Laying Horses At Big Prices

This article is an updated version of our 2024 post, refreshed with new insights, strategies, and results.

Laying horses is a completely different game compared to backing them. It comes with a unique set of risks, especially if you’re laying at bigger odds. When a lay bet goes wrong, the payout can be significant, meaning you might need several successful lays just to get back to even.

In this scenario, you’re essentially acting as the bookmaker. The key difference? Unlike a high-street bookmaker with thousands of customers losing money at once to offset payouts, you’re working with your own bankroll. One mistake can wipe out multiple small wins if your risk isn’t managed correctly.

If you want to lay horses, the go-to platform is Betfair Exchange, the largest and most widely used betting exchange in the UK. While it’s technically possible to ‘lay’ a horse with a bookmaker by backing all the other runners in the race, it’s both time-consuming and impractical for most punters.

Betfair makes the process simple, transparent, and efficient - but it still requires a well-thought-out laying strategy to stay profitable over the long term.

Over this six-day laying period, the system produced a total profit of £637.62. In the profit and loss column, you’ll notice one standout result - a losing lay at Wolverhampton that cost £121.91.

While that sounds like a heavy hit, it’s important to keep perspective. This was the only losing race across the entire six-day run, and in that same race, there were four other successful lays. Those wins helped reduce the overall damage and kept the daily profit in the green.

Drilling down into the race data, you can see exactly how the bets played out. The losing lay was on Beta Reader at Betfair odds of 17.19, which inevitably carried a higher liability. This is a perfect example of why managing risk in lay betting is essential - especially when laying at bigger prices.

When you download the Betfair laying results into Excel, the picture becomes even clearer. You can see exactly how many bets were placed in each race, along with the total number of races covered.

Using a consistent stake of £10 per lay and paying 2% commission on all winning bets, each successful lay returned £9.80 profit.

Looking at the No. Bets column, it’s easy to see the strength of the run — just one losing lay out of 82 total bets, with the remaining 81 winning lays steadily building the profit. This level of consistency is exactly what makes a structured lay betting approach so effective when managed with discipline.

The two bets highlighted in yellow were cases where I decided to green up early. The BSP odds had drifted to over 34, and since my automated lay bets are triggered just a couple of seconds before the off - when the odds were lower - I chose to lock in a small profit rather than take on unnecessary risk.

You could just as easily let these bets run, and in this case both horses did lose, meaning they would have been winning lay bets. However, I didn’t want to record a losing bet that sat outside my preferred odds range.

What about the long-term results?

While I’m not going to reveal the exact rules behind this particular lay betting system, keep reading to learn how you can access another proven and profitable method. 

I can share the results stretching all the way back to January 2021. The data paints a very clear picture of how a disciplined, rules-based approach to lay betting on Betfair can deliver consistent profits over time.

Over 3,000 points profit, a strike rate above 96%, and a longest winning run of 194 bets in a row.

Already this year, the system is 111 points in profit — with equally impressive returns in previous seasons.

This is exactly how the Inform Racing System Builder can help you create your own profitable lay or back systems and turn them into consistent returns. By using the Result Breakdowns feature to filter your selections, you can quickly see which parts of your strategy are working — and which ones are holding you back. Without this tool, analysing that data manually would take hours, if not days.

Watch the video here (it’s an older one, but still a perfect demonstration of how these breakdowns can transform your betting).

Here’s something you can start using soon…

Current subscribers also get access to another proven lay betting system — targeting horses priced between 16.0 and 34.0 — with daily selections posted for you to follow.

Even better, you’ll get the full system rules so you can check every past result yourself in the System Builder, verify the stats, and build confidence before you stake a penny.

This one focuses purely on UK flat turf racing, unlike the all-year-round system above. And with the 2025 flat turf season just a couple of weeks away, now’s the perfect time to get in position.

A strike rate of over 96%, consistent profits year after year, and the best results yet in 2024 — with just 49 losing lays across the entire flat turf season.

Since the start of the 2020 flat turf season, there have been over 6,100 lays and only 209 losers. That level of consistency is rare in any betting strategy.

As a subscriber, you’ll get daily selections ready to use, plus the ability to download the exact system settings for the ‘Fairbot’ betting software. This means you can set everything up well before the off, switch to autopilot, and let the system run without constant monitoring.

You’ll also get full explanations, setup guides, and video walk-throughs - all available under the Betting Systems link once you’ve subscribed and logged in.

Conclusion: The Key to Laying Horses at Big Odds

Laying horses at higher prices can often be more forgiving than laying at shorter odds — as long as you have a clear strategy for targeting those that lose most often.

The essentials? Set yourself up with a betting bank you can comfortably afford to lose, accept that some lays will win and cost you money, and keep the discipline to stick with the process.

With the right mindset and approach, the rewards can be significant. The key is to keep placing the bets - even after a losing one - and let the system’s edge bring you back into profit over time.