IS Ante-Post a scam?

[cmorgan]

I have been following horse racing for nearly a year. Analyzing horses/races and doing quite well since starting out. I am putting in the work and studying form etc for many hours. Best wins to date are £500 and £625. My ambition now is to hit the £1000 win. Fingers crossed. Anyway ... My question: I fell for a bookie trick this week or, as i would prefer to call it, a bookie scam. Recent race ( i won't name it or the horse or the bookie) had a horse tipped for 500/1. Wow - amazing odds. Imagine the payoff i thought should a miracle happen and the horse gets placed!! fantastic and too tempting to refuse. After looking at horse passed form i concluded it was a long shot but it just might work so i placed £20 E/W ante-post. Checked my balance via iphone racing post app linked to bookied. No change to balance. Oh well ... never mind. Checked racing post a few days later (i like to double check things) and the horse didn't even race. After live chat debate with the bookie they brushed it off with anti-post rules. But could you confirm why the horse didn't run? they advertised the bet. I (along with many other no doubt) was lurded by the potential returns and threw in good money. After the conversation with the bookie i concluded that this must be a scam. Horses in the field of upcoming race - massive odds - massive potential returns - dummies (like me) take the bait - who knows how much money they take - then 'oh, horse doesn't run!'(??) is this a simple scam or what? If the horse had at least turned up coughed, spluttered and fell at the first hurdle i would have accepted it and understood but not to run without any explaination when the bet has been advertised and my good money has been placed and accepted, something is wrong here? Oh, i get it! Bookies place massive odds, hook-in idiots like me, take loads of money and then they conviently arrange for the horse(s) not to run. No refund. Anti-post buddy!! Few quid to the trainer and owner perhaps? nudge-nudge, wink-wink! So if i was a bookie i could advertise anti-post odds of 10,000-1 make millions of money and 'arrange' for the horse not to turn up? Come on, please! Surely this must be wrong? The more experienced of you - your thoughts please? Many thanks, C.Morgan

[Aidymac]

Re: IS Ante-Post a scam? The whole purpose of an ante-post bet is that you are placing a bet with much better odds you will get on track on the day it runs but also knowing you have placed the bet knowing there is a chance the horse wont run, all of this is factored into the price! There is a reason that horse was 500/1 and one of the reasons was probably that the horse wont run in the race. Its not up to the bookmakers to tell you why the horse was withdrawn also, the owners can decide the night before the race that they are withdrawing the horse and they dont have to give an explanation! That is the risk you take. I backed Kauto Star at 8/1 Ante-post last week and after that a couple of runners were withdrawn, 11/1 was available at one stage so imagine you had put a bet on Kauto @ 11/1 and then the field is depleted to 6 or 7 runners, thats what i call value, Kauto went on to win @ 6/1.. I think Mileni would be the man best placed to answer your question, as he is an Ante-Post frequent bettor, but im my opinion there is no scam there and everything is factored into the price, i think you may be just a tad angry at losing your 40 quid, the joys of ante-post bud!