How many times have you regretted not betting a front-runner after you watch him jump to the lead as the gates open? Or not backing that late-running longshot when a speed duel developed up front early?

Well in England, thousands of bettors can wait to see how things unfold, making their wagers as the race is being run! The betting stops only when the race has been declared official.

There are now three ways to wager in the United Kingdom. Tote betting, like our pari-mutuel system, is the first; wagering with legal bookmakers like Victor Chandler, Corals, and William Hill -- where the punter gets the odds offered when he bets, not closing odds -- is the second; and the third form of wagering, by far the most interesting, is exchange betting.

With exchange betting, the player is not betting into a pool or against a bookmaker, but against another individual via the Internet. The exchange acts like a stockbroker, matching a "seller" with a "buyer" with a web page displaying the match-ups between players who are laying odds and those that are taking those odds. It's very similar to buying stock in a market.

Legal bookmakers were irate when these exchanges sprang up a few years ago and tried to have them declared illegal by the English courts. But the justice system there sided with the exchanges and the horse players. The take out rate on winnings is only about 4 percent. No wonder the tracks and bookmakers wanted it shut down! But they are a fact of gambling life there now.

But we here in the United States can forget about betting through these exchange betting sites. They are against United States law and the English companies overseas will not open an account for anyone betting from here in the States.

I was in London during Super Bowl week, when most of the racing consists of long steeplechase events. At Ascot, Ayr, Doncaster, Uttoxeter and other venues, it is hurdle racing day after day until spring.

In Great Britain, if you don't get cable television service, your choices are small. There are only five free over-the-air channels. But on the Saturday before the Super Bowl, Channel 4 was carrying live racing from Ayr and Doncaster for two and a half hours, while the BBC had live racing from Ascot and Uttoxeter at the same time. That would be like NBC carrying live racing from Aqueduct and Gulfstream, while CBS was showing the live action from Laurel and Fair Grounds. Talk about a big sport in a small country!

But the most fascinating thing about the excellent television coverage was that during that lengthy race, where there was plenty of time for more than just the basic call of the race, you heard three voices: the race caller, the analyst and the person reporting the changes in the odds on the betting exchanges.

To show just how quick and risky this exchange betting can be, take the fourth race at Ascot that afternoon. Tiutchev was the 2-1 pre-race favorite in a two mile and three furlong jumper. He was all alone on the front end in a field of seven for most of the way. With six furlongs to go, the odds on Tiuthev, who was then in front by five, dropped to even money.

Turning for home, with one fence to go, Tiutchev was still leading and the announcer reported his odds had plummeted to 1-9. But then Tiutchev fell at the final fence! All of the money bet on him was lost -- a sure thing had turned into a bomb. Hand Inn Hand, who had been a struggling second, jumped the final obstacle cleanly, avoided the fallen Tiutchev and coasted home.

The closest thing I have ever come to this type of wager in the States was when I first came to New York in the late 1960's. At that time, there was a racing writer in the press box who would book a bet on any horse in any race up until the half-mile pole. And even with that supposed advantage to the bettor, that reporter made more money on the side than he did from his writing.

It just goes to show, even in this day and age when wagering can occur right up to the end of a race, the saying "You bets your money and you takes your chances," still holds as true as ever.