Online Sports Betting- How to Bet On Horse Racing

Horse racing has been referred to as the Sport of Kings. This sport could also be called one of the most exciting ways to gamble. All the top-rated online sportsbooks such as HRWager also offer a way to bet on the races through their online racebook.

Covering more than 75 race tracks across North America and around the world in racing venues from the UK to Australia and Japan, there is always some daily action on the board. Online racebooks offer the same betting options as live tracks based on the betting odds for each race on that day’s card.

Raging from basic bets to exotics, there are any number of ways to cash in on a few winning tickets.

Betting Win-Place-Show

The most basic bet you can make on a horse race is on the actual winner. Betting fields for any horse race can range from as few as five to six entries all the way to 20 for the biggest betting race if the year, the Kentucky Derby.

Along with betting on a horse to win, you can also bet on them to ‘place’ by taking second. A ‘show’ bet  covers the entry that rounds out the Top 3 by finishing third.

A horse finishing in the Top 3 is also referred to as ‘finishing in the money’.

The payoff on a win bet for any race is determined by a horse’s closing betting odds. All the money bet on a single race is divided into three different pools of cash (win, place and show). The money collected in each pool also has an impact on the actual payout.

If the favorite closes at 2/1 odds and wins the race, the typical payoff would be 2x every dollar wagered. In this case, you would receive roughly $4 back on a $2 bet.

A place bet requires your horse to finish first or second. Since the betting pool is cut in half for first and second place, the payoff on a place bet is roughly half the value of your bet.

The combination of each horse’s betting odds and the size of the place pool will determine the actual return on the amount of money wagered. The show bet works the same way with a much lower return on investment.

You can also bet a horse ‘across the board’. A standard $2 wager would actually cost $6 but you collect a return from all three money pools if they win.

Betting Exactas & Trifecta

Known as exotic bets, you can also bet on the top two horses with an exacta bet and the top three horses with a trifecta bet. The return on these type of bets is much higher but they are much harder to win.

If you played a $2 exacta on the No. 1 horse to win and the No. 2 horse two place, they have to finish in that exact order to win. You can double your wager to $4 to ‘box’ the bet. This way your horses can finish in either order and long as it is first and second.

By adding the No. 3 horse to finish in the show position, this would be a 1-2-3 trifecta bet. All three horses in a trifecta must finish in the Top 3 in the exact order you bet them. This bet can also be boxed. A $2 boxed trifecta would cost $12 to cover all of the possible winning combinations.

Betting Daily Doubles & Pick 3’s

The Daily Double bet is won by correctly predicting the winner of two consecutive races in that day’s card.

This bet can be expanded to a Pick 3 to cover picking the winner in three races in a row. Some tracks will expand this option to a Pick 4.