Best Odds Guaranteed Explained: How BOG Works, What It's Worth, Rule 4, Each Way and the Small Print (Irish Guide)

Updated 21 Oct 2026 · By the IrishBetGuide Editorial Team

You take 5/1 about a horse in the morning, it drifts out to 8/1 by the off and wins. Without Best Odds Guaranteed, you're paid at 5/1 and spend the evening kicking yourself. With it, you're paid at 8/1. That's the whole idea of BOG, and it's one of the few concessions bookmakers make that's genuinely worth something to ordinary punters. This guide explains exactly how it works, what it's worth in euro, how it interacts with each way bets and Rule 4, and the small print that catches people out.

18+ only. This is general information, not betting or financial advice. Every price and horse here is a made-up example, not a tip. Cloudbet, which we link to, holds a Curaçao licence and is not licensed by the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI), so Irish complaint routes don't apply to it. BOG offers vary from bookie to bookie, so always read the terms of the site you use. If gambling is causing you bother, Gambling Care is free, confidential and open 24/7 on 1800 936 725 (Northern Ireland: 08000 886 725).

BOG in a nutshell

• You take a fixed price on a horse before the race (an "early price" or "board price").
• If the horse wins and its starting price (SP) is bigger than the price you took, you're paid at the SP.
• If the SP is shorter, you keep the bigger price you took.
• So you get the better of the two prices, whichever way the market moves.
• It's mainly offered on UK and Irish horse racing, sometimes greyhounds, and usually only on bets placed on the day of the race.
• It's a promotion, not a right. Bookies set their own terms and can limit or withdraw it.

A quick refresher: early prices vs SP

Racing markets move all day. Bookies put up prices in the morning, and those prices shift as money comes in, as non-runners are announced and as the going changes. The starting price is the official price for each horse at the moment the race starts, based on the on-course betting market. If you don't take a price, your bet is settled at SP. If you do take a price, you've locked it in, for better or worse.

Without BOG, taking a price is a gamble on the market as well as on the horse. You might beat the SP if the horse is backed in, or lose out if it drifts. BOG takes the downside away. Our guide to how horse racing betting works covers SP in more detail.

Worked examples in euro

All bets €10 to win:

Notice that BOG only matters on winning bets that drifted. Losing bets lose the same either way. It never costs you anything, but its value depends on how often your winners drift.

What's BOG actually worth over a season?

Here's an illustration, not a promise. Picture a punter who places 200 win bets of €10, at an average early price of 5/1 (6.0 in decimals), with a strike rate of 16%:

The "8% more" figure is made up for the example. In real life it depends on the kind of horses you back and how the market moves. But the point stands: a few percent added to your winners can be the difference between a small loss and a small profit for a reasonably good punter. That's why experienced racing punters treat BOG as essential, and why bookies watch closely who takes advantage of it.

When does BOG help most?

• Taking early prices on horses that drift. Drifts happen for lots of reasons: weak market support, a big gamble on a rival, softer going than expected.
• Bigger-priced horses. Prices on outsiders swing more in percentage terms, so the uplift can be larger.
• Busy handicaps. More runners, more market movement, more chances for drifts.
• Morning bettors. If you study the form early and bet in the morning, BOG protects you from the market turning against you later.

It helps least on short-priced favourites, where SPs rarely move much, and it doesn't help at all if you just bet at SP anyway.

BOG and each way bets

Most BOG offers apply to both parts of an each way bet. Say you take 10/1 about a horse €5 each way with 1/5 odds for three places, and it goes off at 16/1:

The place part is calculated from whichever win price you're paid at, so BOG lifts both. Check your bookmaker's wording, though, as terms can differ. Our each way guide has more on place terms.

BOG and Rule 4

Rule 4 is the deduction bookies make from winnings when a horse is withdrawn after you've bet, because the race has become easier to win. Deductions are on a sliding scale based on the price of the withdrawn horse.

Here's where it gets fiddly. If a horse is withdrawn late and a Rule 4 deduction applies to early prices, you might find:

• Your early price has a deduction applied, say 15 cent in the euro.
• The SP might already reflect the smaller field (if the horse was withdrawn well before the off) and so carry no deduction, or a different one.

Bookies generally compare like with like and pay whichever works out better for you after the relevant deductions, but they each describe it in their own terms. Example: €10 at 6/1 with a 15-cent deduction pays €60 × 0.85 = €51 profit. If the SP was 7/1 with no deduction, BOG would pay €70. If the SP was 6/1 with no deduction, you'd likely be paid €60, which still beats your reduced early price. Read the rules for the site you're using.

The small print to look for

Every bookie writes its own BOG terms. These are the usual things to check:

How to get the most from BOG

1. Use bookies that offer it on the races you bet. It's one of the most valuable standard concessions in racing. Compare in our guide to horse racing betting sites.
2. Take a price when you bet. BOG only works on fixed-price bets. If you just bet at SP, you're not using it.
3. Still shop around. BOG protects you against drifts, but the better early price is still better. Take the best price available from bookies offering BOG.
4. Bet on the day if you can. That keeps your bets inside the BOG window and lets you see the going, non-runners and market moves first.
5. Track your results. Note the price taken, the SP and what you were paid. Over time you'll see how much BOG adds and whether you're beating the SP on average, which is one of the best signs a punter has an edge.

Beating the SP: why it matters

If the horses you back regularly shorten between your bet and the off, you're getting better prices than the market's final view. That's a strong sign your judgement is good. If they mostly drift, the market disagrees with you, and BOG is quietly rescuing your winners. Both are useful to know. A simple column in your betting record, "price taken vs SP", tells you which kind of punter you are.

BOG vs price boosts vs simply betting at SP

Bookies offer plenty of racing promotions, and it helps to know how BOG compares with the others:

Boosted prices are sometimes excluded from BOG, so read the terms if you combine the two. And remember that a boost on a horse you'd never back isn't value, it's just a reason to bet.

A race-day example

Say you study the cards over breakfast and like three horses at a big Irish meeting. You take 6/1, 9/2 and 12/1 at a bookie with BOG, €10 win on each. The 6/1 shot drifts to 9/1 and wins, so you're paid €90 instead of €60. The 9/2 shot is backed into 3/1 and finishes second, so it makes no difference. The 12/1 shot goes off at 10/1 and is unplaced. Your day finishes €70 up instead of €40 up, purely because of the drift on your winner. On another day the same habit would have added nothing, which is fine: BOG never costs you a cent.

Common misunderstandings

• Thinking BOG applies to losing bets. It only changes what winners are paid.
• Assuming it covers every race and bet type everywhere. It doesn't.
• Believing BOG means you'll profit. Most punters still lose over time; BOG just makes the loss smaller or the profit bigger.
• Forgetting that SP bets don't benefit. You need to take a price.
• Not noticing BOG has been removed from an account.

Is it legal to bet on racing in Ireland?

Yes, for adults. The Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI) licenses operators, and the first remote betting licences commenced on 1 July 2026. GRAI-licensed bookmakers come with Irish protections and complaint routes. Offshore sites such as Cloudbet aren't GRAI-licensed, so those protections don't apply. Our guide to whether online betting is legal in Ireland explains more.

Keep it a bit of fun

BOG is a nice extra, but it's not a reason to bet more. Set a budget for the day's racing, keep stakes steady and walk away if it's not going your way. If gambling stops being fun, Gambling Care is free and confidential on 1800 936 725, 24/7 (Northern Ireland: 08000 886 725). Our responsible gambling page covers limits and self-exclusion.

Our take

Best Odds Guaranteed is about as close to a free lunch as racing betting gets: you keep the upside of a drift and lose nothing if the price shortens. Use bookies that offer it on the races you bet, always take a price, still shop for the best early odds, and keep an eye on the small print. Then let your record tell you whether you're beating the SP.