Horse Racing Explained

Posted at September 3rd, 2010 Add your comment

Horse racing is a fast paced sport event enjoyed by millions worldwide. For those less privileged and who cannot make it to the race themselves, can place their horse wagers at an online bookmaker.

In the last decades the types of bets offered in horse racing have gotten more and more complex. As a gambler it is therefore very important that you understand the system before placing your wager. All horses who run in a race have numbers assigned to them each decided by the track and players should use these numbers when placing their wagers.

For beginners it is good to get used to the many horse racing terms used in online horse wagering as this will make it easier to understand horse racing betting as a whole. For instance Scratches are all the horses that are not competing and who have been withdrawn from the race prior to the start of the race. All players who have placed any bets on a scratched horse will have their wagers refunded. Or the term Across the Board which is the term used to explain a bet on a horse to win, place and show. These type of pools are frequently offered in the US races.

Selecting a Betting Strategy

To be able to make a judgement on what type of bet to wager, understanding the value of the odds given and the prices of the odds can be a complicated task. When betting on horse races the player must gather and analyse all information before placing a wager on the event.

The Horse Racing Odds

Odds on horse races can change abruptly the closer to the start of the race it gets and as the odds is the calculation of how much one horse would pay to win one race, it may come across as odd to many players however this is simply the collected money that are being wagered which is gathered and divided into something called Pools. The Pool is where they hold the money that are wagered on each type of bet. The Pool is then calculated and a certain percentage is taken away from the pool due to tax purposes in the jurisdiction where that particular race is being held. The minimum bet allowed is usually $1.

Odds against are the odds where the chosen horse has less than a 50/50 chance to win a race. If this horse wins against the odds then the player will receive the amount wagered plus that wager multiplied with the odds against it. Odds against look like this: 2/1 and 50/1 for example. Even bets are the ones where the chosen horse has a 50/50 chance of winning the race and if the horse proceed and win the race the player will receive the initial wager back doubled. Odds on is when the horse selected has more than 50/50 chances of winning a race and these odds will look like this: 1/2 or 3/10 for example. These odds will pay the initial wager plus the your wager multiplied with the odds on. There are also Long Odds and Short Odds in horse racing and they are simply referring to the chances the selected horse has to win, in the case of long, it has little chance and in the case of short a very good chance of winning the race.

The Horse Form

By studying the horse form which it is called you are reading up on the facts and information of each particular horse you wish to wager on. The form can be any number of given things such as if the horse has won any races, if it has won on that race track before etc down to the condition of the horses trainer. Each of which will help determine on which horse to place your wager for.

The Type of bets

Straight betting and exotic betting have change rapidly in the last few years. In the early eighties the majority of players wagered on straight bets however this has changed completely and today the exotic bets such as the exactas or quinellas are the most common wagers that players will wager on.

Straight bets are straight forward and made up of Win, Place, and Show. When placing a wager on a Win you are indeed guessing that this particular horse will win the event. Place is wager where the horse is allowed to come in either first or second. This type of wager will pay less than the Win. Show gives three possible outcomes and will allow the horse selected to come in either first second or third. This is the least well paid wager however it also provide the player with two more chances at winning.

Exotic wagers, come in a range of different multiple bets, the first exotic wager available in online horse wagering was the Daily Double, this type of wager is simply selecting the winning horse for two consecutive races the same day.

The Exacta wager allows a player to select the first two finishing horses in a race and this wager will win if the horses selected come in first and second. A variety of the Exacta wager is the Quinella wager where you must also pick the first and second horse to finish in no particular order. In the Quinella wager any of the two horses selected can come in either first or second giving the player a win simply for picking two horses to finish.

The Trifecta wager is the Exacta but with one more added horse. Placing a Trifecta wager the player is betting on the horse to finish first, second and third in that exact order. Superfecta wagers are bets which give the player an option to pick 4 of the finishing horses. The Superfecta wager is not that commonly offered at race tracks. One thing to keep in mind with the Superfecta is that it can be difficult to determine the finishing line of so many horses and players with less experience can actually lose money on this type of wager.

In Pick 3 wagers players are effectively selecting the horse to win in three races followed by each other. This can be the first races of the day or the last but they have to be consecutive. There are also wagers that are called Pick 4 and Pick 6 in which the player must pick the four or six horses that will win the race in four or six consecutive races.

In exotic wagering or multi horse and multi race wagering players have to give more effort when choosing and analysing their bets than in straight betting and the outcome can sometimes be tricky due to incorrect pools calculations as these types of bets are rising in popularity and many start jump start right into exotic wagering before making their own proper calculations and assumptions. Therefore these can be quite risky type of bets and it is advisable if you have less experience to wager on a horse that has middle odds. This will ensure that you do not lose too much money by choosing the wrong horse.

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