What Does SP Mean in Horse Racing?
By the MyHorseBets team · Updated · 13 min read
SP stands for starting price: the official odds of each horse at the moment the race starts. If you ask a bookmaker to settle your bet “at SP”, you don’t know your odds when you place it. You get whatever price the horse is returned at when the stalls open or the tapes go up. So the short answer to what does SP mean in horse racing is this: it is the price of record, published with every result, and the price your bet is paid at if you didn’t take a fixed price.
That sounds simple, but the SP touches almost everything on a betting slip: each way terms, Rule 4 deductions, favourite markers in the results and the offer bookmakers call best odds guaranteed. This guide takes each in turn, with worked examples. If you are new to the basics, start with our guide to how to bet on horses and come back here.
What does SP mean in horse racing?
The starting price is the market price of a horse at the off. It is not set by the racecourse or by any one bookmaker. In Britain it is returned independently from a sample of bookmakers’ prices, under rules set by the Starting Price Regulatory Commission (more on that below), and it is published straight after the race with the result.
What does SP mean on a bet?
On a bet slip, SP is one of two ways to be paid. You can take the price shown when you place the bet (the fixed price), or tick the SP option and be paid at the starting price. Sky Bet’s racing rules put it plainly: “Starting Price means that whatever odds your selection is at the start of the race are the odds you will receive for your bet.” Most bookmakers work the same way, and if you don’t choose the SP option, your bet is settled at the price you took.
What does SP mean in betting outside racing?
The idea is the same in other sports: the price at the start of the event. In racing the SP is a formal, independently returned figure. In other sports, where an operator offers an SP option at all, it is usually that operator’s own price at the start, so check their rules. Sky Bet’s rules add that if betting is available during a race, the SP is the last available odds for the selection.
Where can’t you bet at SP?
SP is generally not available on ante post bets, which are struck at a fixed price days or weeks before the race. Pool betting with the Tote doesn’t use SP either: the Jockey Club’s racing jargon page notes that you can ask a bookmaker for an SP bet “but not the Tote”, because Tote dividends come from the pool, not from bookmakers’ odds.
How the starting price is worked out in Britain
For most of racing history, the SP came from the on-course betting ring: independent SP returners watched the bookmakers’ boards at the track and recorded the prices on offer at the off. That changed. Since 1 May 2022, according to the Starting Price Regulatory Commission’s rules, the SP has been based on the betting shows of a sample of betting operators in Great Britain who hold a significant share of the market, which in practice means the big off-course firms rather than the bookmakers on the course.
Who returns the SP today?
The Starting Price Regulatory Commission (SPRC) is the independent body that sets the rules and checks they are followed. The day-to-day work of returning the SP is done by an operator: the SPRC’s 2025 annual report names Podium Sports, part of PA Media, whose SP validators apply the rules race by race. The same report says nine off-course bookmaker brand feeds are usually received live into the SP system.
Which bookmakers count in the sample?
Under the SPRC rules, a bookmaker’s prices only count if they are available to customers in Great Britain, offered with each way terms, supplied through a live feed, and priced independently (a feed that simply copies the composite industry show is excluded). Bookmakers in the same ownership group count once, and each price source must be expected to hold at least 1.5% of the betting market on British racing.
How the SP figure is picked
For each horse, the prices from every bookmaker in the sample are listed from longest to shortest. The list is split into two equal halves, and the SP is the shortest price in the half holding the longest odds. In other words, the SP or a bigger price was on offer from at least half the sample at the off. The rules also say no SP is returned if a sample of three bookmakers can’t be achieved, and that the sample favours bookmakers betting to the customary each way terms.
Favourite markers in the results: F, JF and CF
Results show a letter next to the SP of the favourite. F marks the favourite, JF (or J) marks joint favourites when two horses share the shortest price, and CF (or C) marks co-favourites when three or more do. The Racing Post’s key uses J for “joint favourite of 2” and C for “co-favourite of 3+”. Bets on “the favourite” are settled from these SP returns, which is why the SP matters even for bets you placed without naming a horse.
While you’re reading a racecard, you may also see BF next to a horse. If you’ve wondered what does BF mean in horse racing, it stands for beaten favourite: the horse started favourite last time out and didn’t win. Our horse racing terms glossary covers the rest of the abbreviations.
Taking the price or taking SP
Bookmakers price races well before the off. Sky Bet’s rules call these early prices: the odds offered on the day of the event, with the prices shown in the final 15 minutes known as board prices. Take one of those and your odds are fixed. Ask for SP and your odds are decided at the off.
A worked example
You want £10 to win on a horse priced at 6/1 in the morning. Here is what each choice returns, depending on where the SP ends up:
| Your choice | SP 4/1 | SP 6/1 | SP 8/1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Took 6/1 | £70 | £70 | £70 |
| Took SP | £50 | £70 | £90 |
| Took 6/1 with best odds guaranteed | £70 | £70 | £90 |
The working: £10 at 6/1 wins £60, plus the £10 stake, for a £70 return. At 4/1 it is £40 plus £10, so £50. At 8/1 it is £80 plus £10, so £90. If the odds format trips you up, our odds converter switches fractional odds to decimal, and the odds calculator shows the return for any stake.
Why the SP can be shorter or bigger than the early price
Prices move between the morning and the off. A horse that attracts a lot of money usually shortens, and one that is weak in the market drifts. News moves prices too: a change in the going, a non-runner, a jockey booking, or a horse sweating up in the paddock. There is no rule that the SP must be better or worse than an early price. It is simply the market at the moment of the off, and money for a horse tends to show up in a shorter SP.
The SP also carries the bookmakers’ margin. The SPRC’s 2025 annual report says average SP overrounds per runner rose during 2025 to slightly above the 2019 level, which had been the previous recent high. A bigger overround means less generous prices across the field.
When to choose SP
Taking SP makes sense when you expect a horse to drift, when you can’t watch the market, or when the early price looks short to you. Taking a price makes sense when you think it will shorten. Where best odds guaranteed applies, taking the price is usually the stronger choice, because you keep the price you took and still get the SP if it ends up bigger.
SP in each way bets and multiples
Each way at SP
An each way bet at SP works exactly like any other each way bet: the win part is paid at the SP and the place part at a fraction of the SP. Sky Bet’s rules say each way bets are governed by SP place terms, set by the number of horses that come under starter’s orders. For the standard place terms and extra places, see our guide to what an each way bet is.
Example: £5 each way (£10 staked) at SP in a non-handicap with eight runners, so 1/5 odds and three places. The horse is returned at 10/1 and finishes second. The win part loses. The place part is paid at 10/1 x 1/5 = 2/1, so £5 wins £10, plus the £5 stake: a £15 return. Had it won, the win part would add £55 (£50 winnings plus £5), for a total return of £70.
Doubles, trebles and accas at SP
In a multiple, each selection is settled at its own odds, so any leg at SP uses that horse’s SP. A £5 double on two winners returned at 3/1 and 5/2 pays £5 x 4.0 x 3.5 = £70. Bet slips usually let you choose the price or SP selection by selection. Our bet calculator settles singles and multiples once you enter the SPs from the results.
Rule 4 and the starting price
When a horse is withdrawn before coming under starter’s orders, stakes on it are returned and winning bets on the others can be reduced under Tattersalls Rule 4(c). How it hits you depends on how you bet.
Prices taken before the withdrawal
If you took a price before the withdrawal, your winnings are reduced. Sky Bet’s rules say that where a horse is withdrawn and a new market is formed, early price and board price bets struck before the new market are subject to a Rule 4(c) deduction. The size of the deduction depends on the withdrawn horse’s price, which you can look up in our Rule 4 calculator.
SP bets
If you bet at SP and there is time for a new market to form, the SP is returned on the race without the withdrawn horse, so the price already reflects the smaller field and your bet is settled at SP in the usual way. If a horse is withdrawn so late that no new market can form, bookmakers typically apply the deduction to SP bets as well. Check your bookmaker’s racing rules for the exact wording.
A Rule 4 example
You took 5/1 for £10. A 3/1 shot is withdrawn at the start, which under the Rule 4 table means a 25p deduction. Your horse wins. Winnings of £50 lose 25p in the pound (£12.50), leaving £37.50, and with the £10 stake the return is £47.50. Someone who backed the same horse at SP, with a new market formed and the horse returned at 6/1, would get £70 with no deduction.
Best odds guaranteed: getting the SP if it’s bigger
Best odds guaranteed, often shortened to BOG, is a bookmaker offer on horse racing. You take a price, and if the SP turns out bigger, you are paid at the SP. If the SP is shorter, you keep the price you took. It removes most of the risk of taking an early price, and for many punters it is the part of what does SP mean in horse racing that matters most in practice.
How best odds guaranteed works
There is nothing to calculate on your side. The bookmaker compares the price you took with the SP when it settles the bet and pays the bigger of the two. In the table above, the BOG line pays £70 when the SP is 4/1 or 6/1, and £90 when it is 8/1. Some operators don’t need you to opt in; others tie BOG to a loyalty scheme. Sky Bet, for example, makes BOG available only to customers who qualify for its Sky Bet Club.
What time does best odds guaranteed start?
BOG usually applies only to bets placed on the day of the race, from a stated time until the off. Sky Bet’s published terms, for instance, say bets placed on the day of the race between 9am and the start qualify. The time differs between bookmakers, so check the offer page rather than assuming.
Typical conditions and exclusions
The terms vary, but these conditions come up again and again:
- UK and Irish racing. BOG typically covers UK and Irish racing only, unless stated otherwise.
- Win and each way bets. It usually applies to win and each way bets on the main race market. Ante post bets, Tote bets, in-running bets and specials are commonly excluded, and some bookmakers exclude races where they already offer extra places.
- Maximum payout caps. Many bookmakers cap the extra money BOG can pay, per bet, per race or per day. Sky Bet’s terms, for example, cap the uplift at £50,000 per bet or per race on horse racing.
- Account restrictions. Bookmakers can withdraw BOG from individual accounts, for example accounts they decide to manage more tightly. If BOG suddenly stops showing on your slip, that is usually why.
- Rule 4. Terms differ on how BOG meets a deduction. Sky Bet’s terms say a taken price keeps its Rule 4 deduction unless the horse returns at a bigger SP, in which case the bet is paid at the SP with no deduction.
Is BOG worth looking for?
For anyone who takes early prices, yes. Over a year, the occasional big drifter paid at SP adds up, and it costs nothing extra. When you compare bookmakers, the BOG terms (start time, caps, exclusions) are worth reading alongside the each way terms. Our guide to horse racing bookies explains what else to check.
Betfair Starting Price is not the same thing
On the Betfair Exchange you’ll also see an SP option, called the Betfair Starting Price (BSP). It shares a name with the industry SP but works differently.
How the Betfair SP is calculated
According to Betfair’s help pages, the BSP is worked out at the start of the event by balancing the money customers have asked to back and lay at SP, together with unmatched exchange bets. It has no profit margin built in, because the bets are between customers. Before the off, Betfair shows a projected SP (the “near price”) and a far price as a guide, but the final BSP isn’t known until the race starts.
How BSP differs from the industry SP
The industry SP comes from bookmakers’ prices, including their margin, and is returned under the SPRC rules. The BSP comes from customers’ bets on the exchange, so it is often bigger than the industry SP, but Betfair charges commission on your net winnings in the market, so compare the two after commission. Bookmakers settle SP bets at the industry SP; only exchange bets use the BSP. So when someone asks what does SP mean in horse racing, the answer depends on where the bet was struck.
Betting always carries a risk of loss and no tipster, system or staking plan can guarantee a profit. Only stake what you can afford to lose, and set a budget before you start. Gambling responsibly.
Frequently asked questions
Your bet is settled at the official odds the horse is returned at when the race starts. You won't know the exact price when you place it. If the horse drifts you get bigger odds than the morning price, and if it is well backed you get shorter odds.
SP validators take each horse's price from a sample of qualifying off-course bookmakers at the off. They rank the prices from longest to shortest, split the list in half and return the shortest price in the longer half, so at least half the sample offered the SP or bigger.
It is your return worked out at the starting price. Multiply the stake by the SP and add the stake back: £10 at an SP of 9/2 wins £45 and returns £55. Each way bets at SP pay the place part at a fraction of the SP.
It depends on the bookmaker. Best odds guaranteed usually covers bets placed on the day of the race from a stated morning time until the off, and only on UK and Irish racing. Ante post bets placed before the day normally don't qualify, so read the offer terms.
Neither is better every time. SP pays more when a horse drifts and less when it shortens. If your bookmaker offers best odds guaranteed on the race, taking a price is usually the better option, because a bigger SP is paid anyway.