How to Bet on Horse Racing: Tips, Strategies for Betting on DK Horse

VSiN horse racing expert Mike Somich breaks down all you need to know for betting on horse racing on DK Horse.

Watch the videos below for his horse racing 101 betting tips!

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Mike’s Horse Racing 101 Betting Breakdown

Sports Betting vs. Horse Betting

There are some similarities and differences when you’re betting on traditional sports and when you’re betting on horse racing. Some of those key differences include how your bet is actually handled and who you’re competing against.

Example: You want to bet on the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl -1.5 points—you’re betting directly with the sportsbook, and those odds won’t change once your bet is made, even if the odds change closer to game time. It’s the fixed odds market. In horse racing, you are betting into what is called a pari-mutuel market, which is a pool divided by the number of winning tickets. And, because that pool remains open until the start of the race, the odds can dynamically shift based on all the bets that come in, thus changing your potential payout with a winning bet.

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Win, Place & Show Bets

Let’s talk about the three most common bets in horse racing: the win bet, the place bet, and the show bet. A win bet is placing a wager on a horse to cross the finish line first, thus winning the race. With a place bet, you’re picking a horse to finish first or second. A show bet allows you to put a wager on a horse to finish first, second or third.

Of these three bets, a win bet is the highest risk with the highest potential reward. Since only one horse can win a race, you’ll see those odds for each horse to win listed on the DK Horse app and on the tote board. These odds will change dynamically right up until the start of the race.

A place bet offers medium risk with middling rewards, since two horses in the race will pay out to place.

A show bet is a low-risk, low-reward bet with three winning horses in each race.

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Pari-Mutuel Betting

Let’s dive deeper into what a pari-mutuel pool actually is and how it works. Let’s say you want to bet $10 on your horse to win. Now, the odds may be 5 to 1 when you place the bet, but because it’s a pari-mutuel pool, those odds will dynamically change up until the start of the race based on what everyone else is betting as well.

For example, you bet on the 4 at 5 to 1 with 20 minutes before the race begins. If someone else decides to place a large win bet on your 4, then the odds may drop to 3 to 1. This is commonly known as a horse getting bet down.

Conversely, if another bettor places a large bet on the 7 to win, then your odds on the 4 to win may go up from 5 to 1 to 7 to 1. This is referred to as a horse floating up in price.

Because bets are taken right up until the start of the race, the odds will consistently change. Many bettors prefer to wait until there’s just one or two minutes to post so they have a better idea of what the final odds will be of the horse that they want to bet.

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Betting an Exacta

The most common bets in horse racing are win, place and show, but in each race you have what are called exotic bets. The most common exotic bet is the exacta, and it’s exactly what it sounds like. It’s the horses that will run first and second in a specific race.

A key to the exacta bet is that your horses must run in the exact order. If you play a 5 with 3 exacta, then the 5 must win the race and the 3 has to run second for your bet to win.

At most tracks, the base wager for an exacta is $1. It’s important to note that you can play more than one horse in each position, but it will drive up the cost of your ticket.

If you think the 5 horse will win, but the 1, 3 or 7 could run second, then you could play an exacta 5 with 1, 3, 7. In that scenario, the 5 must win the race, but the 1, 3 or 7 could run second. This $1 exacta bet would cost you $3 since you have three separate bets: 5 with 1, 5 with 3, and 5 with 7.

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Betting the Trifecta and Superfecta

When hunting for a huge score in a single race, most people look to the trifecta and the superfecta. The trifecta is picking the top three horses in the exact order of finish. And if that’s not hard enough, the superfecta is picking the top four.

While both of these bets can be very difficult to hit, the payouts get exponentially greater for each horse. At most tracks, the base wager for a trifecta is 50 cents and a superfecta is 10 cents.

Let’s take a look at a recent race. The 8 horse, Roses for Deborah, was the favorite at 3 to 2 and won the race. What really catches the eye are the payouts for the trifecta and superfecta. Even with the favorite winning, a 50-cent trifecta paid $66, or 132 to 1. And the superfecta for 10 cents paid $123.15, or 12315 to 1.

While these are extremely high-risk wagers, the returns can be phenomenal. Like an exacta, you can use more than one horse in each position, but it will make your total ticket cost increase.

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Pick 4, Pick 5 and Pick 6 Wagers

Let’s talk about my favorite wagers at the racetrack: the Pick 4, Pick 5 and Pick 6. These are high-risk, high-reward wagers where you have to select winners in four, five or six consecutive races.

Because these bets include so many races, they’re only offered once or twice at each track each day. You can check your DK Horse app to see when these sequences begin.

With the Pick 4 and the Pick 5, the base wager is 50 cents. Most Pick 6 wagers have a base of either 20 cents or one dollar. Just like daily doubles and Pick 3s, you can have more than one horse in each race, but it will increase the cost of your ticket.

These bets are like larger sports parlays where the difficulty is high, but the payouts can be massive.

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What Does It Mean to “Bet the Box?”

When you’re playing single-race exotic bets like the exacta, trifecta or superfecta, one common term you’re going to hear is a box. But what exactly is a box? When you’re playing an exacta with two horses, it gives you the insurance of either running first and either running second and still cashing your ticket.

For example, you like the 4 and 7 in a race. If you play a 4-7 exacta box, those two horses can finish first and second in either order and you win! A $1 exacta box would cost you $2 since you have two bets: 4 with 7 and 7 with 4.

You can do the same thing with a trifecta. If you play a 3-4-7 trifecta box, then you’ll need those horses to run first, second and third in any order. A $1 trifecta box will cost you $6 since there are six combinations.

A superfecta box for 10 cents will cost you $2.40 since there are 24 possible combinations when boxing four horses to finish first through fourth.

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Understanding Horse Running Styles

When you’re watching a horse race, you’ll notice that some horses go to the front—those are frontrunners. Other horses will drop immediately to the back—those are closers. And some horses will sit mid-pack—those horses are stalkers. Believe it or not, there’s some method to the madness in where these horses want to be during the race, thus the phrase: pace makes the race.

In a race where multiple horses like to have a lead, a fast pace will develop and set up well for closers, who have more energy late than the tiring horses in front of them. In evenly-paced races, stalkers have the advantage—they’re close enough to the front to kick by the leaders and have enough energy late to hold off the closers. When there’s a slow pace with only one horse leading early, that frontrunner has a huge advantage on the field since they get to set the tempo and save energy.

Make sure to pay attention to the pace of the race when betting—it can be a great way to land on a longshot.

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