Horse racing odds explained
Horse racing odds, explained with real results.
What a price means, how to turn it into a chance, and then the part no other explainer has: how often each price actually won, counted from 160,454 runs in Britain and Ireland.
Fractional odds in one line
9/2 means 9 for every 2 staked, plus your stake back. So £2 at 9/2 pays back £11 if the horse wins, and £10 pays back £55. The number on the right is what you put in, the number on the left is what the odds pay on it.
Decimal odds say the same thing as one number that already includes the stake: 9/2 is 5.5, so £10 pays back £55. To get from a fraction to a decimal, divide the left number by the right one and add 1.
Odds converter
Type a price in any box. The implied chance is 100 divided by the decimal odds: the share of the time the price says the horse should win.
A £10 stake at decimal odds of 5.5 pays back £55.00 if it wins: £45.00 at the odds plus the £10 stake. The price says it wins about 18% of the time.
How often does each price actually win?
Out of 160,454 settled runs in Britain and Ireland on our record since 28 June 2025, these are the runners that started at the prices people ask about most, counted against the result. The “implied” column is what the price says; the “won” column is what happened.
| Price | Decimal | Implied | Runs | Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4/6 | 1.67 | 59.9% | 255 | 56% |
| Evens | 2 | 50% | 576 | 46% |
| 6/4 | 2.5 | 40% | 952 | 37% |
| 2/1 | 3 | 33.3% | 1,813 | 29% |
| 5/2 | 3.5 | 28.6% | 2,442 | 25% |
| 3/1 | 4 | 25% | 3,486 | 23% |
| 7/2 | 4.5 | 22.2% | 4,267 | 19% |
| 4/1 | 5 | 20% | 5,245 | 16% |
| 9/2 | 5.5 | 18.2% | 5,104 | 15% |
| 5/1 | 6 | 16.7% | 4,701 | 14% |
| 6/1 | 7 | 14.3% | 4,151 | 12% |
| 8/1 | 9 | 11.1% | 3,982 | 9% |
| 10/1 | 11 | 9.1% | 5,215 | 7% |
| 20/1 | 21 | 4.8% | 3,968 | 3% |
At 14 of these 14 prices the horses won less often than the price implied. Much of that gap is the bookmaker’s margin, built into every price, which is the next section. Favourites on their own: 16,105 runs, 36% won.
Read these as history, not as a verdict on any bet. A small sample at one price can swing a long way, which is why the run count sits beside every rate. Nothing here is advice.
Why the prices add up to more than 100%
Turn every price in a race into its implied chance and add them up, and the total always comes to more than 100%. The extra is the overround: the bookmaker’s margin, spread across every runner. It is why a price that looks fair is usually a little short of the horse’s real chance.
On our record, across 17,378 races in which every runner had a starting price, the starting prices added up to 118.9% on average.
What “good odds” really means
A price is only good if the horse’s chance is bigger than the price says. A 2/1 shot with a real 40% chance is a better price than a 20/1 shot with a 3% chance, even though one looks generous and the other does not. Nobody knows the real chance for certain, which is why the bot scores every runner and publishes every pick, winners and losers, on the results pages.
How the bot sets a price against its own rating is explained in what a value pick is. For the place part of an each-way bet, see each-way terms and how often each price places.
Common questions
What does 9/2 mean in horse racing?
9/2 means 9 for every 2 staked, plus the stake back. £2 at 9/2 pays back £11 if the horse wins, and £10 pays back £55. In decimal it is 5.5, and the price implies about an 18% chance. On our record since 28 June 2025, 15% of the 5,104 runners that started at 9/2 won.
What do 5/2 odds mean?
5/2 means 5 for every 2 staked, plus the stake back. £10 at 5/2 pays back £35 if the horse wins. In decimal it is 3.5, and the price implies about a 29% chance. On our record since 28 June 2025, 25% of the 2,442 runners that started at 5/2 won.
What does evens mean?
Evens (1/1, or 2.0 in decimal) pays the same amount as the stake, plus the stake back: £10 at evens pays back £20 if the horse wins. The price implies a 50% chance. On our record since 28 June 2025, 46% of the 576 runners that started at Evens won.
What does odds-on mean?
A horse is odds-on when its price is shorter than evens, such as 4/6 or 1/2: you stake more than you stand to get at the odds. 4/6 pays back £16.67 for £10. Odds-on means the price implies a better than 50% chance. On our record since 28 June 2025, 56% of the 255 runners that started at 4/6 won.
What are good odds in horse racing?
There is no price that is good on its own. A price is only good if the horse's real chance is bigger than the chance the price implies, and nobody knows the real chance for certain. Short prices win more often and long prices win less often; the table on this page shows by how much. This is a description, not advice.
We are not a bookmaker and we never handle money. Scores and figures are information, never advice. 18+, and please gamble responsibly.