If you’re new to horse racing betting, there are certainly a lot of terminologies that confuse you. Don’t worry; you’re not alone, as beginners are normal. In hindsight, many of these terminologies are confusing, especially the types of bets you can wager on horse racing.
Trifecta? Show bet? What do those words even mean? Luckily for you, this article will discuss the different types of bets you can wager on in horse racing betting. Let’s start with the most common ones.
Straight Bets
Straight bets are the easiest ones. However, their winnings aren’t that high since they are quite easy to win. The first of them are win bets. Win bets are exactly what you think it is. You will have to bet which horse will win the race in this bet. The next is the place bets. This bet requires your horse to finish first or second. And lastly, the show bets require your horse to finish first, second, or third.
Exotic Bets
Exotic bets involve betting on two or more horses in a single race or multiple of them. They’re harder to win as you need to guess the horses that will win and the places they will be. Although they are pretty hard to win, the winnings for exotic bets are lucrative. You can play multiple for these bets if you want to have a bigger chance of winning, but the cost will be higher. Exotic bets are divided into two types: single-race exotics and multi-race exotics.
Exacta Bet
This bet is one of the oldest types of wager in horse racing. In this bet, you will have to select a pair of horses that will win the race in the correct order. The minimum cost for this bet varies from track to track, but usually, they don’t cost more than $2.
If you’ve mastered the straight bets, then this bet should be the one you should master next. Of course, this bet is much harder to win than straight bets, but the payout is huge. If you’re not winning exacta bets, you can opt to box them, which means you can still pick a pair of horses, but you can still win even if it’s not in the correct order.
Trifecta Bet
This bet adds another layer of complexity since you’re not only betting on a pair but three horses in total and still on the right order. It’s exacta but with three horses. If you find it hard to win, you can also box your trifecta bet to give yourself a bigger chance of winning.
Superfecta Bet
And lastly, the Superfecta bet. This one is still like the exacta bets but with four horses this time. This one is perhaps the most complex bet among all the exotic bets since you’re predicting the four winning horses in the correct order. Luckily, you can still box your superfecta bet to increase your chances of winning.
Also, because of the difficulty of this bet, the minimum can be as cheap as 10 cents, allowing bettors to try out combinations for cheap. That said, that’s all for exotic bets. Let’s go for the multi-race exotics.
Multi-Race Exotics
Multi-race exotics, sometimes called horizontal wagers, are exotic multiple bets that involve picking winning horses on multiple consecutive races. It’s a fun way if you want to spend all of your afternoons betting on horses.
Double
Also known as the daily double, doubles require picking two horses you think will win back-to-back races. The minimum cost for betting on this bet is usually a dollar or two.
Pick 3
This time, you’re going to pick three horses that you think will win consecutive races. Much harder to win, but the payout is greater than double. However, the minimum is 50 cents to a dollar.
Pick 4
This is perhaps one of the most popular bets in multi-race exotics. This time, you will have to pick four horses that you think will win consecutive races. But, of course, since it’s much harder to win, the payout will be greater.
Pick 5
Picking five horses for multiple races is hard to win, which is why the payout for this bet is one of the biggest. Some tracks even offer bonuses and jackpots for pick 5 to keep people betting on this wager.
Pick 6
This is to go even further beyond. If you think five is not enough, then picking six would satisfy you. Yes, it’s one of the hardest to win, but the payoff is worth it. They usually also offer jackpot bonuses to make the payout more worth it, as if it already is not big enough.
Final Words
These are the types of bets you can wager on horse betting. If you’re still confused about these explanations, then the next best thing you can do is to try them out. Some of these bets are cheap, while some can be costly. But of course, it depends on how much money you put into them. With all that in mind, good hunting!
