How to Bet on Horse Racing

Horse Racing is one of the time honored traditions of American sports betting. To effectively bet on horse racing, you first have to understand the types of wagers offered. Also, the different types of betting.

Know Your Bets

Every sport has its own rules, so every sport has its own types of bets you can place. Here are the types you’ll need to know for horse racing…

Straight Bet: Also known as a single or a “Win bet”. The simplest, and most common. Place your bet on your favorite horse, and collect if your horse comes in first.

Place: With a place bet, you collect whether your horse comes in first or second.

Show: You collect if your horse comes in first, second, or third. Of course, you stand to win less and less money between a straight bet, a place, and a show.

Combination Bet: Pick anywhere from two to four horses to win in chosen order. Your return depends on the accuracy of your prediction.

Pick 3: Pick the winners of three races in a row. Depending on who you’re betting with, you can either pick three at once, or pick one at the beginning of each race.

Pick 4
Same as the pick 3 but you must successfully pick the winners of four consecutive races. This is a relatively new bet and not all tracks offer it.

Pick 6: This wager requires the player to select the winner of six consecutive races prior to the first race of the pick six. Some tracks place the pick six as the first six races, the middle six races, or the last six races. Many tracks have carry over pools for the pick six that can grow to as high as a million dollars.

Quinella (AKA, Reverse Forecast): Pick two horses to finish in the first two places, in either order.

Perfecta/Exacta/Straight Forecast: Pick the two winning horses, but they must cross in the order you predicted for you to collect.

Trifecta: Same as Perfecta, but with three horses.

Superfecta: With this bet you must pick the first four finishing horses in the order of their finish. In other words, you must pick the horse that wins, the horse that finishes second, third, and fourth.

Daily Double: Pick the winners of the first two races of the day. You must place your bet before the first race begins.

ACROSS THE BOARD
This is a quick and easy way to say that I want to play my horse in all three positions. ($2 Across The Board = $2 to win, $2 to place, and $2 to show). If the horse wins you collect all three bets. If the horse finishes 2nd then you collect the place and show bets. If the horse finishes 3rd then you will only collect the show bet.
Now that you know what type of bets you will be making you must decide how much you want to risk for the whole day. It is suggested that you separate the money you want to play with from the money you want to take home. This way, win or lose you can find the enjoyment that makes thoroughbred horse racing one of the most popular spectator sports in the world!

Jackpot: Pick the first place winners of six races to share in the jackpot. The jackpot prize may be a sum of money or other prizes, depending on the particular track.

Beyond understanding the bets you can place, all you really need is the betting savvy that comes with experience. Place a few bets, and you’ll start developing an instinct for how to more accurately predict races,

You can bet on horse races online at any number of betting websites, but if you get a chance, nothing really beats seeing the race live, chatting with fellow enthusiasts, and being right there as it happens.

Parlay or Accumulator: A multiple bet. A kind of ‘let-it-ride’ bet. Making simultaneous selections on two or more races with the intent of pressing the winnings of the first win on the bet of the following race selected, and so on. All the selections made must win for you to win the parlay. If a race is a tie, postponed or cancelled, your parlay is automatically reduced by one selection; a double parlay becomes a straight bet, a triple parlay becomes a double. A parlay bet can yield huge dividends if won.

Future: A bet on a future event. At the start of each season, the sportsbooks give out odds for horses to win a certain event. The odds change as the race date approaches and in most cases get shorter, but if you win you get paid at the original odds that you took. This is possibly one of the most profitable bets if you have considerable knowledge of the race that you are betting on including the jockeys, and a good sense of judgement.

Exotic Bets: Betting on unusual events. Some sports books post odds and take bets on a wide variety of other sports related events and activities. A few others will take bets on just about anything you can think of.

Examples of these are the Exacta, Quinella Trifecta, Daily Double, Superfecta and Daily Triple/Pick 3. Needless to say, these wagers are all more difficult than WIN, PLACE or SHOW because they require multiple selections to finish in the proper order.

Boxing horses in exotics
A “box” Is when you use multiple horses taking all possible combinations in that particular bet. If you have determined that two, three, or four horses are the best in the race but you are not sure which one will win, run second, third, or fourth the “box” may be your best bet.
Example: A $1 dollar superfecta box using the 1-2-3-4-5. This means four of your five horses must finish in the top four to be a winner. Same example applies to Exacta (top two finishers) & Trifectas (top three finishers)

Keying horses in exotics
A “key” is when you use a single horse to win, run second, or third using multiple horses in front of him or behind him.
Example: A $1 dollar pick 3, the 2 horse with the 3-4-5 with the 3-4-5-6. This means the 2 horse must win the first leg of your pick 3 either the 3-4 or 5 must win the second leg and the 3-4-5 or 6 must win the third leg to win your bet. Same concept applies to exactas, Daily doubles, trifectas, superfectas, and pick 4’s.

Wheeling horses in exotics
A wheel is when you use a single horse in a position with multiple horses finishing ahead or in some cases behind the horse your wheeling. In many cases a “wheel” and a “key” can be considered the same thing
Example: A $2 dollar Exacta, the 1 horse with the 2-3-4. This means the 1 horse must win the race and the 2,3,or 4 must run second to win the bet. Another example might be a $2 dollar Exacta the 2-3-4 horse with the 1 this means the 2,3,or 4 must win and the 1 must run second. The same theory applies when betting Trifectas, Superfectas and multi race exotics.

Part wheels
Part wheels are offered at a $1 minimum bet per combination — $2 minimum total cost. Part wheels are when you use multiple horses in different positions
Example: A $1 dollar Trifecta part wheel the 1-2 horse with 1-2-3 with 1-2-3-4-5 this means the 1 or 2 must win the race the 1-2-3 must run second and the 1-2-3-4-5 must finish third for the bet to win. Same theory applies to the exacta and Superfecta. A part wheel can be used in the pick 3’s and 4’s but obviously the hoses used must win the race.

Proposition Bet or Prop Bet: An offer of bets at odds and conditions chosen by the sportsbook, usually on ‘Exotic’ bets.

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