If you are new to betting on racing and are wondering what does nap mean in horse racing, then we have all the information you need to answer that question fully.
A nap selection is a term used by professional tipsters and occasionally other punters to refer to what they feel is the best bet of the day.
This is based on the selections that they have made from the other races they have tipped for today’s horse racing (or greyhound racing).
Nap (Noun) – Racing term meaning the best bet of the day!
It is a common term used in betting parlance, especially in daily newspapers, racing papers and online horse racing tips sites. However, many online tipsters may not offer specific nap selections in their tips for a particular day.
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And really, that’s all you need to know – The Nap meaning betting fans need to understand is that it is the best bet of the day, according to that individual tipster.
However, it is a good idea to explore the subject of nap bet selections in a bit more detail, starting with how the term ‘nap' came into being!
And no, it doesn’t mean having a sly snooze in this context!
Many people think that the word nap is used in this context in horse racing to imply you shouldn’t sleep on this horse, but the truth is a little stranger!
The term Nap comes from a card game that was popular in the nineteenth century called “Napoleon”. The game was a trick-taking game, similar to Bridge, where a player bids on the number of tricks that they can make based on their hand.
The maximum number of tricks a player could win was five, which was known as a Napoleon, which was over time, became shortened to Nap.
Quite how that term switched from being used for a popular card game, to signifying the best bet of the day for a tipster in horse racing isn’t clear.
However, when tipsters in newspapers began to predict the winners of each race on any given day, they would highlight the tip they felt had the best chance of winning by adding the term Nap after it.
The format for showing nap selections differs from publication to publication. Sometimes nap selections are highlighted in brackets, capitalised, italicised and in bold (NAP). A possible format of this type of Nap selection is shown below.
Terry Tipster’s Tips for the Day – Plumpton
Other times, a separate section for a nap selection and an explanation of why the horse has been ‘napped’ by the tipster are created. This is shown in the screenshot below.
Regardless of the format used, both these options clearly indicate that for this Tipster, San Pedro is their Nap selection for the racing at Plumpton.
There’s just a couple things to remember about nap bet selections.
The key thing to remember is that a nap selection is simply the horse racing tipsters opinion. It is, they believe, the selection they have made that has the most chance of being a winner from all the other tips they have made that day.
However, as everyone knows, opinions are not cast-iron guarantees of success. And while top tipsters can agree on nap selections for a race, they can also differ wildly in terms of their nap selections on any given day.
As such, if you do rely on the tips of a certain tipster, or a few tipsters, it is worth checking out their success rate when it comes to bets in general and in particular their Nap selections.
Ideally, if you are going to follow a tipster, then you would want a significant percentage of their tips to come in and an even greater percentage of their nap selections to win.
While most selections tipsters make are for win bets, there is no requirement that a selection or nap selection, has to be a win bet.
As such, sometimes a tipster may suggest that a different bet other than to win, is the best bet of the day.
For example, if the horse is a long-odds selection, the tipster may suggest backing the horse each way as their nap of the day. This gives the bet more flexibility as it generates a return if it wins, or is placed.
Remember, a nap bet is the best bet of the day and sometimes this may not be backing the horse to win as a single bet.
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It can be, but it very much depends on how good the tipster is in terms of picking the right horses. As we mentioned above, researching how many wins a tipster has had for their selections and their Nap selections is always a good idea.
You can then compare their record against other racing tipsters to see who you have most confidence in when it comes to their judgement.
Additionally, you should remember that Nap selections are a matter of opinion. The tipster may provide reasons as to why they feel this horse or greyhound is their best selection of the day, but in the end, that opinion won’t have any influence on the race itself.
On the positive side, you can be sure professional tipsters will have conducted plenty of research before they select their tips and nap bet for the day, and following them lets you piggyback on the research they have made for the bets.
That’s all you need to know about nap selections in horse racing and greyhound racing. It is a very simple concept to understand and an easy term for novice punters to get to grips with when they begin betting as a hobby!
Looking for a good place to start? Check out bet365 News Tipsters to see some good options.
Always remember to gamble responsibly.
Check out bet365’s Safer Gambling page for more details.
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