Essential guide to virtual horse racing

Virtual National Hunt Racing

For the sake of clarity, we use the term virtual racing to refer to computer-generated races, such as those shown in bookmaker offices across the UK and elsewhere. We use the term virtual horse racing games to refer to online, multi-player horse racing simulation games where you may own and race virtual horses.

In this section we cover virtual (horse) racing. Virtual dog or greyhound and car races are also available.

49s - Portman Park, Steepledowns, Sprint Valley

49s is the leading independent provider of virtual horse racing. It is televised in bookmakers offices across the UK and worldwide. Races typically take place between 8am and 10pm, seven days a week. Today's results are available here and a full list of historical results dating back to 2002 can be found here.

Portman ParkFlat
Sprint ValleyFlat
SteepledownsNational Hunt

It used to be possible to view races produced by 49s 'live' online via William Hill's BettingTV. However, since William Hill withdrew support for 49s products, coverage is no longer available via this service. Unfortunately we are not currently aware of any alternative platform that makes these races available to view online.

Paddy Power

Paddy Power features three of their own exclusive venues. They no longer offer the 49s virtual products either.

Glenview GardensFlat
St Patrick's ParkFlat
HazelbrookNational Hunt

Betfred

Betfred continues to feature the 49s racecourses and additionally operate their own exclusive venues.

Southfork ParkFlat
New Forrest ParkFlat
Dash ValleyFlat
Birchwood DownsNational Hunt

William Hill

William Hill have recently withdrawn support for the 49s racetracks and no longer feature them on their site at all. However, they do have a full compliment of 9 exclusive virtual racecourses meaning virtual racing fans are particularly well catered for here.

Sandy LanesFlat
Home StraightFlat
Mustang ValleyFlat
Hope ParkFlat
Canterberry HillsNational Hunt
Rapier StripFlat
Hilltop GardensFlat
Weston ValeNational Hunt
St Johns DownsFlat

About Virtual Racing

As a reminder, the term virtual horse racing can be used to refer to both computer-generated races shown in betting offices and on online bookmaker websites and also to online games that enable players to own, train and race virtual horses. The ones shown here refer to those computer-generated races operated by 49s Ltd and other providers.

49s Ltd produce virtual racing from three venues – flat racing from Portman Park and Sprint Valley and also jumps or steeplechase racing from Steepledowns. They are the best known virtual racetracks in the UK.

Virtual racing is in fact a numbers game. The races you see are a computer-generated representation of a random numbers draw. The order in which the random numbers are generated determines the outcome (or result) of the race. The first number generated is the winner and then subsequent numbers drawn will determine the placed horses.

Each virtual horse has a different chance of winning, some more likely than others, and this is reflected in the odds that are offered. This is achieved by making some selections more heavily weighted in the draw. Imagine a bag full of a thousand bingo balls, each with the name of a runner on it. The name of one virtual horse may appear on 200 individual balls and this would be the race favourite. Another may only be represented by 10 balls making it far less likely to be drawn and this would be reflected by bigger odds.

Place terms for virtual horse racing are very similar to those attributed to real horse racing, as follows:

Races with 8-11 runners, 1/5 odds, 3 places.
Races with 12-15 runners, 1/4 odds, 3 places.
Races with 16 or more runners 1/4 odds, 4 places.

Straight forecast dividends and tricast dividends are also declared for each race.

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