Educational Article · Staking
Dutching is one of the simplest ways to back more than one horse in a race and still know exactly what you stand to win. Below we explain what Dutching is, how to work out the stakes, and how Dutching our own ITV Racing picks has performed since 8 August 2026.
What is Dutching?
Dutching means backing two or more selections in the same race and splitting your stake between them so that whichever one wins, you get the same return. Instead of putting the same stake on each horse, you put more on the shorter-priced horse and less on the bigger-priced one.
The name is said to come from Arthur Flegenheimer, the New York gangster better known as “Dutch Schultz”, whose bookmakers supposedly used the method in the 1930s. Whatever its origins, the idea is simple: you decide on a total stake for the race and share it out in proportion to the odds.
How to work out Dutching stakes
Turn each price into decimal odds (2/1 = 3.0, 4/1 = 5.0 and so on). Then, for each horse:
Stake on a horse = Total stake × (1 ÷ its decimal odds) ÷ (sum of 1 ÷ decimal odds for every horse you are backing)
A worked example, with a 2pt total stake on two horses:
| Horse | Price | Decimal | Stake | Return if it wins |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Predicted winner | 2/1 | 3.0 | 1.25pts | 3.75pts |
| Danger horse | 4/1 | 5.0 | 0.75pts | 3.75pts |
Whichever horse wins, the bet returns 3.75pts for 2pts staked, a profit of +1.75pts. If neither wins, you lose the 2pts. In effect you have created a single bet on “either of these two” at a combined price of 7/8.
Save yourself the maths: our free Dutching Calculator works out every stake for you. Enter the prices and your total stake (or a target return), and it does the rest. You can find it alongside our other bet calculators on the Free Bet Calculator page.
A quick check: if the sum of 1 ÷ decimal odds for your horses is below 1, a winner from the group shows a profit. If it is 1 or more, even a winner loses you money, so you are backing too many horses or the prices are too short.
The merits of Dutching
You know your return before the off. Every winning outcome pays the same, so there is no “right horse, wrong stake” frustration.
Far more winning bets. Covering two strong contenders roughly doubles how often you collect, which makes losing runs shorter and the ride much smoother.
It suits races with two clear contenders. When the ratings point to a pair of horses well clear of the rest, Dutching lets you back that view directly instead of having to pick one.
Your stake is controlled. You set one total stake per race, whatever the prices, which keeps your points staking tidy.
There are trade-offs. Because the bigger-priced horse carries less money, a big-priced winner pays less than it would with level stakes. And Dutching can never turn poor selections into good ones: it only works if the horses you cover win often enough at the prices you take.
Dutching our ITV Racing picks: the results
For every ITV race in Britain and Ireland, One Stop Racing publishes a predicted winner and a danger horse, locked at 07:15 each morning. That makes them a natural fit for Dutching. Here is how each approach has performed since 8 August 2026, settled at the 07:15 Early price, the official SP and BOG (best odds guaranteed, the bigger of the two):
| Selection | Bets | Winners | Strike Rate | Staked | P/L Early | P/L SP | P/L BOG | ROI (BOG) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ITV predicted winners (1pt win) | 154 | 43 | 27.9% | 154 | +6.63 | -11.01 | +11.31 | 7.3% |
| ITV danger horses (1pt win) | 154 | 36 | 23.4% | 154 | +19.19 | +14.38 | +32.16 | 20.9% |
| All ITV picks (1pt win each) | 308 | 79 | 25.6% | 308 | +25.82 | +3.37 | +43.47 | 14.1% |
| ITV Dutch, winner + danger (2pts per race) | 158 | 78 | 49.4% | 316 | +49.96 | +22.93 | +68.37 | 21.6% |
How the Dutch works: instead of 1pt on each horse, 2pts per race are split between the predicted winner and the danger horse so that whichever one wins returns the same amount at the 07:15 Early price. The shorter-priced horse gets the bigger share of the stake. You lose the 2pts only if neither wins. If one is a non-runner the full 2pts go on the other. “Bets” is races and “Winners” the races where one of the pair won.
What the figures tell us
The strike rate almost doubles. Backing the predicted winner alone found a winner in 27.9% of races. Dutching the pair collected in 78 of 158 races, 49.4%: close to one race in every two.
Better profit for almost the same outlay. Backing both horses at 1pt each made +43.47pts at BOG from 308pts staked. Dutching the same horses with 2pts per race made +68.37pts from 316pts, an ROI of 21.6% against 14.1%. The stakes were the same; spreading them sensibly is what made the difference.
It held up at every price type. The Dutch was in profit at Early (+49.96), SP (+22.93) and BOG (+68.37). Backing the predicted winners alone lost 11.01pts at SP.
It is not a guarantee. The Dutch made +71.06pts at BOG in August, lost 7.03pts in September and was +4.34pts in October to date. Losing spells still happen, but winning one race in two keeps them far shorter than backing single horses.
One more point worth making: on these figures the danger horses alone returned a similar ROI (20.9%) to the Dutch, but with a strike rate of only 23.4%. The Dutch gives a comparable return with roughly twice as many winning races, which is a much easier ride to stick with.
How to Dutch our ITV picks yourself
1. Check the morning’s ITV predicted winner and danger horse for each race in the One Stop Racing app.
2. Decide your total stake per race (we use 2pts).
3. Split it using the formula above, or simply use our free Dutching Calculator from the Free Bet Calculator page.
4. Take the price early with a BOG bookmaker where you can. Our figures show BOG adds a lot: +68.37pts compared with +49.96pts at the early price alone.
5. If one of the pair is a non-runner, put the full stake on the other horse.
The ITV Dutch is now recorded every day alongside every other One Stop Racing selection on our Our Results page, settled automatically at Early, SP and BOG.
Get the ITV predicted winners and danger horses before the off.
Compare membershipsFigures cover ITV races in Britain and Ireland from 8 August 2026, using selections locked at 07:15. Early is the 07:15 price, SP is the official starting price and BOG is the bigger of the two. Non-runners and abandoned races are void. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Please gamble responsibly (18+).