What is Goliath Betting in Horse Racing?

Horse racing offers a multitude of interesting and unique ways to bet given its nature as a sport. Racing is frequent, with events taking place all over the country and indeed the world at almost all times. The sport is also card-based, meaning each meeting will feature multiple races. This opens up far more possibilities for betting.

One of these is the Goliath bet. You won’t have to scrap it out with a plucky lad holding a slingshot to place this one. You will just need to make eight selections across multiple events. Read on as Betfred Education takes you through the mechanics of the Goliath bet.

The Goliath is a full-coverage multiple in which eight selections are used to place 247 bets. Those bets are laid out as follows:

• 28 doubles
• 56 trebles
• 70 four-folds
• 56 five-folds
• 28 six-folds
• Eight seven-folds
• One eight-fold accumulator

Because there are 247 bets being placed, your unit stake is multiplied by 247. So if you place a £1 Goliath, your stake is £247. 

The attraction of a Goliath is that it is a conservative way to bet across multiple events. For example, you can put a Goliath on across a full day’s racing and, unlike an accumulator, if a couple of early races don’t go your way you’re still in the game. If you have picked at least two winners, there will be a return, as that would land one of your doubles.

Your returns and profitability depend on the odds of the bets you place. As with an accumulator, it is of course very difficult to land eight correct selections. But a Goliath offers you some return even if a few of your choices fail to land. 

For example, a 50p Goliath would mean a stake of £123.50. If every horse was priced at 3/1, you would win £195,260 if they all won. But if four of the eight won, you would still net £304 in returns.

A Goliath is a good way to keep the action going even if your early selections don’t go as planned.

Horse Racing Tips from Betfred Insights