Nowadays, so-called all-weather racing – that is, horse racing on synthetic surfaces – is an everyday occurrence in Britain. However, younger more online geered readers clambering to play best online slots, may not realise that just over three decades ago racecourses such as Kempton, Lingfield, Newcastle, Southwell, and Wolverhampton raced exclusively on turf and Chelmsford City did not even exist.

All-weather racing in Britain was first mooted following the very cold, snowy winter of 1984/85, which led to the abandonment of dozens of National Hunt fixtures. However, it was not until four or five years later that first Lingfield, and then Southwell, were granted permission to install synthetic surfaces. Lingfield opted for Equitrack – graded sand particles encapsulated in a mixture of oil and polymers – on the inside of the existing turf track, while Southwell opted for Fibresand – a deeper, slower surface, composed of sand particles and polypropylene fibres – on the outside.

Lingfield staged its first all-weather fixture on October 30, 1989 and was followed by Southwell, just nine days later. Four years later, in 1993, Wolverhampton went a stage further by completely replacing its turf course with Fibresand. Two years later still, in 1995, Dunstall Park was also the venue for the first Listed race run on a synthetic surface in Britain, the Wulfrun Stakes.

The twenty-first century brought many changes to the all-weather landscape, much in the same way that kiwicasinos casino online changed the casino landscape. In 2001, Lingfield switched to Polytrack – a more advanced, wax-coated mixture of sand, recycled synthetic fibres and recycled rubber – and, in 2004, Wolverhampton followed suit. The first Pattern race run on the all-weather, the Group Three Silver Trophy Stakes, was staged at Lingfield in the summer of 2005. The following spring, Kempton joined the all-weather roster and would be joined, albeit briefly, by the ill-fated Great Leighs – which would be resurrected, as Chelmsford City, seven years later – in 2008.

The inaugural All-Weather Championships, culminating in All-Weather Championships Finals Day, worth £1 million in prize money, at Lingfield on Good Friday commenced in October, 2013, and continues to go from strength to strength. In 2014, Wolverhampton switched again, to Tapeta – effectively an advanced, more forgiving version of Polytrack – and, in 2016, Newcastle also hosted its first fixture on a new Tapeta track.

Every week, millions of football accumulator bets are placed across various bookmaker websites, with customers picking out their selections and combining them in a multiple before waiting to see if each leg is settled as a winner.

While a lot of punters like to choose different football teams for their accumulator, our acca tips don’t just focus on the Full-Time Result betting market where you simply choose the home team, draw or away team when making a selection.

We might alternatively choose a football betting market such as Over/Under 2.5 Goals, especially if we have a stronger view on the number of goals that will be scored in the match rather than the actual outcome at the full-time whistle.

Our football acca tips often focus on the Both Teams to Score market and that’s particularly because this is a simple two-way betting market which simply involves choosing either “Yes” or “No” for a particular match.

BTTS is great because you’re not even worried about the number of goals being scored in the match, let alone whether a particular team is going to win or not. You either choose “Yes” and want both teams to score or “No” and cheer on at least one team drawing a blank.

Don’t Pick Too Many Football Acca Selections

Many betting customers fall into the trap of getting greedy with their football accumulator picks. Ideally, your accumulator should have between 4-6 selections depending on the odds for each leg. If you’re picking four even money shots, then you might not want to boost your acca any further, although going for big odds-on favourites might mean you need more legs to get a satisfactory price.

Our acca tips would normally go for five picks and it’s sometimes the case that we might mix and match the different football markets. For example, we might choose Liverpool to win but also Over 2.5 Goals in the Manchester derby. There’s also the opportunity to combine selections from different football leagues.

Indeed, a popular European football accumulator might feature leading teams such as Manchester City, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Juventus. However, some punters prefer to do an accumulator which focuses on games happening the same day. That means that you will have your bet settled as a winner or a loser.

Horse racing is hugely popular with punters all over the world, but especially those in the UK. Horse racing and betting has a rich history in the UK, and alongside that we have some of the very best racing anywhere in the world.

Many new punters like to bet on horse racing, either on a weekly basis or as a one off when they visit the racecourse for a meeting.

However, one thing many people have in common is that they would like to be better at picking winners.

Are you one of these people? If so, here are three simple ways in which you can become a better horse racing gambler.

Choose Your Bookmaker Wisely

There are many great horse racing betting offers you can take advantage of as a punter. These could be the difference between making a profit or a loss on your betting.

A look through some high quality betting site reviews will give you the lowdown about the bookmakers on offer and which ones of them focus on giving offers to horse racing punters.

These are the best for you, and by signing up with them you give yourself access to these offers. Use them when you bet and make yourself more profitable.

Generally, these offers are welcome bonuses that include free bets or regular offers you can use all the time such as money back offers, best odds promotions and much more.

When you are a punter, something you should always try to do is get as much on your side as possible. These offers give you that, they are on your side and can help you win.

Small Research Can Pay Big Dividends

Those who don’t bet on horse racing too often may think it is not worth their while to research into the races taking place when they are betting.

That is wrong, and the reason for this is because just a small amount of research can make a huge difference.

Try and focus on simple things that are solely based on the meeting you are betting on. For example, look for which trainers and jockeys have the best strike rate at the track. If another meeting took place there recently, look at the results from that meeting to see who won.

Look out for horses that have raced at the track in the last 12 months, see if you can find a horse that clearly likes it there and performs well.

These are just a few small tips that you can research very quickly and it should give you an edge over other people, hopefully finding you some winners along the way.

Don’t be Afraid to Use Different Bet Types

Some people like to keep things as simple as possible, and for that reason they place all their bets on horses to win. This doesn’t have to be the case.

You can bet in a number of different ways, either following tips from others, or choosing your own selections.

Not every bet needs to be a win bet. If the situation is better for an each way bet, don’t be afraid to use that. You will also find many other markets available, these can include betting without the favourite and forecast betting.

Don’t be afraid of these and don’t bet to win just for the sake of it. Try and expand your betting portfolio if you can and bring in new bet types.

This will give you a better chance of winning, and also help you build up your understanding of horse racing gambling as a whole, so you can improve in the future.