Win, place and each-way

Win means first. Nothing else. The horse, the team, the player has to finish in front. Place means in the frame the book printed. Two places in a five-runner race. Three places in a bigger field. Four places in some handicaps and most golf top-10s. The shop writes the number on the coupon. You do not get to pick it after the off, and you do not get to argue with the hat once the photo has been taken.

Each-way is two bets on the same name. One is the win bet. One is the place bet at a fraction of the win price — usually 1/5 or 1/4. It doubles the money you put down. A £10 each-way is £20 on the account. It does not double the win. It buys you a second, smaller ticket that can live when the win half dies. That is the whole romance, and it is arithmetic, not a favour.

Worked place half. 5/2 each-way, place 1/5, £10 each way. Win decimal 3.50. Place fraction is 1/5 of 5/2 = 1/2, decimal 1.50. If the horse wins you are paid both tickets: £35 and £15, £50 back on £20 down. If it only places you are paid the place ticket: £15 back, and the win tenner is gone. If it finishes out of the frame both tenners are gone. The coupon will not send a card.

Each-way on a Lucky 15 doubles the lines: thirty bets, not fifteen. Festival people still strike it because the place half can stand when three of the win halves have already gone to the funeral. The full-cover sheet has a place fraction for that. Dead heats on a place are the settling sheet— four golfers tied for two remaining top-10 spots is half the place stake paid. Same rule as two noses on a racing line. Different grass. Same saw.

Related: singles · horse racing · golf