The Best Pre Race Horse Racing Strategy for 2025 on Betfair?

There is no doubt that the horse racing markets on Betfair continue to offer tremendous opportunities for traders.

If you’re aiming to generate a reliable second income or even transition to full-time trading, horse racing remains one of the most consistent and profitable markets.

One of the most popular strategies is pre-race trading – entering and exiting the market before the race begins.

Pre-race trading has several advantages over other strategies!

• Supports multiple approaches (Swing trading, scalping, short and long-term trading).
• No delay on bet submissions.
• Lower volatility compared to live racing.
• Numerous markets daily, allowing for frequent turnover.

Every year, pre-race horse racing strategies continue to evolve. With advanced trading software, data, and enhanced market analysis tools, there’s so much possibility. In this article, we’ll explore the best strategies for maximum profit in 2025 and how to adapt to changing conditions.

Swing Trading Strategy

Strategy number one involves looking for larger movements in the odds ranges. This strategy is known as swing trading.

Let’s take an example from the video pack!

This market looks to be a suitable one for swing trading. In that that I expect there will be bigger movements in the odds ranges. In this example, I back the horse Shaka Zulu at odds of 3.35 for £400 as I believe that it will shorten in odds.

The market progresses and Shaka Zulu’s odds start to shorten. Lay bets are placed at lower odds in order to lock in a profit and remove all risk.

In this particular market, the best pre-race trading strategy to use was swing trading. However, swing trading is not always the most effective strategy.

Scalping Trading Strategy

Let’s move on to strategy number two, scalping!

Scalping involves making a profit from small movements in the market. When scalping you are looking to enter and exit the market very quickly.

For 2025, scalping will remain to be the cornerstone of pre-race trading. With liquidity often higher in big races, scalpers can find multiple opportunities to make consistent profit amongst market fluctuations. Tools like Geeks Toy allow scalpers to react faster than ever. Timing and queue position is critical, but there’s no question – this is the best horse racing strategy to use when the markets are fairly stable and you are not expecting volatile movements to happen.

For example in higher class handicap races where odds movement is usually fairly stable.

Below is a video covering basic scalping techniques with example trades.

What Is The Best Pre-Race Horse Racing Strategy in 2025?

Ultimately the best pre-race horse racing strategy to use is the one that takes advantage of the opportunities that the market is presenting at the time.

This sounds more complex than it actually is!

For example, if you are looking to trade a maiden race where there isn’t a lot of information known prior about the horses. It is likely to be a fairly volatile market with big movements.

Swing trading is an ideal strategy for this market.

A class 1 handicap race at a big festival on the other hand. Is very likely to be a much more stable market where scalping is going to be very effective.

For more in-depth breakdowns on horse racing trading strategies with video examples click here!