies have a minimum £5 for bets (although "Tony Harris", whose stand is in the lower left is advertising £2 win bets). In addition to the bookies, there is "the Tote" which is a lot like what we have here, your basic pari-mutuel setup, and has lower minimums than most of the bookies (you can actually do a Jackpot or Placepot for as little as 10p). However the names of the bets are a little different. Here's a chart comparing the two
UKUS
WinWin
PlaceIt's difficult, see below
Each way Across the board
Reverse ForecastBox Exacta
ExactaExacta
TrifectaTrifecta
Jackpot Pick 6
QuadpotPick 4

About those place bets:
The place bet pays on the first 2 finishers in races with 5-7 runners, the first 3 finishers in races with 8 or more runners, and on the first 4 in handicap races of 16 or more. It is an interesting bet, because unlike the place and show bet in the US there is a single pool, which is split by the backers of up to 4 horses. It also means that an "each way" bet is only 2 units, not 3 as a WPS bet. Interesting. Another interesting thing about place betting is that in addition to the Jackpot, the Tote also offers the "Placepot", which is a "Pick 6 to place". I'm trying to decide if I want to see that bet make it over to this side of the pond. While I've had several pick-6's go down way too early, I'm not sure that the risk/reward ratio would make up for it.

The other different thing about betting is that there is a real lack of objective information. The Racing post (the UK's answer to the Daily Racing form) has basic information, but no charts to speak of. Timeform (which was £5.50!) has their ratings (which are kind of like Beyer numbers), and a short paragraph about the horse's chances. But there isn't anything to compare to the chart in the DRF. The program (a relative bargain at £2) had even less information although it did have nice pictures of the owner's silks. I don't know how the Brits do it. Maybe the ability to shop for the odds makes a difference.

So, how did we do?
Pretty well actually (Sandmason is my friend!), Nancy did a lot of analysis (with what she had to work with) and we bet a lot of bloodlines. Our best pick of the meet? Sahara Slew --by Seattle Slew out of an Alysheba mare, that was the first race on Thursday and we impressed the heck out of the rest of the people at our table. Over all we were up about 25-30 units for the meet, enough to pay our train fare to the tack, several meals and a few other things.

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