How to Place Horse Race Bets

If you want to try your hand at the horse races, knowing how to evaluate handicapping information and other statistics is important to making good horse race bets. Some skilled players use a lot of intuitive techniques, while others stick strictly to the numbers. As you gain more experience, you'll undoubtedly come up with your own criteria, but in the meantime, here are some guidelines for how to make good horse race bets:

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Bet on horses that have placed in the top 3 during their past few races, provided those races took place within the last 6 to 8 weeks. If it's been longer than 8 weeks since a horse's last race, he may not be in top condition. Making the right horse race bets involves evaluating a horse's recent performance, not just his lifetime wins.

2. Avoid placing bets on horses ridden by jockeys who have less than a 3% win record in the past year. Making prudent horse race bets also involves evaluating the combination of a horse and jockey. Your best chance of winning is an excellent horse and an excellent jockey together.

3. Consider a horse's maximum speed in recent races if you find that multiple contenders have similar win records. This can help you further narrow the field to choose the horse that is most likely to win a given race.

4. Choose what type of bet you want to place. For beginners, it's easiest to make a good horse race bet with straight bets. You can typically choose from win, place, and show bets, and you bet in minimum increments of two dollars. If you place a "win" bet, you only collect if the horse you choose comes in first. For a "place" bet, you'll win a specific multiple of your initial bet if your pick comes in first or second. Finally, a "show" bet means that you'll collect the show payoff if your horse places in the top 3. You can also place what's called an "across the board" bet where you bet on a single horse in all three categories (win, place, and show). This type of bet costs a minimum of $6 ($2 per category).

5. If you want to place an exotic bet with a potentially higher payout, bet an exacta, trifecta, or quinella. An exacta is when you pick the first and second place horses, in the correct order. A trifecta is the same, except you pick the first, second, and third place horses. Finally, a quinella is similar to an exacta, except you pick two horses to finish first and second, but they don't have to place in order.

6. Box your bets to increase your chances of winning. Boxing the bet simply means making multiple bets to cover all the possibilities. If you think the odds are good, for example, that your numbers 1 and 2 will definitely place first and second, you can place a boxed exacta bet that covers a first place win by horse A, and a second place win by horse B, OR, a win by horse B and second place by horse A.
   
   Why choose a boxed exacta over a quinella? It all depends on the potential payout. Your boxed exacta will costs you double a quinella bet, but the payout is probably higher.
   
   The key to making winning horse race bets is to balance the amount you spend per bet, against the likelihood of the horse(s) winning AND the payoff amount if your pick does win.

[Spokevin]

on 5/14/2009 that is right.