re distance betting

12 on the flat 30 over jumps are the maximums

If you are going to bet you should always know the terms that you are betting under here are the rules for distance betting hope this helps

13.4Winning Distance Bets
Unless stated otherwise in the Market Information, winning distances' bets are on the sum of the winning distances from each race on one particular day at a race meeting.
The winning distance in a race will be the officially declared distance between the first two horses past the post. However if either the first or second horse past the post is disqualified because: (i) of an incorrect weight carried; (ii) they have taken the wrong course; (iii) the jockey of either horse fails to weigh in, or weighs in light after the race; then in each case the winning distance shall be that between the first and second horse under the official result.
For the purpose of this bet, the maximum distance on any individual race will be 12 lengths for Flat races and 30 lengths for National Hunt races (which includes National Hunt Flat Races) and these distances will be applied where only one horse finishes a race. For distances below half a length, the following scale will be applied:
Nose: 0.05 length
Short-head: 0.1
Head: 0.2
Short-neck: 0.25
Neck: 0.3
If a meeting has three or more races abandoned or declared void, then all 'winning distance' bets will be void, unless the entire market has been unconditionally determined.
When only one or two races are abandoned or declared void, then 'winning distance' bets will be settled with a default distance used for each abandoned or void race. The default distances are 2 lengths for Flat races and 10 lengths for National Hunt races.
In the case of a walkover the following distances will be applied:
Flat: 5 lengths
National Hunt: 12 lengths

I played the distances a lot for a few years,and found you must be prepared to sell(go low) on occasions.The reason for stopping was that it was getting harder and harder,due to the companies being too clued up,they have some good brains doing the spreads for them,and of course,all the stats. they need.
    It was good fun,heart in mouth at times,but overall quite profotable.
  There are many things to take into consideration,it is a real battle of wits.Then you are faced with the option of trading out mid-meeting to secure a profit,or cut your losses ,or whether to stay in to the end of the meeting.
   Good luck,but don't forget to always take into account the possible losses.

thanks guys .
my bet was on betfair where i had between 41.5 /57 lengths total winning distances at exeter on friday.
the total winning distances as per race is 49.8 but my bet is settled as a loser.
The only reason i can see for this is that CHARTREUX won the 1.00race by 40 lengths but appears to have been settled at 30  lengths , so i presume there is a maximum of 30 lengths in any one race on national hunt racing.
Is this correct.

Yes,you have to have maximums,as one poster correctly posted.My betting was with the spread companies,very volatile!

A story that you can now laugh at.
  About 10 years ago I had sold the distances(low make up) at as NH meeting,and all was in order the first couple of races,until the next race made up at 20 lengths.The following race was a 3mile hunter chase,I panicked and bought back in for a substantial secured loss(bet now closed).Well ,the inevitable happened,the 3m. chase was one by ? A short head (.1 length),and the final 2 races were won by a combined distance of 2.5 lengths.
Had I bit the bullet and stayed in,the loss would have been very small.
,instead of the big loss caused by trading.
  Hence the expression VOLATILE!

thanks for your advice gents ,be lucky.

It was changed end of 2010 now up to 100 lengths!

From Boxing Day 2010 we will be ceasing to use a 'Distance' as an official term when calculating the distances that horses have been beaten. This will mean that when a horse is beaten by greater than thirty lengths the old term of 'Distance' will not be applied. For the purposes of greater accuracy the Judging department will now announce the actual number of lengths that a horse is beaten, when giving out the distances as part of the result.

This would mean that, for example, in the case of when Kauto Star won last year's King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day, that the distance calculated would have been 36 lengths, rather than him winning by a 'Distance'.

To enable this change to take place, the Photo-finish software which calculates distances based on the elapsed time between each horse multiplied by the Lengths per Second Scale in use, dependant on the ground conditions, has had to be extended beyond thirty lengths. We will now calculate distances up to 99 lengths, after which they will appear as 99+ which is how they currently are reported in the Press for their cumulative distances.

This change is in line with Racing for Change and will give the Public and those that bet on distances more accurate information.

once went overs with blue square, made up afther 2 races,meeting cancelled afther 4th race and never never got paid (void) still cannot believe i let them get away with it.

why don't the muppets just give the actual race times rather than these pretend distances that are calculated from them.  (the answer is "because it would make the punter's task a bit easier")