One can hardly mention sports betting without mentioning horse racing. And one can hardly mention horse racing without mentioning Australia. As a hub for horse breeding in the world, Australia is home to some of the most prestigious horse racing events that occur annually. One of these events is the Melbourne Cup, which all but brings the country to a standstill when it occurs, due to its enormous popularity.
Prior to the Melbourne Cup, however, is the Caulfield Cup, which is one of the ways in which a horse may advance to compete in the Melbourne Cup. The Caulfield Cup is held about two weeks prior to the Melbourne Cup, in October. It runs for a distance of 2,400 meters, and is a hotly contested event that often sees horse breeders vying to prove the strength of their latest breeds, sometimes in very vocal ways. This tension, and high levels of competition, may well be caused by the fact that the Caulfield Cup has a grand prize of $3 million Australian dollars to the winner.
Handicap Races
It is important to keep in mind that the Caulfield Cup is a handicapped race. In horse racing a handicap is determined by the performance level of each horse, with horses that have speed advantages given weights to carry, which balances out the challenge. The overall purpose of a handicap system is to ensure that a single horse does not dominant an event, or otherwise blatantly outperform other horses. An official handicapper determines how much weight a horse should carry, which is done via a strict set or rules.
When deciding which horse for online Caulfield Cup betting action, the handicap system must be kept in mind. Even if a horse seems like it will perform well, the handicap system will allow other horses to still have a fighting chance. Fast horses will still perform predictably well, but a slower horse without a handicap may have better stamina, and overtake the faster horse at a later stage in the race. This keeps bet making interesting and exciting, and provides reason for bets to be made on well paying underdog horses.
Sports Betting
The Caulfield Cup is a commonly bet on sporting event. Due its reputation of heated competition, bet makers are drawn by the promise of an exciting, entertaining event that often has tempers flaring. Horse breeders are known to get into lengthily debates about the strengths of one horse breed over another. These debates often give bettors clues as to which horse is more or less likely to win the Caulfield Cup.
Betting on horse events, including the Caulfield Cup, is characterised by the bet maker not having to predict the exact horse that wins the race. Payouts can still be earned by selecting a group of favoured horses, and those choices appearing in the first three places, or even first ten places. The payout will always be bigger, of course, for selecting the correct winner, but good money can still be earned by simply having a selected horse place fourth.
