Horse racing has is a popular past-time that has been about for many centuries now and the sport has attracted several wealthy individuals to it resulting in huge cash prizes for race victors. The early eras of horse racing can be found in Roman times when chariot racing was a chief leisure activity and even though this was an extremely risky sport to both man and horse, causing brutal and sometimes mortal injuries it lasted in society until the fall of Rome and then gradually faded out of the spotlight.

In the United Kingdom there are two different types of horse racing, either hurdles or flat racing which can be run over a collection of distances and with a certain number of horses and jockeys involved. This means that you can have a simple 5 furlong pursuit with 4 horses right through to the other end of the spectrum, the famous Aintree Grand National which can have as much as 66 horses (1929) and 4 miles and 4 furlongs of jumps and straights to tackle through.

You will find that any horse race will provide you an opportunity to bet on a horse and make some extra money. Every horse before the race is given odds on its latest form and overall condition and from the outset a favourite will be selected. If you set a bet on the favourite you have a higher chance to win but the return on your bet won't be shocking, whereas an out of the blue bet will give you a higher return back, but then the horses chances of winning become less and less so you have to be astute when making your bet.

Bet to win, is one of the major betting types where you set your stake on a horse to place first, so if it finishes in first place you win your bet back plus whatever extra comes from the odds on the horse was at the time of making your bet.