What Are The Odds Of Winning A Trifecta
Horse racing isn’t as popular as it used to be. That’s obvious. However, the Kentucky Derby continues to set records for the amount of money wagered. And the handle on the big race is why bettors should consider placing some exotic bets on the race.
- What Are The Odds Of Winning A Trifecta Week
- What Are The Odds Of Winning A Trifecta Odds
- What Are The Odds Of Winning A Trifecta Picks
When it comes to betting on horse races, before you even place a bet on a horse you need to decide what type of bet to place. As the bets you can make range from a simple bet on a single horse in one race to choosing the winning horses for six consecutive races, you.
- The odds of winning the Grand Prize or choosing a Trifecta plus the winning Race Time is 1 in 1.32 million. The odds for a Win or selecting the 1st place winner is 1 in 13.2.
- The favorite figures to finish out-of-the-money and no long odds horse figures to finish in-the-money. This Trifecta, with a false favorite, will almost always be playable.
Parimutuel horse racing
Before big horse races like the Kentucky Derby, bettors can place a futures wager with most legal US sportsbooks. This will only pay if the horse wins the race. Betting on individual horse races is different from betting against a sportsbook or casino.
Wagering on an individual horse racing is by parimutuel betting. This type of betting is different than a traditional sportsbook bet.
The word parimutuel is French and means “to wager amongst ourselves.” Basically, all the money bet on the big race for the Kentucky Derby is put into one large betting pool comprised of all money wagered. Winning bets are paid by the racebook or racetrack from the entire pool of money wagered.
The track, Churchill Downs, will take a percentage of the money bet on the Kentucky Derby off the top of the betting pool. The rest of the pool is split among winning bettors. Let’s use some round numbers for an example:
- Money wagered: $1,000,000
- Track take: 20% or $200,000
- Betting pool paid to winners: 80% or $800,000
In the example above, there’s $800,000 to pay out to the winners. The pool of money for winners at the Kentucky Derby is so much larger than a normal horse race. The most popular horse race in the US has a lot of bets made all over the world. Every parimutuel bet goes into that pool no matter where it’s made.
The variety of wagers is large and can be complicated for new bettors. Thankfully for bettors, there’s so much money wagered that the money being split among winners is often more than a race on a random Tuesday afternoon.
ALSO READ: Wagering On The Kentucky Derby? You Can Place Legal Bets On Your Phone In 31 States
Get exotic
The Kentucky Derby has a larger than normal pool of money from bettors. A lot of the money in the pool for bettors to win is made by casual bettors that have little chance to win. This leaves money available to bettors that even do a little research to cash in with
The best way to take advantage of the Run for the Roses might be to add some exotic bets to the mix. These wagers are a bit more complicated than the traditional Win (1st place), Place (2nd place), and show (3rd place) bets.
There are exotics available for single races and multiple races. Since most bettors are only watching for the Kentucky Derby, we’ll focus on the single race exotic wagers:
- Exacta: Pick the first place and second place finishers in order
- Trifecta: Pick the first place, second place, and third place finishers in order
- Superfecta: Pick the first place, second place, third place, and fourth place finishers in order
These exotic are similar to parlays for horse racing. They involve more horses than a Win, Place, Show bet on a single horse. These bets pay more but may cost more to bet.
Some bettors play straight exotic bets where each horse must finish in the selected place. Bettors choose to “box” the horses so any horse can finish in any place. There isn’t a discount to boxing horses, this is just a way to simplify the process of placing multiple bets.
For example, a bettor can place an exacta for the 1 and 3 horses to finish first and second, respectively. Each horse must finish in the specific position for the bet to win. If unsure, the bettor can place a second exacta on the 3 and 1 to finish first and second, respectively.
An easier way to do this would be to box the exacta with the 1 and 3 horse. The two horse exacta bets cost the same regardless of how the example wager is placed. A $2 wager made twice will cost $4.
The process of boxing horses is simple with a two-horse example. However, it’s very helpful when more horses are included in an exacta, trifecta, or superfecta box. The more horses involved with each exotic boxed bet will make each wager more expensive to place.
Big payouts
Payouts for exotic bets can be huge for the Kentucky Derby. Each exotic betting pool pays out differently based on how much money was bet. The payouts are made by taking the total money wagered in the (exacta, trifecta, superfecta) pool and subtracting the track takeout, then dividing the remainder of the money by the number of winning tickets.
The exact winning price is almost impossible to predict. There’s one thing to know: more money is paid when there’s at least one horse with longer odds in the winning exacta, trifecta, or superfecta. The higher the longer odds horses finish the greater the payout tends to be.
This makes sense since fewer people are wagering on these horses. In this case, there will be fewer winners on any of the exotic bets and each winning exotic will pay more money to the winners.
Betting on the Kentucky Derby
We have a handy Kentucky Derby Betting Guide. This is a great place for new bettors to start understanding how to bet on the Kentucky Derby.
Once odds are posted they will change based on the amount of money wagered on each horse. The odds will change right up until the gates open and the horses run for the roses.
Handicapping horse racing isn’t easy for anyone. A little research can go a long way. There’s so much dead money in the parimutuel betting pool for the Kentucky Derby that throwing a few bucks on the big race isn’t a bad idea.
Are you getting ready for trifecta betting? Moving up from the basic wagers into exotic wagers is always an exciting step for those in the process of learning how to bet on horses. The trifecta may seem simple at first but it has many twists and turns that can improve your chances of winning. With a little bit of background history, you will be on your way to mastering this important form of wagering.
Beginners moving up to trifecta betting
When bettors are first getting started with horse wagers, they will soon learn the advantages of placing their money on something more exotic. Even if you are at the win, place, and show levels, it is easy to move up to the initial exotic bets right away.
The advantages of trifecta betting are obvious when it comes to increasing your chances of winning more money. Despite this, you may not have the skills to ensure that you are able to predict three winning horses at the same time. Simply put, a trifecta is a bet that predicts the first, second, and third place winners of a single horse race.
Trifecta betting is worth looking into
What Are The Odds Of Winning A Trifecta Week
At first it can seem like there is not much of a difference between one kind of wager and another. In this case, nothing could be further from the truth. The real contrast between the trifecta and the exacta become crystal-clear when you look at the payouts. For example, a $2 trifecta for the 2011 Kentucky Derby brought in $3,952.40 compared to a $2 exacta bringing in $329.80. Obviously, it pays to spend the extra $2 to take your chances with a serious win.
When trifecta bets are the best choice
For many beginners, there is a feeling of needing to cover all of your bases. In other words, when your skills are not refined, you want to look for all way to win and that means spending a little bit of extra money wisely.
For the Kentucky Derby, a winning strategy can be to buy a $2 ticket with different styles of wagers. This means buying a win, place, show, quinella, exacta, trifecta, and superfecta. In addition, you can purchase the more advanced boxes options.
Deciding between trifecta wheels and boxes
In the 2011 Kentucky Derby, Animal Kingdom (#16), Nehro (#19) and Mucho Macho Man (#13) finished the race in that order. Anyone that decided that Animal Kingdom would win and only placed $1 on this horse got $43.80 for their predictions.
Unfortunately, what if you cannot decide which of your top three horses will win? If you have an idea for the three finishers of a race and just do not foresee the order, you can spend a little bit of extra money buying a trifecta box ticket. This way, you have all the variables covered in first, second, and third place for your top three horses.
Using trifecta betting box as a safety zone
Trifecta boxes mean you will spend more money, but having all of your bases covered is something a newcomer to horse racing must deal with. Until you learn more about handicapping and predicting outcomes, trifecta boxes may be your safety zone. On the other hand, new horse bettors will need to figure out if trifecta wheels are right for them. This style of wager has a “key” and then two other horses that are boxed.
For example, you know that Animal Kingdom will win the Kentucky Derby, but are not sure if Nehro will be in third or second place. You also have a good feeling about Mucho Macho Man. For these reasons, you can purchase the exacta wheel with Animal Kingdom as the key and Nehro and Mucho Macho Man as the wheel. This saves you a little bit of money, but with that is the risk that Animal Kingdom might not place first.
Where to purchase trifecta betting tickets
The world of horse betting has gone through a lot of changes since the first Kentucky Derby in 1875. In the beginning, the horse betting systems were outside of the law — causing them to fall prey to the mafia. However, starting in the 1930s, this problem was remedied by the introduction of pari-mutuel betting.
Today, you can place your trifecta bet at the track where the race is being held. Also, there are other places online that will ensure you get a higher return on your payout.
What Are The Odds Of Winning A Trifecta Odds
Getting the highest trifecta payout possible
What Are The Odds Of Winning A Trifecta Picks
When it comes to pari-mutuel betting, it can seem like a limitation. After all, the government limits gambling with horses to this style. Since all of the bettors are betting against each other and contributing to a pool of money, it can seem like the race tracks get the shaft.
The mystery behind how this system works involves a takeout from the payout. That means that every time someone wins, the track is allowed to take a cut of those earnings. This way, they cover their expenses.
Regardless, when there is no overhead, the payout is much higher for the bettors. For this reason, many expert trifecta wagers are played online at virtual horse betting websites.