WAGERING STRATEGIES AND MONEY MANAGEMENT
They say the three key components in French cooking are butter, butter and butter while the three “L's” in real estate are location, location, location. Well, when betting on horse racing or any type of gambling for that matter, the only letter that matters is V and it doesn’t stand for victory. It stands for VALUE.
Now, I’m not going to start chest thumping about how I never bet a favorite and you shouldn’t either. The fact is, favorites win approximately a third of the races that are run and at some point everyone has bet on them. Now, maybe betting them to win isn’t always prudent, but in this day and age, there are so many types of wagers that can help you turn a favorite into value, that many of the old racetrack mantras involving favorites are falling by the wayside.
Still, you must always command value for your wagering dollar. Like I said there are many ways to try and do that nowadays. Exotic wagers are becoming more and more popular every day. There are two types of exotic wagers. They are:
SINGLE RACE – These are best like exactas, trifectas and superfectas.
MULTI RACE – These are bets like daily doubles, pick threes, pick fours and pick sixes.
One of the more popular ways to attack single race exotics is by making a box. For example, say you have narrowed a race down to two horses, the numbers 1 and 2. A traditional exacta would force you to decide who you like best and play it one way. In a box, you have it both ways. It doubles your investment but gives you another way to win. Below is a breakdown of what a box costs containing a certain number of horses. These figures are based on a $1 wager.
| EXACTA BOXES |
| 2 horse box = |
$2 |
| 3 horse box = |
$6 |
| 4 horse box = |
$12 |
| 5 horse box = |
$20 |
| 6 horse box = |
$30 |
The same can be done with trifectas, but it gets a bit more costly. Trifecta boxes cost much more than exacta boxes when you start adding horses in because you have to select the third place finisher as well. Again, these are based on a $1 wager.
| TRIFECTA BOXES |
| 3 horse box = |
$6 |
| 4 horse box = |
$24 |
| 5 horse box = |
$60 |
| 6 horse box = |
$120 |
| 7 horse box = |
$210 |
Again, I feel that seven, or even six horses is stretching it but that’s me. Thankfully, boxing isn’t the only way to go about spreading out you wager and covering more bases. Keys are popular as well.
When you make an exacta or trifecta key, you’re focusing in on one horse that you think will win, your “key” horse, and playing him over several others. Exacta keys are simple. Based on a $1 wager, one horse keyed over two others cost $2, one horse keyed over three others cost 43 and so on.
In the trifectas, it can not only be more wallet-friendly than boxing but keying gives you much more coverage in the underneath slots should you be correct in picking the winner. Again, based on a $1 wager.
| TRIFECTA KEYS |
|
| 1 horse over 2 = |
$2 |
| 1 horse over 3 = |
$6 |
| 1 horse over 4 = |
$12 |
| 1 horse over 5 = |
$20 |
| 1 horse over 6 = |
$30 |
| 1 horse over 7 = |
$42 |
I’m far more likely to key a horse than I would be to box a few. If you don’t think the favorite will win, I suggest making a key and to use as many horses underneath you like or can afford to use. If you’re right and can get the chalk out of the trifecta all together you could be in for a windfall.
In multi-race wagers, a part-wheel is the most popular way to get bang for your buck. You can make part-wheels in single race wagers as well but I feel it’s a far more effective tool in pick threes and pick fours. Figuring out how much a part-wheel costs is simple.
Say you’re making a pick four ticket and like a different number of horses in each race. For example, I made a pick four ticket a few weeks ago that looked like this:
2,5,9 with 4 with 1,4 with 1,5,8,9
To figure out the cost of the ticket, I simply multiplied the amount of horses I had in each race. So based on a $1 wager, it would break down like this:
3 X 1 X 2 X 4 = $24
It’s that simple.
Of course, the amount of money you plan on gambling for the day can greatly affect the amount of horses you can use in a bet, whether it’s a single race or multi race wager. Also, exotic wagering isn’t for everyone and that decision is up to you.
Old school racetrackers who still remember the days of good old win-place-and show wagering will tell you that at least 80% of the money you’re wagering on a race should be bet to win on the horse you like best. Only after that can you “waste” your money on exotic wagers. Again, that depends on you.
Another axiom you’ll hear countless times is that you can beat a race but you can’t beat the races. I used to discount that as rubbish but am becoming more and more of a believer as I get older. Still, who goes to the track or to OTB to watch the horses run? I will almost always make a nominal wager on a race just to have a rooting interest but there are times where I’ll horde my money in the hopes of making one big kill in a certain race.