Ante-Post Betting Explained: Prices, Non-Runner No Bet and When to Bet Early

Home › How to Bet › Ante-Post Betting Explained

By The Guv'nor · Last updated October 2026

Ante-post betting means backing a horse before the day of the race, often weeks or months ahead, usually before the final declarations are made. You get a bigger price than you'll see on the day. The catch: if your horse doesn't run, a standard ante-post bet is a loser, not a refund, unless you took non-runner no bet.

What ante-post betting is (and why the prices are bigger)

The Tattersalls Committee Rules on Betting, which on-course bookmakers at British racecourses work to unless they display their own, define an ante-post bet as "a bet on an event in advance of the day of the race". Online firms publish their own rules, and in practice they draw the line at final declarations. Coral's horse racing rules, for example, group ante-post bets as those placed before the final declaration stage. The basics of placing a bet are in my beginner's guide to betting on horse racing.

So a King George bet in November is ante-post, and so is a Grand National bet in January.

Why are the early prices bigger? Because plenty can go wrong before the off. Injury, a change of target, the wrong ground. The big price is your payment for carrying that risk. Whether it's enough is the only question that matters.

The catch: non-runners lose, so price in the risk

On the day, a non-runner gets your stake back. Ante-post, it usually doesn't. Under Tattersalls Rule 4(A), a single ante-post bet struck before 10am on the day of final declarations is only void if the race is abandoned or declared void, its conditions or venue change, or the horse is eliminated or balloted out. A trainer choosing another race isn't on that list.

I'm essentially a statistics and maths geek, so here's how I think about it:

Rate a horse 20% to win if it lines up and 75% to get there, and your true chance is 0.75 × 0.20 = 15%. The fair price is 1 ÷ 0.15 = 6.67 in decimal, about 11/2. A 4/1 that looks fair on the form is a bad bet once you price in the 25% chance it never runs.

The fair ante-post price table

A worked example, not data: the arithmetic above for a range of chances. Each cell is the break-even price for an all-in (non-NRNB) ante-post bet: you want bigger than this.

Look at the 50% row. A horse that's a coin flip to turn up needs double the price of a certain runner to break even, so "will it run?" deserves as much homework as the form. The odds-to-percentage conversions are in horse racing odds explained.

Non-runner no bet: when it applies and what it's worth

Non-runner no bet means exactly what it says: if your horse doesn't run, your stake comes back. Some firms call it a bet "with a run". Coral's rules describe it as "a specific ante-post bet where stakes are not lost on the non-running horse".

NRNB is a concession, not a right. Each bookmaker decides which races get it and from when. Expect the NRNB price to be shorter than an all-in price, because the bookmaker is no longer pocketing stakes on the non-runners.

Is a bigger price better than NRNB?

A worked example (made-up prices, real maths). You rate a horse 20% to win if it runs. Bookie A offers 8/1 all-in; Bookie B offers 5/1 NRNB. Which is better depends entirely on how likely the horse is to run.

The rule of thumb that falls out of it: take the bigger all-in price when you're confident the horse runs; take NRNB when the target race is genuinely in doubt. For the geeks, the crossover is where the chance of running equals 1 ÷ (1 + win chance × the gap between the two decimal prices). Here that's 1 ÷ (1 + 0.2 × 3) = 62.5%.

Non-runner no bet at Cheltenham 2027

The 2027 Cheltenham Festival runs from Tuesday 16 to Friday 19 March 2027, according to The Jockey Club's Festival page. If you're doing your ante-post betting on Cheltenham, check each firm's own market for when its NRNB starts. I'll update this section once the 2027 concessions are out. Race-by-race previews are on my Cheltenham Festival tips page.

Ante-post rules: Rule 4, each-way terms and dead heats

Rule 4 deductions

Tattersalls Rule 4(C) deductions apply "where a bet has been placed and a price taken on the day of the race". A standard ante-post bet was struck before that day, so when a rival is withdrawn your price isn't cut: part of the reward for taking the non-runner risk. For NRNB bets, check your bookie's own rules on deductions. The full scale is on my Rule 4 deductions page.

Each-way terms are fixed when you bet

Day-of-race each-way bets are settled on the actual number of starters. Tattersalls Rule 3 makes ante-post bets the exception, and Coral's rules spell it out: "the place terms offered at the time the bet was placed will stand regardless of the number of runners". Take 1/4 the odds, four places, on a big handicap in January and you keep four places even if the field cuts up. The each-way maths lives in each-way betting explained.

Dead heats, multiples and postponed races

• Dead heats (Tattersalls Rule 10): half your stake is lost and the other half is paid at full odds. £10 at 10/1 returns £55.
• Multiples: when a single ante-post bet would be void under Rule 4(A), an ante-post double or treble stands on the remaining horses at the ante-post prices. Day-of-race multiples, like the ones on my lucky 15 tips page, are covered in Lucky 15 explained.
• Postponed races: ante-post bets struck before entries closed stand if it's run on another day, unless it's abandoned or void, moves venue, or your horse is balloted out or eliminated.
• Best odds guaranteed doesn't apply: Coral's rules list ante-post among the bets excluded from BOG. More on that in starting price explained.

When to bet early and when to wait: the 2026 Champion Hurdle

This is a past race and everything below is hindsight, so read it as a lesson, not a system. On Thursday 26 February 2026, Sporting Life reported that Constitution Hill had been ruled out of the Champion Hurdle and published Paddy Power's market. The race was run 12 days later, on Tuesday 10 March. Here's every horse in that market against what happened.

Sources: Sporting Life, 26 February 2026 (Paddy Power prices that day); Sporting Life result and The Jockey Club's race report, 10 March 2026. One race and 13 horses prove nothing alone, but it shows three things.

First, 4 of the 13 never ran. That's 31% of the market gone in 12 days. Anyone holding those four without NRNB lost their stake.

Second, 8 of the 9 runners went off at a bigger SP than their 26 February price. Add up the implied chances in the 26 February list and you get 146.6%; the nine runners' SPs add up to 117.2%. That early book carried a fat margin, partly because it was also pricing horses that wouldn't turn up.

Third, the one exception was the winner, and she was the doubtful runner. Lossiemouth also had the Mares' Hurdle as an option. Willie Mullins said after the race that he had "a quick chat with Rich" (Rich Ricci, husband of owner Susannah Ricci) "after racing on Saturday evening", three days before the race, "and that was literally the first time we'd spoken about it". The 3/1 was on offer while her target was still open. £10 at 3/1 returned £40; £10 at the 7/5 SP returned £24. Take her SP (41.7%) as her chance if she ran, and an all-in 3/1 (25%) only made sense if she was at least 60% likely to run (0.25 ÷ 0.417). The Paddy Power market link in Sporting Life's article was labelled NRNB, and on those terms the risk of her going elsewhere cost nothing. That's the textbook case for NRNB: a horse with two targets.

The lesson from this one race: the early prices on the obvious, certain runners were worse than the day. The value sat with the horse that had a question over her, which is exactly where NRNB earns its keep. For the race's trends, see my Champion Hurdle tips preview.

How I manage ante-post bets: timing, points and NRNB

Look, an ante-post bet is still just a bet, and the same strict points staking applies. Divide your betting money into points, for example 1pt = £5 on a £100 bank, and stake in points. What you can't do is fancy one a bit more in November because you've got a feeling and stick your whole bank on it. My betting strategy guide goes deeper on staking.

If I am honest, the rule I'd give anyone is the one I give members: if you're unsure about a bet, skip it. Unsure whether a horse will run, or which race it's going for? Get NRNB or wait.

And I'm not chasing a strike rate here. I focus on profit month to month, and I like outsiders and each-way value, because even when they place we make more profit than an odds-on shot winning. Ante-post suits that, with big prices and place terms locked in. Losers are part of it, non-runners included. Trust the process.

When I get stable information or hear smart money moving in a market, Winners Club members get it. My actual selections go out to Winners Club members in my morning newsletter, not onto a public page. If you want to see how my premium tips work first, the free Friday newsletter is the easy way in.

Ante-post betting FAQs

What does ante post mean in horse racing?

It means a bet struck before the day of the race, typically before final declarations. The prices are bigger, but if your horse doesn't run you usually lose your stake unless the bet was non-runner no bet.

Do you get your money back if an ante-post horse doesn't run?

Not on a standard ante-post bet. Under Tattersalls Rule 4(A), single ante-post bets are only void if the race is abandoned or declared void, the conditions or venue change, or the horse is balloted out or eliminated. With NRNB, you get your stake back.

What does "ante-post rules apply" mean?

It means day-of-race rules don't apply: a non-runner loses, there's usually no Rule 4 deduction, your each-way terms are fixed, and best odds guaranteed doesn't apply. Bookmakers' own rules vary, so check the small print on yours.

More in this guide

• How to bet on horse racing: the beginner's guide
• Rule 4 deductions: the full table and worked examples
• Each-way betting explained
• Starting price, BOG and Betfair SP explained
• Value betting in horse racing
• Grand National preview and trends