{"id":2419,"date":"2024-04-26T12:43:19","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T12:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.top10bettingsites.co.uk\/?page_id=2419"},"modified":"2024-04-26T12:43:19","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T12:43:19","slug":"horse-racing-what-happens-to-my-bet-if-theres-a-false-start","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/horse-racing\/horse-racing-what-happens-to-my-bet-if-theres-a-false-start\/","title":{"rendered":"Horse Racing: What Happens to My Bet If There\u2019s a False Start?"},"content":{"rendered":"

How often at the Cheltenham Festival or the Grand National have we seen the horses \u2013 or their jockeys \u2013 getting a little too keen at the start, jostling for the best position, hitting the line at too fast a pace and causing the starter to raise their flag for a false start.<\/p>\n

Generally speaking, the riders simply reassemble at the start line with a bit more composure and calm, and the second time around the race gets underway without a hitch.<\/p>\n

However, this isn\u2019t always the case \u2013 and in Flat racing, where stalls may be used to ensure a \u2018fair\u2019 start, the outcome is anything but.<\/p>\n

There are some specific rules about false starts in horse racing that could have an impact upon how your bet is settled, while a new directive<\/a> in Flat racing from 2024 onwards could see your wager settled as a non-runner if your horse is unable or willing to get off to a fair start in a race.<\/p>\n

What is a False Start in Horse Racing?<\/h2>\n

\"FalseWe can look at the issue of false starts in horse racing in two different contexts: races with starting stalls and those without.<\/p>\n

Many Flat racing venues in the UK and Ireland use starting stalls \u2013 loading the horses into the stalls to ensure that they all, theoretically, have a chance to get off to a fair start.<\/p>\n

And it works, in principle, although there are instances in which the stalls can malfunction \u2013 enabling some horses to gain an unfair advantage if their stall has opened correctly.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, racecourse officials have to intervene to keep horses calm in the stalls, or sometimes a horse may be misbehaving to the point that they aren\u2019t ready for the stalls to open.<\/p>\n

Generally, false starts are kept to a minimum in Flat racing \u2013 although they do happen, as the chaos that unfolded<\/a> at a meeting at Wolverhampton in April 2024 confirms. We\u2019ll reveal why nine of the eleven runners in that particular race were disqualified in a moment.<\/p>\n

In some Flat meetings and pretty much every National Hunt race, there\u2019s more of a relaxed start \u2013 the jockeys will assemble their horses at the start line. However, some can become a little too keen to get started, or may act up and interfere with other runners in the field.<\/p>\n

And some races have a moving start, with some hitting the start line at a quicker pace than others \u2013 ensuring they have an unfair advantage.<\/p>\n

In these instances, the starter will raise their flag \u2013 with the field forced to reassemble at the start. unless they go on to \u2018finish\u2019 the course, as happened at Wolverhampton in the example mentioned earlier.<\/p>\n

False Start Rules in Horse Racing Betting<\/h2>\n

\"KnowOne of the interesting things about false starts in horse racing is that the starter has the power to disqualify a horse from the race if they continuously misbehave and cause a false start. In this case, your bets will be settled as a loss<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a different matter when a horse is disqualified after<\/em> a race, where the First Past the Post rules mean that you will be paid out if they \u2018win\u2019 and later hit with a DQ.<\/p>\n

Generally speaking, a false start does not have an outcome on the end result of a race \u2013 once the field has been reassembled, the race will (hopefully) start properly next time, with bets settled accordingly.<\/p>\n

However, if a jockey does not hear or realise that a false start has been called, they may complete some or all of the course. They may decide that the horse has run too far and that it would be contrary to the horse\u2019s welfare to make them run in the race, in which case they may be declared a non-runner and your bet will be refunded.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a bizarre technicality to be aware of: if there\u2019s a false start and your horse completes the full race and crosses the finishing line, they will then be disqualified from the race proper \u2013 bizarre, but true.<\/p>\n

To use the language of a bookmaker, \u2018stakes will be refunded on selections not taking part in the re-run\u2019, while bets on horses that do run in the race proper, albeit in a smaller field of runners, will likely be subject to Rule 4 deductions. With a smaller field, it\u2019s also possible that the number of places paid will be reduced accordingly too.<\/p>\n

In the unlikeliest of scenarios, two or more false starts can see a race be abandoned entirely. There\u2019s only a very small chance of that happening, but it did occur at the 1993 Grand National<\/a>. That outcome was so controversial, and Aintree officials so crucified, that such an outcome won\u2019t happen again unless absolutely unavoidable; bookies were forced to refund millions of pounds worth of bets amid the carnage.<\/p>\n

False Start Rules for Flat Races<\/h2>\n

\"FalseWith most Flat races starting from stalls, there\u2019s a higher risk of dodgy starts due to technical malfunctions and the like.<\/p>\n

For a number of years, punters could be left short-changed when the horse they had backed got off to a slow start due to the stalls not opening properly \u2013 or when another runner in the field got off to a super-fast start after breaking out of the stalls prematurely.<\/p>\n

But rule changes introduced in 2024 will help to negate that, with a new \u2018fair start\u2019 directive allowing stewards to declare a horse as a non-runner when it has been unable to get away from the stalls cleanly.<\/p>\n

Of course, all bets on non-runners in this fashion should be voided and your stake returned, whereas before the rule change they would have likely been settled as a loss.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a myriad of reasons why a horse wouldn\u2019t get a fair start from the stalls, from the machinery malfunctioning to a horse themselves misbehaving. Sometimes, the jockey may not be positioned properly when the stalls open if their horse is trying to buck and kick out, or a handler may be holding the horse at the time that the race starts.<\/p>\n

In short, if your horse is considered to be at a disadvantage at the start, there\u2019s a strong chance they\u2019ll be declared a non-runner under the new rules.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How often at the Cheltenham Festival or the Grand National have we seen the horses \u2013 or their jockeys \u2013 getting a little too keen at the start, jostling for the best position, hitting the line at too fast a pace and causing the starter to raise their flag for a false start. Generally speaking, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":54,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-2419","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","5":"entry"},"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2419"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2424,"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2419\/revisions\/2424"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/54"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}