Yes, it does seem strange that there are plenty who would “pick up those pennies lying on the ground in front of steamrollers coming” - but wouldn’t ever dare to put a tenner on a “Rag” themselves - each way even!
The way I see it is that if there are 16 horses in a race, 4 places paid, and the race is the type that “bookmakers love” - that is, “Competetive Handicap” (aka “Impossible Handicap” by the punters).
Surely any four horses can make up the four places, such as this result posted below (just pulled off last saturday’s Cheltemham results)
The favourite is placed third, 10-1 winner, but 50/1 third which was probably the best value each way bet of this particular piece, as a quid each way on this 50-1 shot “Kuato Riko” pays £13.50 for a place @ 1/4 the odds a place, and a less-good-value £9.00 for a place on the tote. The 10/1 winner paid £12.30 for the win, marginally better by around 11%, nothing to write home about though.
I find that the larger fields (20+ runners) tend to pay better for the Tote odds, SP these days is better than an early board price otherwise.
I don’t take prices at ALL - unless it’s on a “best odds guaranteed” basis where if the price goes out, you get the bigger SP price… Might as well elect for SP in the FIRST place, as there’s little chance one’s chosen outsider among six other outsiders - is going to be backed with heavy money prior to the off… I dunno what’s gonna win any more than the other punters do, except I get paid more when I get it right than when they do… Simples.
I’ve only ever been banned from one bookmaker though, Corals - where I once got 3 out of 4 winners on one of my yankee bets (tonight’s posted bet returned FA btw)
I beat SP by a factor of six, they coughed up 15k rather than the £2480 it would have been at SP, and I promptly got my account closed… Thinking back, I should have kept that curt letter and framed it!
Not had a bigger winnner than that in the two decades since (two or three big-priced winners each time in a multibet such as a yankee), but I’ve had a dozen four figure wins over those years, which is better than a kick in the nuts I guess. My best betting months tend to be Late January to Mid April “Golden Days”. My worst? - End of May until End of September. People seem to be more savvy on the Flat season, and there’s less “Chaos” involved as well, such as when Ruby Walsh unseats at the last on the hot favourite like he’s got a reputation for doing… My Mrs has had a big win on the Derby and Grand National, but those races elude me for my “main bet big win”. My best record is Welsh and Scottish Grand Nationals, plus this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqRWc0hvmvw the best winner my Mrs ever got, landing her 4.5 large, three weeks after I’d had an almost identical sized win on a £1 each way double on a couple of no hopers including 100/1 Usquaebach a month earlier in March… Went touring the whole country on holiday after that, as I like to “sit out the summer season” for reasons I’ve already given above. Small bets, Bet Often, let chaos chip away at my own bad luck… (I probably win a lot less often than most other punters)
My favourite type of race is a Handicap over a distance of 3m or more, and a Chase race with a BIg field 14-20 runners.
“3m+” means more opportunities for the fancied horses to come a cropper, big fields mean the horses that lead - are more likely to come a cropper from “traffic problems” (bumping…) whilst “Chase” races - have the bigger fences that are harder to jump… I also have a slight preference to left-handed race tracks with inclined run-ins such as Cheltenham (Uphill) or Epsom (downhill)…
On the flat, I’ve not had a big winner multibet come in (double or better) for years and years. I don’t bet more than £1 units in multibets, because I shouldn’t need to with the sort of prices I’m backing at…
If you can get one of those special bonus slips with “3 times odds for only one winner”, then it is better to do a “Lucky 15” rather than a Yankee, of course…
On National Hunt and other Jumps racing - there’s FAR more occasion where “Horse says No” than on the Flat, where the better faster horses tend to win as expected more often…
…Still awaiting that time I get that magical fourth winner!