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HORSE RANCHER	HORSE RACIN’

OVERVIEW

Horse Racing is an equestrian sport that has been practiced over the centuries; the chariot races of Roman times are an early example, as is the contest of the steeds of the god Odin and the giant Hrungnir in Norse mythology. It is inextricably associated with gambling. The common sobriquet for Thoroughbred horse racing is The Sport of Kings. Gambling on horse races is an activity that in 2008 generated a world-wide market worth around US$115 billion. Horse Racing is commonly found in Casinos across the Globe, yet not limited to gaming cities such as Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Horse Racing seems to be on the rise amongst quite a few Gamblers in the United States. You can currently bet on Horse Racing, Dog Racing (Greyhounds), Camel Racing & Ostrich Racing at local Casinos in Mesquite Nevada. These Casinos are the Virgin River Hotel & Casino and the Casablanca Hotel & Resort.

The idea of Horse Track wagering may seem complicated, depending on one’s familiarity with the options. The minimum bet is $2, and it is helpful to ask wagering amount questions to the Sports Book/Mutual Clerk prior to placing a Bet. The following explains some basic wagering options:

TRIFECTA
Top three finishers of the race in exact order.
Trifecta betting requires you to pick the first three finishers in a race in exact order. The payoffs can be excellent if you use sound handicapping principles and wait for value.

The most common trifecta wagers involve boxes and wheels with multiple combinations of horses at a cost of $1 per combination. The minimum amount you can spend on a straight trifecta wager is $2. A $2 straight trifecta bet 2-3-5 would payoff if the first three finishers in the race were 2-3-5 in that exact order.

In horse racing terminology, a trifecta is a parimutuel bet in which the bettor must predict which horses will finish first, second, and third in exact order. The word comes from the related betting term, “perfecta”. A trifecta is known as a tiercé in France and Hong Kong and as a tris in Italy.

It is also used in sports to describe scoring three points at one time (e.g. hat-trick), or succeeding at anything three times in three consecutive attempts, such as in cricket.

EXACTA
Top two finishers of the race in exact order.
Exacta betting differs from fixed-odds betting in that the final payout is not determined until the pool is closed – in fixed odds betting, the payout is agreed at the time the bet is sold.

Parimutuel gambling is frequently state-regulated, and offered in many places where gambling is otherwise illegal. Parimutuel gambling is often also offered at “off track” facilities, where players may bet on the events without actually being present to observe them in person.

SUPERFECTA
The Superfecta is a type of wager in parimutuel betting in which the bettor, in order to win, must pick the first four finishers of a race in the correct sequence. This is even more unlikely than a successful wager in the trifecta, which requires correctly picking the first three finishers in order, and as such will have a correspondingly higher payoff.

Most exotic wagers in horseracing are a 1 dollar minimum. Due to the difficulty of the Superfecta, some racetracks have lowered the minimum on the superfecta to 10 cents. This 10 cent bet is very popular with the fans as it permits a bettor with a small bankroll to cover many combinations and still have a chance for a nice payoff.

Due to the imprecise nature of the name (as opposed to other bets such as the trifecta), superfecta bets can sometimes require selecting more than four horses. For instance, the New South Wales TAB in Australia previously offered a superfecta bet on selected races requiring bettors to pick the first six finishers in the correct order, rather than four.

QUINELLA
In a Quinella, the bettor must pick the two horses that finish first and second, but need not specify which will finish first (similar to an Exacta Box).

BOX
To “Box” a bet, you must use multiple horses taking all likely combinations in that particular bet. If you have decided that two, three, or four horses are the best picks in the race but you are not sure which one will win, run second, third, or fourth the “BOX” may be your best bet.

A BOX can be placed around exotic betting types such as exacta, Trifecta or Superfecta bets. This places a bet for all combinations of the numbers in the box. A Trifecta Box with 3 numbers has 6 possible combinations (of the horses in the ‘box’ 3 can finish first, 2 can finish second, and one can finish third, 3 x 2 x 1) and costs 6 times the betting base amount. A Trifecta Box with 5 numbers has 60 possible combinations and costs 60 times the betting base amount (5 x 4 x 3). In France, a ‘box’ gives only the ordered permutations going along an ordered list of numbers such that a trifecta box with 6 numbers would cost 20 times the base amount

WIN
Horse must come in first.
To succeed and Win the Bet, the bettor must pick the horse that wins the race.

PLACE
Horse must come in first or second.
To succeed and Win the Bet, the bettor must pick a horse that finishes either first or second.

SHOW
Horse must come in first, second or third.
To succeed and Win the Bet, the bettor must pick a horse that finishes first, second or third.

DOUBLE
The bettor must pick the winners of two successive races.
Also referred to as “Daily Double”. the bettor must pick the winners of two successive races (a ‘running’ or ‘rolling’ double); most race tracks in Canada and the United States take double wagers on the first two races on the program (the Daily Double) and on the last two (the Late Double).

PICK 6
A pick 6 is a type of wager offered by horse racing tracks. It requires bettors to select the winners of six consecutive races. Because of the great difficulty in picking six straight winners, plus the number of betting interests involved, payoffs for successful wagers are quite high, sometimes in the millions of dollars.

The pick 6 has its roots in the daily double, the first so-called “exotic” wager offered by horse tracks. To win the daily double, a bettor must pick the winner of two consecutive races, traditionally the first two and the last two races of the program. The pick 6 merely extends this principle. The wager is offered once per program, and is usually offered on six races which conclude with the featured race of the day.

The wager is conducted in parimutuel fashion, with all pick 6 bets going into a separate pool from other kinds of betting. There is one “betting interest” for each available combination, and the number of combinations is equal to the product of the number of runners in all six races. A simplified example: If there are ten horses in each of the six races, then the number of combinations is 10 × 10 × 10 × 10 × 10 × 10, or 1,000,000.

The pick 6 wager actually has two payoffs, one for bettors who pick all six winners, and a smaller payoff for those who pick five out of six. The total pick 6 betting pool is divided by percentage between the two payouts, along the lines of 75% for the six-winner pool and 25% for the five-winner pool.

Because of the sheer difficulty of successfully choosing six straight winners, plus the large number of betting interests, it is common for there to be no winning wager on all six races. When that happens, the six-winner portion of the pool carries over to the following program, and continues to carry over until it is won. This allows the “carryover pool” to grow to large sums, and tracks usually publicize the fact that their carryover pool has grown to six or seven figures. The five-winner pool is paid out each day, however; if no bettors have chosen five out of six winners, then those who have chosen four winners are paid, or even just three winners (which has happened when a series of longshots have won races). The pick 6 pool is also paid out in its entirety on a designated date, such as the last day of a race meet or a day with a guaranteed minimum pool; if there are no six-winner tickets, then the pool is split among five-winner tickets.

Because of the huge number of betting interests involved, bettors will often try to increase their chances of winning by selecting multiple combinations. This can be costly — a bettor who wants to cover two horses in each race muct bet on 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 combinations, or 64 combinations, times $2 for each for a total of $128. This method is called “boxing horses,” and is also used with other wagers such as a trifecta or superfecta.

The most successful punters invariably use a multiple ticket strategy combined with one or more singles (legs in which they have only selected a single runner). They have in effect constructed multiple scenarios many of which they know in advance will lose. The point being that with each successive leg, as the exotic pick 6 pool sheds tickets, they have several tickets that are still “live” and have a chance of winning the bet or percentage thereof (in some countries e.g. South Africa, punters are allowed to play a percentage of the bet making it cheaper than in the US where a single line is a minimum of $2). Several punters construct these multiple combinations manually and others use pick six software to assist in the process of construction. The critical components of any strategy invariably revolve around handicapping correctly (picking the contenders) and correctly constructing multiple ticket combinations.

FURLONG
A unit of distance used in horse racing equal to 1/8 of a mile or 220 yards.

SCRATCH
In horse racing, a horse that has been withdrawn from a race before the start. Wagers on this horse are voided.

HANDICAPS
Tip sheets are prepared by professional handicappers who offer their opinions about the horses scheduled for a race. It may not be as fun as trying to wager bets based on favorite names and/or a range of other horse selection rituals, the tip sheet is a helpful tool to share with guests of your event, as it may help increase their chances of winning.

It probably goes without saying, but one of the more successful ways to win is by wagering on the favorite, which will be the horse with the lowest odds or the horse that has the most money wagered.

CLICK HERE for a complete list of Horse Racing Tracks in both the US, as well as Canada.