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Types of Horse Racing Bets You Should Know About

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In principle, horse racing betting is straightforward. Most types of bets you can wager on involve picking a horse or group of horses that you think will win in the first place and the runner-ups. However, there are some types of bets that can be quite complicated, especially to the uninitiated.

Whereas there are bets out there that would only require you to pick horses, there are also complicated bets that will pick a horse or a group of horses and guess which places they will end up in the race.

Not only that, there are even betting systems and strategies out there that claim to figure out an equation that would help you get accurate readings.

However, that is a topic for another day, and you check it from tvg guide to horse betting. If you’re wondering what types of bets you can wager on in horse racing, you’re in luck. We will be tackling most bets you can wager on, from the simplest to the complicated ones. Here are some of them.

Straight Bets

Win Bet: This one is the most popular and the most common bet you usually hear people say. It’s simple enough that even a kid can do it. The win bet is a type of bet that would require you to pick a horse that you think will win the race. 

Place Bet: If you’re learning more about a place bet, it’s simple. You just pick a horse that you think will win in either first or second. 

Show Bet: This is the lowest odd bet you can wager on the straight bets. It involves picking a horse that will win in either the first, second, or third. 

Across the Board– This type of bet is three types of bets in one. This is mostly done when you are confident that a horse will win in the top three. Let’s say you want to bet on the number 2 horse. You will then be paying $6 for the win, place, and show bets. If the horse wins, you’ll get $12 for winnings. If it finishes in 2nd place, you’ll get $10 for the place and show bets and so on.

Vertical Exotic Bets

A vertical wager is a type of bet that will require you to guess the right finishing order of a race. For example, in a trifecta, you’ll pick three horses that you think will win the top three, but for you to win the bet, the horses should finish top three but in the correct order as your bet.

Sounds hard, right? Yes, it can be hard to guess, and you’ll probably lose most of the time, but the payout here is huge. Let’s now tackle the other types of exotic bets. 

Exacta: This bet will require you to pick two horses in a particular order.

Trifecta: This one is exacta but with three horses.

Superfecta– Exacta but with four horses.

Boxing Exotic Bets

The point of vertical exotic bets is for the bettor to pick several horses in a particular finishing order. But what if we tell you that there’s an alternative way of playing exotic bets without guessing the finishing order of the horses?

Enter boxing bets. In this bet, the horses you pick should only get to the places you have bet on for you to win. For example, if you bet on a boxed trifecta, the three horses you picked should only get to the first three places no matter what order, and you’ll win. As long as the three horses are in the top three, the payout is yours.

Tote Betting

Tote betting is quite different from other types of bet you place in a bookmaker. Instead of having fixed odds, you will be placed into a pool of other bettors where all the bets are combined and then shared among several winners. It’s like a jackpot type of betting, but against all other bettors, you share the pool with.

Final Thoughts

There are a lot more types of betting you can wager on in horse racing. However, don’t expect all of them to be accessible in all betting sites you wager in. But that being said, there are almost always exotic bets and boxing exotic bets in the top betting sites, so you don’t have to worry.