How To Place A Bet On Horse Racing

Betting on a horse race for the first time — even the first few times — can be an intimidating endeavor. What are all of these options? Here's all the lingo you need to know before you place your first bet:

In a win/place bet, you're betting your horse to win AND place. If he wins, you collect both the win and place money. If he finishes second, you collect just the place money. In a place/show bet, you're betting that your horse will place and show. This is the simplest way to bet in horse racing. Win = If the horse you bet wins the race, you win money. This bet is only split among those that have bet the winner. Place = If the horse you bet wins the race or finishes second, you cash a ticket. This bet is split among those that have bet the winner or second place finisher. The 'place bet' in horse racing betting is a wager that any one horse is going to finish in the top two of a race. In this case, you'll said to be 'betting on the horse to place'. The place bet, along with the win bet and the show bet, is considered a 'straight bet'. All other parimutuel wagers are considered exotic bets.

The Basics

Winbet – A bet on a horse to finish first.

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Place bet – A bet on a horse to finish first or second.

Show bet – A bet on a horse to finish in the money; third or better.

In the money – A horse that finishes first, second, or third.

Across the board – A bet on a horse to win, place, and show. If the horse wins, the bettor collects three ways; if second, two ways (place, show); and if third, one way, losing the win and place bets. It's actually three bets.

Morning line – The odds that the track handicapper predicts a horse will go off at.

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Exotic (bet) – Any bet other than win, place, or show that requires multiple combinations. Is full tilt poker rigged. Examples of exotic wagers are exacta, trifecta, Pick 6, Pick 4.

Daily Double (or Double) – Type of bet calling for the selection of winners of two consecutive races.

Exacta – A wager in which the first two finishers in a race, in exact order of finish, must be picked.

Box – A betting term denoting a combination bet whereby all possible numeric combinations are covered for certain horses.

Exacta box – A wager in which all possible combinations using a given number of horses are selected. For example, an exacta box using horses 2,4,6 would produce a winning ticket if any two of those three horses finished first and second, regardless of the order (2-6, 4-2, 6-4, etc.).

Trifecta – A bet in which the first three finishers must be selected in exact order.

Trifecta box – A trifecta wager in which all possible combinations using a given number of horses are bet upon.

Pick (6 or other number) – A type of multi-race bet in which the winners of all the included races must be selected. Pick 3, Pick 4, Pick 5, Pick 6 are commonly used by tracks in the United States.

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Bounce – A racehorse's especially poor performance on the heels of an especially good one.

Chalk – Betting favorite in a race.

Chalk player – Gambler who wagers on favorites.

Key horse – A single horse used in multiple combinations in an exotic bet.

On the board – Finishing among the first three.

On the nose – Betting a horse to win only.

Overlay – A horse whose odds are greater than its potential to win. Professional bettors target overlays, meaning they target bets that offer better than fair value odds.

Underlay – A horse whose odds are less than than his potential to win. Betting horses whose odds are worse than fair value is a poor strategy.

Parlay – A multi-race bet in which all winnings are subsequently wagered on a succeeding race.

Speed Figure – A metric that rates a horse's performance in a race, which is determined by a combination of the horse's performance and the level of competition he/she competed against.

Wheel – Betting all possible combinations in an exotic wager using at least one horse as the key.

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Place - Your horse must come in first or second.

Next to the win bet, the Place wager is one of the oldest and most traditional. With a place wager, your horse must finish first or second. The wager pays the same whether your horse wins or not.

Place and Show bets are much more conservative , as you are giving yourself room for error since your horse can finish first or second, or first, second or third in case of show. However this means that the payoffs are a bit lower since you are sharing the place payoff with another horse or two. They are are most commonly used along with other wagers, such as 'win and place', 'across the board' or 'win, place, and show', or 'place and show'.

Place payoffs and results
Place payoffs typically pay between $3.00 and $10.00, but can pay more with longshots and less with overwhelming favorites. Since the money you win in a place bet is generated by all of the money bet on the losing horses, the more horses in the race the greater your chances for a larger place payoff.

Reading the Tote Board
One important distinction is that the Place pool is an entirely different pool than Win. This means that horses may be bet differently in each of the pools. In a place wager, because you don't know which other horse will place, it is difficult to predict your potential place payoffs. But, by comparing the place dollars to the win dollars, you can check the percentage of dollars on your horse to place.

For example, looking at the #1 horse below, we can see that he has approximately 10% of the win pool, with $2,011/$20,000 = 10%. If we use the Win odds to as a yardstick, we would expect that the #1 would have about 10% of the Place pool bet on him, or $1,000 of the $10,000 Place pool. However, we can see that #1 has only $622 bet to place, or closer to 6% of the pool. This means that the #1 is paying better odds in the Place pool. The #1 is 8-1 to Win, but he is being bet like a 14-1 in the Place pool and will pay more accordingly.

Across the board – A bet on a horse to win, place, and show. If the horse wins, the bettor collects three ways; if second, two ways (place, show); and if third, one way, losing the win and place bets. It's actually three bets.

Morning line – The odds that the track handicapper predicts a horse will go off at.

Ready for the Next Step?

Exotic (bet) – Any bet other than win, place, or show that requires multiple combinations. Is full tilt poker rigged. Examples of exotic wagers are exacta, trifecta, Pick 6, Pick 4.

Daily Double (or Double) – Type of bet calling for the selection of winners of two consecutive races.

Exacta – A wager in which the first two finishers in a race, in exact order of finish, must be picked.

Box – A betting term denoting a combination bet whereby all possible numeric combinations are covered for certain horses.

Exacta box – A wager in which all possible combinations using a given number of horses are selected. For example, an exacta box using horses 2,4,6 would produce a winning ticket if any two of those three horses finished first and second, regardless of the order (2-6, 4-2, 6-4, etc.).

Trifecta – A bet in which the first three finishers must be selected in exact order.

Trifecta box – A trifecta wager in which all possible combinations using a given number of horses are bet upon.

Pick (6 or other number) – A type of multi-race bet in which the winners of all the included races must be selected. Pick 3, Pick 4, Pick 5, Pick 6 are commonly used by tracks in the United States.

Brush Up on Gambling Lingo

How To Win A Bet On Horse Racing

Bounce – A racehorse's especially poor performance on the heels of an especially good one.

Chalk – Betting favorite in a race.

Chalk player – Gambler who wagers on favorites.

Key horse – A single horse used in multiple combinations in an exotic bet.

On the board – Finishing among the first three.

On the nose – Betting a horse to win only.

Overlay – A horse whose odds are greater than its potential to win. Professional bettors target overlays, meaning they target bets that offer better than fair value odds.

Underlay – A horse whose odds are less than than his potential to win. Betting horses whose odds are worse than fair value is a poor strategy.

Parlay – A multi-race bet in which all winnings are subsequently wagered on a succeeding race.

Speed Figure – A metric that rates a horse's performance in a race, which is determined by a combination of the horse's performance and the level of competition he/she competed against.

Wheel – Betting all possible combinations in an exotic wager using at least one horse as the key.

Get up to a $500 New Member Bonus

BUSR is the best site to bet on horses. Why? Because, all new members will get up to a $500 bonus for joining and you can also qualify for an extra $150 bonus!

Start your horse betting with BUSR today!

Place - Your horse must come in first or second.

Next to the win bet, the Place wager is one of the oldest and most traditional. With a place wager, your horse must finish first or second. The wager pays the same whether your horse wins or not.

Place and Show bets are much more conservative , as you are giving yourself room for error since your horse can finish first or second, or first, second or third in case of show. However this means that the payoffs are a bit lower since you are sharing the place payoff with another horse or two. They are are most commonly used along with other wagers, such as 'win and place', 'across the board' or 'win, place, and show', or 'place and show'.

Place payoffs and results
Place payoffs typically pay between $3.00 and $10.00, but can pay more with longshots and less with overwhelming favorites. Since the money you win in a place bet is generated by all of the money bet on the losing horses, the more horses in the race the greater your chances for a larger place payoff.

Reading the Tote Board
One important distinction is that the Place pool is an entirely different pool than Win. This means that horses may be bet differently in each of the pools. In a place wager, because you don't know which other horse will place, it is difficult to predict your potential place payoffs. But, by comparing the place dollars to the win dollars, you can check the percentage of dollars on your horse to place.

For example, looking at the #1 horse below, we can see that he has approximately 10% of the win pool, with $2,011/$20,000 = 10%. If we use the Win odds to as a yardstick, we would expect that the #1 would have about 10% of the Place pool bet on him, or $1,000 of the $10,000 Place pool. However, we can see that #1 has only $622 bet to place, or closer to 6% of the pool. This means that the #1 is paying better odds in the Place pool. The #1 is 8-1 to Win, but he is being bet like a 14-1 in the Place pool and will pay more accordingly.

This is like bargain shopping, when we get the value of a larger payoff when it 'should' offer a lesser payoff. The 'should' is based on the assumption that the Win odds are more correct that the Place odds. This is a logical assumption, however, since the Win odds are easier to see and more attention is paid to them, it is more likely that the Win odds are a truer reflection of the horse's chances. Keep in mind that if the #1 wins he will still pay more to win than to place (because Place has to be divided with another horse), but the #1 is a good value in the Place pool. In this case, it might make sense to bet the #1 only to Place.