Horse Racing Betting Terms A-Z: NAP, NB, Banker, Steamer and More

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By The Guv'nor · Last updated October 2026

The horse racing betting terms you'll hear most: a NAP is a tipster's best bet of the day and NB is his next best. A banker is the one he expects to win, the jolly is the favourite, a steamer is shortening in price, a drifter is lengthening, and a forecast picks the first two home.

Think of it as horse racing betting terms for dummies, written by a statistics/maths geek: each term gets what it means for your bet and, where it helps, a number. Racecard shorthand (PU, CD, BF) has its own page: horse racing abbreviations explained.

NAP and NB: what a tipster means by them

So what is a NAP in horse racing? It's a tipster's strongest bet of the day, the one he'd pick if he could only have one. Great British Racing's jargon buster puts it as "the best bet of the day from a particular tipster". NB means next best: the selection he rates second.

Newspaper tipsters mark both, and both count towards their running profit and loss at a level £1 stake. That's the "naps table" you see in the papers.

Where "nap" comes from

It's short for Napoleon. Not the emperor directly, but the card game named after him, which caught on in Victorian England (it isn't recorded before the last third of the nineteenth century). In Napoleon, a bid of "nap" means you're promising to win all five tricks. Going nap is going for everything, hence the tipster's top bet.

What a NAP means for your bet

Confidence doesn't change the maths. A NAP at 2/1 has to win more than one time in three to break even at level stakes. Break-even is 1 divided by the decimal odds:

• 1/2 (1.50): must win 66.7% of the time
• Evens (2.00): 50%
• 2/1 (3.00): 33.3%
• 5/1 (6.00): 16.7%

And short prices lose more than people think. In my favourites data, odds-on favourites (Betfair SP below evens) won 60.3% of the time across 2,112 UK and Irish races from 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2026, so they got beaten about four times in ten. A NAP is an opinion, not a guarantee.

Bankers: what a tipster's confidence is worth

A banker is the bet a tipster expects to win, usually a short-priced favourite. In my own newsletter a 'Banker' bet means the shorter-priced, solid one of the day, as opposed to the outsiders.

What it means for your bet: a banker in a multiple adds to the return and adds a way for the whole thing to lose. A worked example, with made-up prices:

• £10 single on a 4/1 shot returns £50 if it wins.
• £10 double on the same 4/1 shot plus a 1/2 banker returns £75 if both win (£10 x 5.0 x 1.5).
• The banker's own price says it gets beaten one time in three. That's a big hole for £25 of extra return.

Price words: jolly, steamer, drifter and double carpet

• Favourite / jolly: the horse with the shortest odds. "Jolly" is the slang. Two horses sharing top spot are joint-favourites; three or more are co-favourites.
• Steamer: a horse whose odds are shortening because punters are backing it. A springer is one whose price shortens dramatically.
• Drifter: a horse whose odds get bigger before the race, usually through a lack of support.
• Bismarck: a favourite the bookies expect to lose and are happy to lay.
• Carpet and double carpet: tic-tac slang for 3/1 and 33/1.
• Evens: 1/1, so £10 wins £10. Odds-on means winnings smaller than the stake (4/6, 1/2); odds-against, bigger.
• Board price: the odds shown on the on-course bookies' boards.

Here's what people get wrong about steamers and drifters: a price move tells you what the market thinks, not what's going to happen. Four past big-race winners:

Three of those four drifted and won anyway. Four races prove nothing; a price move is one clue, not a verdict. Whether to take a price or the SP is covered in starting price explained.

Bet types in one line each

• Single: one bet on one horse.
• Each-way (E/W): two equal bets, one to win and one to place, so £5 each-way costs £10. The full maths is in each-way betting explained.
• Double, treble, accumulator: two, three, or four-plus horses in different races, all to win.
• Trixie: three horses, four bets (three doubles and a treble).
• Patent: a Trixie plus three singles, seven bets.
• Yankee: four horses, eleven bets, no singles. Every full cover bet is in Yankee bet explained.
• Lucky 15: a Yankee plus four singles, fifteen bets. The returns are worked through in Lucky 15 explained, and my lucky 15 tips page puts it to use.
• Ante-post: a bet struck before final declarations, usually days or weeks before the race.
• Jackpot and Placepot: Tote bets on the first six races of a meeting, needing winners or just placed horses.

Forecasts, reverse forecasts and tricasts

A forecast is a bet on the first two home in one race; a tricast is the first three. The variations, and how many bets each one costs you:

• Straight forecast: two horses to finish first and second in the right order. One stake.
• Reverse forecast: the same two in either order. It's really two straight forecasts, so £1 costs £2.
• Combination forecast: three or more horses, any two of which fill the first two places in any order. With n horses it's n x (n - 1) bets: 6 for three horses, 12 for four, 20 for five.
• Straight tricast: three horses to finish first, second and third in that order.
• Combination tricast: any three of your horses filling the first three places in any order. That's n x (n - 1) x (n - 2) bets: 6 for three horses, 24 for four, 60 for five.

How a forecast works in horse racing: who sets the payout

A bookmaker forecast has no fixed odds. It's paid at the computer straight forecast (CSF) dividend, worked out after the race by industry software from the starting prices of all the runners, and the tricast the same way. You only know what you've won once the result is in.

Coral's horse racing rules, as an example (check your own bookie's):

• Forecasts are only accepted in races with at least three runners.
• Tricasts are taken on handicaps (nurseries and rated stakes included) with eight or more declared and six or more actually running. With fewer than six runners, a tricast is settled as a straight forecast on your first two.
• If one of your forecast horses is a non-runner, the bet becomes a single at SP on the other one.

A reverse forecast example from the 2026 Grand National

A past race, to show the sums. I Am Maximus (9/2 favourite) beat Iroko (18/1) in the Grand National on 11 April 2026, and the CSF was declared at £69.03 to a £1 stake. A £1 reverse forecast on the pair cost £2. One of its two lines landed, so it returned £69.03, a profit of £67.03.

CSF and tricast against the Tote: nine big races

The Tote runs pool versions of these bets: the exacta (first two in order) and the trifecta (first three in order). The Tote shares out a pool; the CSF and tricast come off a formula. Here's how they compared in nine big races.

Four of these aren't handicaps, so a bookie that only takes tricasts on handicaps (Coral, for one) wouldn't have accepted those tricasts.

In these nine races the Tote exacta paid more than the CSF seven times, and the trifecta beat the tricast seven times. The gaps were biggest when a big-priced horse was involved: the Grand Annual trifecta paid nearly five times the tricast.

Nine hand-picked races is a tiny sample, and it's hindsight. A Tote dividend depends on the pool size and how many people had the same combination, so it can come in under the CSF (as in the King George), and you don't know either dividend when you bet. My takeaway: with outsiders involved, look at the pool bets rather than defaulting to the bookie's forecast.

Settlement words: Rule 4, NRNB, BOG and void

• SP (starting price): the odds at the off. If you don't take a price, you're paid at SP.
• Rule 4: a deduction from your winnings when a horse is withdrawn after you've taken a price and there's no time to form a new market. It's based on the withdrawn horse's price, from nothing for one bigger than 14/1 up to a maximum of 90p in the pound. Full table in Rule 4 deductions explained.
• NRNB (non-runner no bet): an ante-post concession: if your horse doesn't run, you get your stake back instead of losing it.
• BOG (best odds guaranteed): if you take a price and the SP is bigger, you're paid at the SP. Coral, for example, offers it on UK and Irish races from 8am on race day, but not ante-post.
• Void: the bet is cancelled and stakes returned, for example if the race is abandoned or there are no finishers. A void leg in a double or acca is treated as a non-runner and the bet runs on to the remaining horses.
• Dead heat: two or more horses tie for a place. Your stake is divided by the number tied, then settled at full odds.

How I use these words in my newsletter

Look, I was a Quantitative Researcher at a Tier 1 investment bank, so when I see the word "banker" my first thought is "at what price?". A banker at 1/2 has to win two times in three just to stand still. My newsletter usually has two kinds of bet: 'Banker' bets, which are the shorter-priced solid ones, and outsiders from a system that picks out horses that have won or come close at a higher weight or mark than they're running off today.

The outsiders are where I like the value: even when they only place each-way, we make more profit than an odds-on shot winning. And I don't judge anything by how often it wins. Anyone can talk about high win rates when they tip odds-on horses all day. I care about profit month to month.

When I pass on smart money market updates to members, think of it as a steamer with a reason behind it. I bet on every horse I tip. Stakes are in points (1pt might be £5 on a £100 bank), there's no going all in on a feeling, and if you're unsure about one, skip it. Understanding that losers are a thing is the key to being a winner longer term. If you want the staking side spelled out, start with what 1pt means in betting.

The full A-Z of horse racing betting terms

Racecard letters and form figures are on the abbreviations page.

Questions people ask about betting terms

What does NAP mean in horse racing?

A tipster's best bet of the day, named after the card game Napoleon, where "nap" is a bid to win every trick.

What does NAP and NB mean?

NAP is the tipster's strongest selection and NB, "next best", is the second strongest.

What is a banker bet?

A selection you expect to win, usually a short-priced favourite. In a multiple, if the banker loses, every line it's in loses too.

How does a reverse forecast work in horse racing?

Two horses to finish first and second in either order. It's two straight forecasts, so £1 costs £2, paid at the CSF for the order they finish in.

More in this guide

• How to bet on horse racing: the beginner's guide
• Horse racing odds explained, with a full odds chart
• Each-way betting and place terms
• The full Rule 4 deductions table
• Horse racing betting strategy
• How to read horse racing form