Non-runner no bet (NRNB)
Non-runner no bet, usually shortened to NRNB, is a horse racing betting term: if the horse you backed does not take part in the race, the bet is made void and your stake is returned. Bookmakers mostly use it for ante-post bets on big meetings such as Cheltenham, where a horse can be ruled out weeks before the tapes go up. It is a concession offered by the bookmaker, not a universal rule, so the races covered and the small print differ from one firm to the next.
How a non-runner no bet bet is settled
A standard ante-post bet is struck on an all-in, run-or-not basis. If your horse is injured, switched to another race or simply left at home, the bet is settled as a loser and the stake is gone. NRNB removes that one risk, and nothing else.
Once your horse lines up, the bet behaves like any other. If it finishes down the field, you lose.
Multiples follow the same logic. Where one selection in a double or an accumulator is a non-runner on NRNB terms, that leg is voided and the rest of the bet is settled on the remaining selections, as Sky Bet’s published rules describe. Free bets are where the practice splits: some bookmakers return a free bet stake in kind as another free bet, while certain festival promotions state that refunds apply to cash stakes only. Read that line before you use a free bet on an ante-post market, and remember that a free bet which does win pays the winnings only, without the stake.
What the cover costs you in the price
Nothing comes free in a betting market, and NRNB is paid for in the odds. Because the bookmaker now carries the non-runner risk, the NRNB price on a horse is generally shorter than the straight ante-post price on the same horse.
A worked example
Say a horse is 10/1 on all-in terms and 8/1 on NRNB terms. At 10/1 the implied probability is 1 divided by 11, or about 9.1%. At 8/1 it is 1 divided by 9, or about 11.1%. A €10 winning bet returns €110 at the bigger price and €90 at the shorter one, so you are giving up €20 of potential return in exchange for getting your €10 back if the horse never runs.
Whether that is a fair swap depends on how likely you think a withdrawal is, and nobody can give you that figure in advance. Trainers often hold two or three entries for the same race deep into the season, and going or a setback can rule a horse out at any stage. The sum is the honest way to decide: if the chance of your horse not running looks bigger than the price you are surrendering, the cover is worth having.
The two-point gap above is an illustration, not a standard margin.
Where punters confuse NRNB with Rule 4
The term most often mixed up with NRNB is Tattersalls Rule 4(c), and the two deal with different horses. NRNB is about your own selection not running. Rule 4 is about a rival being withdrawn late, which shortens the real odds of everyone left in the field.
When a horse is withdrawn after the market has formed, a fixed-price winning bet can have a deduction taken from its winnings, measured in pence in the pound. The size depends on the withdrawn horse’s price: the shorter the horse that drops out, the bigger the cut. Your stake is never touched by the deduction, only the winnings.
Here is where the timing matters. Bookmakers such as BoyleSports state that Rule 4 deductions do not apply to ante-post races, so a straight ante-post price stands even when a fancied rival comes out. Bets taken after final declarations, however, are typically on a non-runner no bet basis anyway, and Rule 4 may apply to them. For many races that point sits at the 48-hour declaration stage, though the exact cut-off varies by bookmaker and by race.
Put simply, NRNB protects your stake when your horse is missing, while Rule 4 trims your winnings when another one is.
What I check first on any festival offer is whether it covers every race or only the championship events, and whether each-way bets are included or only win bets.
