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SP stands for Starting Price — the official odds of a horse at the moment the race starts.
If you back a horse without taking a fixed price, your bet is settled at SP. On a result the SP is the price printed next to each horse, for example 5/2 or 11/4F.
How the Starting Price is set
In Britain and Ireland, official starting-price returners watch the prices offered by a sample of on-course bookmakers in the betting ring. The SP is the price a horse was generally available at when the race started. Because it is fixed at the off, it reflects all the money and information that came in during the day, including late market moves.
This bookmaker price is the Industry Starting Price (ISP). It is the SP you see on a betting slip, in results and in the newspapers.
SP vs BSP (Betfair Starting Price)
The Betfair Starting Price (BSP) is a second starting price, set by the Betfair exchange from the back and lay bets matched at the off. It has no bookmaker margin built in, so it is usually a little bigger than the ISP, and the gap is widest on outsiders. Betfair charges commission on net winnings instead.
When people say “SP” without qualification they almost always mean the ISP.
SP vs the price you took
You can take a fixed price earlier in the day instead of waiting for SP. If you do, the SP does not change your payout, with one exception: Best Odds Guaranteed (BOG). With BOG the bookmaker pays at whichever is bigger, the price you took or the SP.
Reading SP on a result
SPs are written as fractional odds. The letters after the price tell you about the favourite:
| On the result | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 4/1 | Starting Price of 4/1: win £4 for every £1 staked, plus your stake back. |
| 11/4F | F = the favourite, the shortest-priced runner in the race. |
| 3/1JF | JF = joint favourite: two runners shared the shortest price. |
| 5/1CF | CF = co-favourite: three or more runners shared the shortest price. |
| Evs | Evens: win £1 for every £1 staked. |
Worked example
A £10 win bet settled at an SP of 4/1 returns £50 if the horse wins: £40 profit plus the £10 stake.
What the SP tells you
Every price is also a probability. Convert the fraction to decimal odds (4/1 is 5.0) and divide 1 by it: 1 ÷ 5.0 = 20%. That is the chance the market gave the horse at the off.
Add up those percentages for every runner and you get more than 100%. The extra is the bookmakers’ margin, called the overround. It is the reason the Industry SP is usually shorter than Betfair SP.
What backing at SP costs: our figures
We hold both starting prices for every British and Irish runner. Here is what a £1 level stake on every runner returned from January 2023 to October 2026 (461,898 runners), split by where the horse stood in the betting. Betfair SP returns are after 2% commission.
| Position in the betting | Runners | Won | Return at SP | Return at Betfair SP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Favourite | 54,052 | 33.1% | −10.7% | −2.9% |
| 2nd–3rd | 100,270 | 16.8% | −16.4% | −2.8% |
| 4th–6th | 140,119 | 7.6% | −23.0% | −3.0% |
| 7th–10th | 117,221 | 3.1% | −36.2% | −4.9% |
| 11th or longer | 50,236 | 1.3% | −48.4% | −2.2% |
The bookmakers’ margin is not spread evenly. At SP a favourite costs you about 11p in the pound and a big outsider nearly half your stake. This is the favourite–longshot bias, and it lives in the Industry SP. At Betfair SP every group loses only the commission and a little more, and the winners come in almost exactly as often as their prices said (an A/E of 0.99 to 1.02 in every row).
So if you back outsiders, the price you settle at matters more than the horse you pick. You can run the same split for any angle in the System Builder, which reports both returns side by side.
Source: Proform RaceMetrics results, 1 January 2023 to 26 October 2026, British and Irish racing, all codes. Position in the betting is by Starting Price.
SP on RaceMetrics
Every RaceMetrics result shows each runner’s Starting Price, and the free Trainers in Form table measures profit as £1 level stakes at SP. The System Builder’s A/E figure is worked out from Betfair SP, because it carries no bookmaker margin: a runner with no edge at all scores 1.00.
Common questions
What does SP mean in horse racing?
SP stands for Starting Price, the official odds of a horse at the moment the race starts. If you back a horse without taking a fixed price, your bet is settled at SP.
Is SP the same as BSP?
No. SP usually means the Industry Starting Price, set from on-course bookmakers’ prices. BSP is the Betfair Starting Price, set on the Betfair exchange. BSP has no bookmaker margin, so it is usually a little bigger.
What does F mean after the SP?
F means the horse was the favourite, the shortest-priced runner in the race. JF means joint favourite and CF means co-favourite.
What happens to my bet if I do not take a price?
It is settled at the Starting Price. A £10 win bet at an SP of 4/1 returns £50 if the horse wins.