The Dutching system is a method of staking that allows you to bet on several horses in the same race and make a profit if any of those selections win. Because the Dutching system allows you to bet on several runners, you can deviate a little from our usual Race Selection advice and select horses at larger prices and in more competitive races – even in handicaps if that appeals to you.

For example, using the Dutching system when horse betting online you could bet £10 on each of three runners at 3/1, 4/1 and 5/1 in a 12 runner handicap race. This would give you a profit of £10 if the 3/1 shot wins, £20 if the 4/1 shot wins and £30 if the 5/1 shot wins. Obviously you would lose £30 if all three of your selections were to lose, but backing three horses in a 12 runner race means that you have a quarter of the field on your side – not a bad position to be in!

If you want to make sure that you make the same amount of profit no matter which of your horses wins then you need to adjust your stake to reflect the odds that you can get with your chosen bookmakers. We will assume that you’re sensible enough to avoid betting on horses priced at more than 10/1, so here is a table of odds for prices up to 10/1 that shows you how much you need to stake using the Dutching system to obtain a return of £100.

ODDS

STAKE

1/1

50.00

11/10

47.61

6/5

45.45

5/4

44.44

11/8

42.10

6/4

40.00

13/8

38.09

7/4

36.36

15/8

34.78

2/1

33.33

9/4

30.76

5/2

28.57

11/4

26.67

3/1

25.00

100/30

23.07

7/2

22.22

4/1

20.00

9/2

18.18

5/1

16.67

11/2

15.38

6/1

14.28

13/2

13.33

7/1

12.50

15/2

11.76

8/1

11.11

9/1

10.00

10/1

  9.09

For example, if you wanted to use the Dutching system to bet on a 2/1 shot, a 7/2 shot and a 6/1 shot, you would stake £33.33, £22.22 and £14.28 respectively. This gives you a total outlay of £69.83, and no matter which horse wins you would get a return of £100, giving you a profit of £30.17.

Of course, you don’t have to use the Dutching system to stake for a £100 return. If you wanted to stake for a £50 return you could do so by dividing each of the indicated stakes by 2. Or if you wanted to stake for a £10 return you would divide the indicated stakes by 10.

Before you use the Dutching system you should always add your stakes together to make sure they total less than the desired return – it’s no good betting a total of £110 to get a total return of £100, because even if you won you’d lose £10! As always, it is your responsibility as a horse betting online enthusiast to make sure you’re happy with the risk and the potential gain involved in any bet.