What do you mean by “drifting” odds?

I am often asked “What do you mean by drifting odds” when I say look that horse is drifting in the market.

Drifting odds means that the odds offered on a horse, by a bookmaker, are getting bigger.

So a horse that was 2/1 is now being offered at 5/1 is said to be drifting in the market.

Alternatively horses can be said to be shortening which is where the odds are getting smaller. So in the example above a horse that was being offered at 5/1 and is now being offered at 2/1 is said to be shortening. Sometimes this process is also described by calling the horse a steamer or the “jolly”.

Some racing website will publish a list of horses which they will say “here is a list of the steamers …”. This is the list of horses whose odds have significantly shortened or got smaller.

The video below is a practical demonstration of how to spot whether a horse is drifting in a particular marketplace. It takes you step by step through the process of how to use your Betfair account and the charts it provides to see which horses are drifting in a particular race and which are shortening or staying static or jumping around etc.

This is an IMPORTANT part of our unique “SYSTEM 200” method of converting FREE BETS to CASH!