I think that's a great idea Heavyweight. All we need is someone to run it.

Sportz - a note on the laying thing:

Bascially, when you lay a horse, you're a pervert!! Sorry j/k. When you lay a horse, you are essentially being the bookmaker instead of the punter. So, if tomorrow we met at the pub and I said Cool trent couldn't win the hcp it was in, and it was paying $3.0 on the tote, you could say to me "OK, but I really like Cool Trent, can I back it with you?" I would of course say yes, and offer you say $3.50 to entice a bet. Say you had $100 on it with me, that would mean of course that you were backing it at $3.50 with me, to profit $250 should it win. Conversely, it means that I am laying it at $3.50 to you, for a loss of $250 should it win, but a profit of $100 should it win.

That is all straight forward of course. Betfair aren't any different to that, it's just getting your head around it that's the hurdle. If instead of going to the pub you went to Betfair for the imaginary Cool Trent race tomorrow, you might see on the board something like this:

Back Lay
3.0 3.2 3.4 3.5 3.8 4.0
120 500 1200 1000 1120 450

What that means is this. On the left hand side are the best three prices available for you to back Cool Trent at, should you wish to. The best price is closest to the middle, $3.40. The 1200 below it means you can have anything up to $1200 on the horse at that price. That's the combined amount the people who wish to lay Cool Trent at the $3.40 are offering for you to back. Essentially, the people who wish to lay Cool Trent (or play bookie against it) at odds of $3.40 are willing to risk a combined total of $2880 about it winning, ie $2.40*1200 (2.40 being the profit on the bet). On the right hand side are the prices you can lay it at (or play bookie against it) if you think it will lose. The SHORTEST price is the best one for you of course if you are being the bookie on it, and the shortest is $3.50 so you can lay it at $3.50 if you want to.

Basically, that $3.50 that you can lay it at means that someone (or many people) have clicked on and requested odds of $3.50 cool trent, so now the odds are there on the lay side, waiting for someone to lay those odds about cool trent to them.

Does that help?

Duritz.