Many horse racing fans have a weekend ritual of pouring over the form and placing their bets for Saturday’s live racing. Finding a horse and then profiting from it at the bookies is always a great feeling but the dream is always to win big from your horse racing knowledge. That is why big multiples bets are so important to many punters.
Simply adding a certain number of horses into one accumulator and hoping that they all win is exciting but combination bets are often options that are better suited to gamblers who want a bit of fun and a chance of a mega win. When it comes to Saturday racing betting, Super Heinz and Goliath bets are particularly strong options. In this guide, we’ll have a look at both of these types of bets, we’ll explain how they work and how to utilise them for your horse racing betting.
Super Heinz Bets
Heinz, of baked beans fame, are known for their 57 varieties. Hence the name of the combination bet with 57 separate bets is known as a Heinz. As the name suggests, Super Heinz bets are a step further again. But how exactly does a Super Heinz work?
What Is a Super Heinz?
A Super Heinz is a bet made up of seven selections. That’s one of the reasons it’s so popular for punters who like either going through the card at one racecourse or backing a runner in each of the races shown live on ITV Racing.
A Super Heinz is created by every possible combination of doubles, trebles, four-folds, five-folds, six-folds and one seven-fold. In total, a Super Heinz consists of 120 different bets. Specifically, that is 21 doubles, 35 trebles, 35 four-folds, 21 five-folds, seven six-folds and one, potentially life-changing seven-fold accumulator.
How Does a Super Heinz Work
Although a Super Heinz is thought of as a specific type of bet, it is a combination of 120 separate bets. The maximum possible return would be if all seven horses win their race as all 120 bets would be winners. However, as there are no singles included in a Super Heinz, at least two of the horses must win to see any return from the bet.
The benefit of a Super Heinz compared to simply placing a seven-fold accumulator is that you can still win handsome returns even if not every single one of your chosen horses wins. In a straight accumulator, if one horse loses then the whole bet loses.
Of course, the cost of the extra insurance of a Super Heinz is that you have to place 120 bets rather than one. Therefore, you must pay close attention to the bookmaker’s site you are using. For example, you may think you are placing a Super Heinz with a stake of £10 when you are actually placing £10 on each line for a total stake of £1,200!
Each Way Super Heinz Bets
If 120 bets aren’t enough for you to keep track of, how about 240?! That’s how many bets are placed with an each way Super Heinz. That’s because as well as backing all seven horses to win in the combinations described above, in each way Super Heinz bets you’re also backing all seven horses to place in those combinations.
As with single each way bets, this increases your chances of earning a return from your betting but it also doubles the cost due to the extra bets.
Goliath Bets
Goliath bets go one step further than a Super Heinz. Specifically, they are made up of eight different selections rather than seven. The name comes from the biblical story of David versus Goliath and reflects the fact that this giant bet is one of the biggest combinations allowed by bookmakers.
What Is a Goliath?
A Goliath is a bet that covers every possible combination of doubles, trebles, four-folds, five-folds, six-folds, seven-folds and an eight-fold. The eight selections make Goliaths popular for the biggest racing days of the year when there are a large number of exciting races to get stuck into.
In total, there are 247 bets in a Goliath. The specific breakdown of these bets is as follows – 28 doubles, 56 trebles, 70 four-folds, 56 five-folds, 28 six-folds, eight seven-folds and a monster of an eight-fold accumulator.
How Does a Goliath Work?
Just like a Super Heinz, Goliath bets are known as full cover bets. These are combination bets which do not include singles but do include all multiples. Therefore, if you place a Goliath bet on the Saturday races, a minimum of two selections must win before seeing a return (though not necessarily a profit).
The number of selections that must win before a profit is generated from a Goliath depends upon the odds of those selections. For example, if all of the selections were priced at evens, six of them must win before the person who placed the bet will see a profit. If the selections were all priced at 2/1, four winners would return a loss of £4 for a bet to £1 stakes, but five winners would return a profit of £761; six winners would return a profit of £3,830 though, so you see how quickly your winnings can add up with Goliath bets.
As with all full cover bets, placing a large number of bets means the total cost of a Goliath quickly increase. A £1 line stake would mean a total outlay of £247, so many punters will only place a small stakes bet per line as the winnings can still be substantial should the majority, or even all, of the selections win.
Each Way Goliath Bets
Goliaths work like a Super Heinz in that you can strike the bets each way. This provides extra chances to win but comes with a doubling of the cost. A £1 each way bet per line in a Goliath will cost you £494 and the winnings don’t always cover this extra cost.
If, for example, you had five winners all at 2/1 for a £1 line stake, your total profit would be £585.63. If that fifth horse placed rather than won that return would turn into a £179.37 loss. You would need two further horses to place to return a profit at those odds. Of course, the longer the odds, the fewer winners and places you need to earn a profit.
Calculating Your Winnings
As mentioned above, at least two horses must win for you to see a return from a Super Heinz (or place for an each way Super Heinz). However, it is highly unlikely that you’ll return a profit if only two of your horses win. If two horses win, just one of those 120 bets is a winner – a solitary double. You would need those two horses to be sent off at huge odds for the winnings from that double to cover the cost of the other 119 bets.
As said, the number of horses required to win before returning a profit from a Super Heinz or Goliath bet will differ subject to the prices of the horses. This is further complicated by each way bets where you need to factor in the extra cost, the price and the each way terms of the various races involved.
The online bookies give you the chance to see exactly how much you stand to return from your Super Heinz and Goliath bets. You can play around with selections and see how varying between different bets and selections changes this but it’s helpful to have an example of how winnings can add up over the course of a full cover bet. The below tables take the fictional example of backing selections all at odds of 3/1.
Super Heinz – £1 Line Stake, £120 Total Stake, 3/1 Per Selection
| Winners | Returns | Profit/Loss |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | £0 | £120 loss |
| 2 | £16 | £104 loss |
| 3 | £112 | £8 loss |
| 4 | £608 | £488 profit |
| 5 | £3,104 | £2,984 profit |
| 6 | £15,600 | £15,480 profit |
| 7 | £78,096 | £77,976 profit |
Goliath – £1 Line Stake, £247 Total Stake, 3/1 Per Selection
| Winners | Returns | Profit/Loss |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | £0 | £247 loss |
| 2 | £16 | £231 loss |
| 3 | £112 | £135 loss |
| 4 | £608 | £361 profit |
| 5 | £3,104 | £2,857 profit |
| 6 | £15,600 | £15,353 profit |
| 7 | £78,096 | £77,849 profit |
| 8 | £390,592 | £390,345 profit |
Making the Most of Your Bets
When utilised well, Super Heinz and Goliath Bets are very handy tools in your betting arsenal. As we’ve seen though, the stakes quickly add up so it is wise to carefully consider if and when you want to place then and what stakes you want to risk.
When to Use Super Heinz and Goliath Bets
As well as the opportunity to win big, Super Heinz and Goliath bets are popular as they give punters interest for a long time. That could be the whole day of racing for a big Saturday racing card for example or across multiple days of the same meeting such as the Cheltenham Festival or Royal Ascot.
What you should be careful of is crowbarring in extra selections just to get up to the required number of bets. With so many moving parts, these are difficult bets to get right. They are great when you have looked at the form or read some tips and you’ve got several horses to support but it will quickly go wrong if you add in selections just for the sake of getting to seven or eight horses.
Be Aware of the Odds
With so many selections to keep on top of it can be a complicated business predicting how many winners you need from your Super Heinz or Goliath bets to return a profit. Therefore, it is always worth considering the odds of the selections that you are backing before deciding to add them into one big bet (or group of bets).
A general rule of thumb for those who are experienced at placing full cover bets on sports is that odds of around evens works well. Sticking around this level means your returns are roughly doubling with each winner.
Of course, things can get more complicated with horse racing. There is a tricky balance to strike between including well-backed favourites who are more likely to win but will only add a relatively modest amount to your winnings and longer odds horses who will help return a handsome profit but have a smaller chance of winning.
Being aware of the odds is especially important if you are placing an each way Super Heinz or Goliath. Subject to the odds and the each way terms (the fraction of the odds paid out for a place and the number of places to which bookies pay out each way bets), you could need a large number of horses to place in their respective races for you to see a profit.