Horse Betting 101
Written by RaceBook.com
Fri, 6 Jun 2008
Category sportsbook
Feedback Rating - no votes
So the race is starting in a few minutes, you’ve got the webpage loaded up and the piece of paper with the horse’s name you want to be on, and then you realize, “I’ve never bet on horse race before”….don’t worry, we’ve all been there. For some of us, that moment happened at the window at the track, and for many it took place online.
This is a quick guide to wagering on horse racing, basically “Racing 101”
First off, there are many, many options open to the horse bettor.
Once you have logged in, and clicked your way through to the track you want to be at, you’ll see the odds for each of the horses in the upcoming races.
You’ll see odds on every horse scheduled to run, but those odds are always changing, based on the wagering volume. It is the bettors who determine what odds a horse will end up with (this is called pari-mutuel betting). So keep an eye on the board at all times before making your wager.
Odds are based on a $2 win wager. A horse listed at 5-1 would pay approximately $12 ($5 for each dollar bet plus you get your $2 back).
As you can surmise, the higher the odds on a horse, the better your payout will be. if you wagered on the 12-1 horse to win and that horse came in for you, you’d collect approximately $26.
The most common wager is to bet a horse to either Win, Place, or Show.
The Win bet means you are betting the horse to win the race. If they don’t come in first, there is no payout.
The Place bet means you are betting the horse will come in either first or second.
The Show bet means the horse can come in first, second or third and you will receive a payout (although considerably less than if you bet to Win)
There are also wagers available that are termed as “Exotics”. These are bets that allow you to choose the order of finishers in either one race, or covering several races.
These are the common “Exotic” wagers”
Exacta: You need to choose the horses that will finish first and second in the correct order.
Trifecta: You need to correctly select the horses that will finish in first, second and third in order. Obviously this results in a bigger payoff than the Exacta.
Superfecta: One step up from the Trifecta is the Superfecta. Add a horse on to the end and choose the first four horses in a race, in their correct finishing order.
Exacta Box: Choose three horses and this covers all the combinations of who will finish in first spot and second. There are six possibilities, meaning a $2 exacta box will cost $12.
Trifecta Box: The same as above, but you are covering all combinations of the top three finishers in correct order. There are still six possibilities, so a $2 trifecta box will cost $12.
That should get you comfortably started.