Horse Betting
Strategy
by Tom Wilkinson
When it comes to a winning
horse betting strategy I could write numerous books
on the subject. The problem with reading all of
those books, although fascinating reading, is that
most of them wouldn’t make you any money.
A successful horse betting strategy is very difficult
to find. Many people have written numerous books
on the subject, and for the most part, the books
aren’t worth the paper they are printed on.
What all of these books fail to mention is the huge
house edge the horse tracks have over the player.
The person betting on horses has to overcome a huge
percentage, far greater than that of sports betting,
or most casino games. While horse betting is one
of my favorite things to do, it is not the easiest
thing to win at.
Having said all that, a winning
horse betting strategy can be formulated. If you
are looking at making money betting the horses you
have two main choices. First, you can play the horses
to win, place, or show and try to grind out a profit
that way. My first tip is to throw out place and
show wagering entirely. You can’t make money
in the long run by betting horses to place and show.
With discipline and a sound wagering strategy it
is possible, although unlikely, to find a winning
betting strategy by playing horses to win, I don’t
recommend it though. Your best horse betting strategy
is to play the exotics. That refers to the exacta,
trifecta, superfecta, and multi race bets such as
the pick 3’s, pick 4’s and pick 6. So
why do I say that you must concentrate on the exotics?
If you are betting to win, place, or show you are
eventually going to lose. The house take is just
too high to overcome over the long run. You just
don’t get a fair return for your money. It
is possible, though to get a decent return playing
the exotics.
What I will concentrate on
today as a horse betting strategy is playing the
pick 3’s. Many tracks have rolling pick 3’s
that enable you to play races all day long. Some
tracks specify only certain races so check your
program before laying out your ticket. When we play
a pick 3 there are two main schools of thought.
First, we can concentrate on a few horses in each
race, say 3 or 4, and combine them onto one ticket.
If we boxed 3 horses in each race of a $1 pick three,
it would cost us $27. That would be 3x3x3. That
is a $1 pick three. Obviously a $2 pick three would
be double that amount and cost us $54. You could
box four horses in each race and the cost would
then be $64 on a $1 Pick Three Ticket. That is the
first possibility. The second choice, and the one
I prefer, is to concentrate on one or two particular
horses in a race and get all of the horses in another
race. Let me give you an example. Let’s say
we have the first three races of the day, with 8,
7, and 10 horse fields. We could just find a single
horse in the third race and use all the horses in
the first two. That ticket would give us all 8 horses
in the first race, all 7 horses in the second race,
and our strong selection in the third race. The
ticket would cost $56 for a $1 pick three (8x7x1).
The advantage to playing the ticket like this is
that we could get a long shot in either of the first
two races and if our single horse comes in a winner
in the third race, we collect big. You can also,
if you prefer, pick out 2 or 3 horses in a couple
of races and go all in the third race. In the previous
example, that would mean 2x2x10 for a total of $40
or 3x3x10 for a total of $90. The possibilities
are endless but you should get an idea of what I
am trying to show you.
The goal with your horse
betting strategy should be to hit a big ticket.
That is really your only chance to come out a winner
in the long-term. The house take will eventually
grind down the everyday player unless they can hit
the occasional big ticket. Hopefully this will give
you something to think about the next time you head
out to the track.
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