If you’ve hesitated about getting involved in wagering on horse races because you don’t understand the various bets available, look no further. It’s not as foreign a language as it may seem, and you’ll be staking and winning big before you can say NAP!
Win, Place, Show
These are incredibly simple bets. All you need to do is pick a horse and if they finish in the position you predicted, you win. If you pick a horse to Win, they’ll have to end the race in the first position, and if you choose the Place, your pick ending up as either the winner or the first runner-up will see you collecting a return. The Show bet includes the animal to finish third.
These bets can be made in any combination, singly or grouped together, and are a great way for beginners to start exploring how much fun staking on the ponies can be.
Exotic Betting
These are wagers that allow you to include more than one outcome to win, so you won’t be staking on just one horse here. Different forms of Exotic bets have different conditions and parameters, but they’ll all need to be met for you to win your money.
- Exacta
This bet includes two horses to finish in a single race, like the Quinella, but it doesn’t
matter which order they arrive in. Choose one animal to get first place, one to come
second, and if they arrive like that you’ll collect.
- Quinella
This wager includes two horses to finish the same race in either first or second place. It doesn’t matter which of your two picks comes first and which comes second. As long as they finish in the top two positions you’re good.
- Trifecta
Similarly to the Exacta, punters making a Trifecta bet will need to choose horses races to place in
all three of the top positions in the first race, as the name indicates. Your picks will need to
finish in exact order.
- Superfecta
This wager is like the Trifecta on steroids! Instead of choosing only the three top horses,
you’ll add the fourth place to the mix, and they’ll have to finish in the exact order
you guessed for you to win.
- Daily Double
A Daily Double asks you to choose the winner of two successive races, usually the first two of the day or the last two. Certain parks will make this bet available throughout the day, however, so just remember to check availability on this one.
- Pick 3
The Pick 3 closely resembles the Daily Double, but it covers three races in succession instead of just two.
- Wheel Betting
Wheel wagers use all the above bet types, but let you stake on more horses than the original stake calls for.
So, for example, if you feel sure that Horse No. 2 will win, but you aren’t certain whether Horse No. 4 or Horse No. 9 will take second place, you could make a Wheel stake for an Exacta. This means that whichever horse comes second, No. 4 or No. 9, you’ll win.
