For as long as there have been horseraces, gambling has followed suit in tandem with them. Subsequently, different types of horseracing bets have emerged over the years, which vary according to the wagering style that the bettor prefers.
If you are a horseracing newbie, you might find it difficult to fully immerse yourself in the wagering process without first grasping how the betting works. After you have familiarised yourself with various betting types, you will in a position to determine which bets fit in best with your unique style of wagering.
While there are several known betting types, all bets generally fall within two main categories: straight wagers and exotic wagers.
Straight Wagers
Straight bets involve just a single horse. However, you can place multiple bets on that same horse in a single race, as well as make numerous straight bets in the race.
There are three popular types of straight bets:
1. Win
This is the most popular straight bet and is governed by the odds that are attached to each horse. Should a horse be listed at 10-1, this will refer to its odds of winning. To select a winning horse, you will need to analyse the entire field and choose the one that you deem stands a better chance against the others.
Since win bet is the most difficult straight wager, it subsequently pays more than the others. The larger the pool of horses competing, the bigger your reward will be should your horse end up winning.
2. Place
By betting on place, you will win should your horse come first or second in a race. Choosing a horse to place gives you some leeway and a greater chance to walk away with a profit. Selecting horses to place requires bettors to analyse the race. Those punters who can visualise the race can notice things such as a horse sneaking up into the second position even if it didn’t have the same talent as others in the race.
3. Show
Show wagers are probably the easiest of all horseracing bets to win but also have expectedly lower payouts. If you bet on a horse to show, you are predicting it will cross the finish line in either first, second or third place. This is the preferred bet for beginners and those who seek above-average chances of getting at least something in return.
Exotic Wagers
Exotic wagers are often difficult to hit, although they pay phenomenal sums on the wins. There are five popular types of exotic bets:
1. Exacta
Exacta bets revolve around predicting the first two horses that will cross the finish line, in exact order. Exacta bets are considered the easiest of the exotic wagers and carry the best payout/winnability balance.
2. Trifecta
Trifecta is a difficult bet that requires you to predict the order of finish for the first three horses to cross the line. At the level of trifecta bets, your horse selection techniques need to be well-honed, and you need to be able to anticipate the progression of the entire race.
3. Superfecta
To win a superfecta bet, you will need to predict the first four horses to cross the line in the order of finish. While the previous two bets revolved mainly around skill, superfecta is dependent on luck too, since even the top handicappers might find it difficult to predict the score here.
4. Daily Double
To win a daily double bet, you need to predict the winners of two races in a row. Bettors tend to find daily double an approachable betting type since you are focusing on a single clear-cut winner instead of a group of horses.
5. Pick 3
The payouts for pick 3 are relatively high. Pick 3 requires the bettor to predict the winning horses for three consecutive races. To encourage betting for these complicated bets, tracks offer incentives to make it worth the bettors’ efforts. These include guaranteeing a certain amount of payout, regardless of how much money has gone into the pool for that specific wager on a particular day.
Once you grasp these basic betting types, you will be able to approach specific races with more confidence. It will also remove the mystery and the unknows that you might have had regarding the betting process. From there, it’s just a matter of making the right picks so that you can collect the most winnings.
