Since the late 1800s, horse racing has been a mainstay of the sports betting scene. Not only does the thrill of seeing magnificent thoroughbreds compete for the top prize elicit huge wagering potential, but the races themselves also provide more ways than one to win big from the fast-paced drama on the tracks.

Nitrobetting is back with another helpful guide for betting newcomers and relatively experienced players alike. This time, let’s break down the various wagers that one can make in horse racing to get you geared up right on time before placing stakes on the Triple Crown races on the horizon or any of the myriad races on a given calendar.

Horse Racing Betting Types

There are two main types of bets in horse racing: standard bets and exotic bets. Standard bets are what the majority of the betting public place their wagers on given the simplicity and reasonable odds to win said bets. Exotic bets, meanwhile, offer a wider variety of outcomes to place stakes on across one or multiple races, with the far more complex stipulations offering hardened betting veterans even bigger rewards for their wagers.

There are three main types of standard bets: Win, Place, and Show.

• Win Bet: The simplest form of a horse racing bet. Predicting the outright winning horse in a given race will win the bet.
• Place Bet: Place bets are won if the chosen horse finishes either in first or second place in a race. Having two outs in a place bet compared to just one in a straight-up win bet means that the payout will be slightly lower for place bets.
• Show Bet: Arguably the easiest bet to make and win off of, a show bet asks better to predict a horse that will finish either in first, second, or third place. Show bets have the smallest payout among the three types of standard bets, but also pose the least amount of risk in general.

Exotic bets come in two forms: single-race or multi-race bets. In these exotic bets, one must make more accurate predictions for a chance to win even greater winning hauls. Thus, exotic bets are for those who are already experienced in horse-racing betting and are looking for better yields from their wagering action.

Here are some of the more popular single-race exotic bets:

• Exacta Bet: Exacta bets are paid out if one correctly predicts the first and second-place finishers in the correct order.
• Trifecta Bet: Trifecta bets are paid out if one correctly predicts the first, second, and third-place finishers in the correct order.
• Superfecta Bet: Superfecta bets are paid out if one correctly predicts the first, second, third, and fourth-place finishers in the correct order.
• Super Hi-Five: Super Hi-Five bets are paid out if one correctly predicts the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth-place finishers in the correct order.

These single-race exotic bets have the option to make a “box wager” to make things much easier for bettors, with the exception of the Super Hi-Five bet. Boxed wagers for exacta, trifecta and superfecta bets still require one to predict the top finishers in a given race, but can still win the bet if those horses finish in an incorrect order. It goes without saying that boxed wagers pay out less than its original counterparts.

The Super Hi-Five bet, on the other hand, cannot be boxed and will only pay out if one’s prediction of the top-five horses falls in the exact order of finish. Given the degree of difficulty of this bet, any Super Hi-Five bets made in a given race that was not won will be carried over to the next race with a Super Hi-Five bet. As such, the Super Hi-Five bet is horse racing’s equivalent of a progressive jackpot game on the casino floor, with the low odds of winning these bets giving anyone the rare opportunity of hitting the motherlode with the luckiest of predictions.

Multi-race bets are as easy to understand as their single-race counterpart. Here are the most common forms of the multi-race exotic bet:

Pick 5 and Pick 6 bets work similarly as Super Hi-Five bets, wherein the prize pool will be transferred to the next race holding a Pick 5 and/or Pick 6 bet if nobody failed to claim the prize from the prior race. This means that Pick 5 and Pick 6 also have the jackpot bonus appeal for the most daring bettors looking to take home the biggest payout over anyone else at the event.

Do note that minimum bet amounts vary for each type of horse-racing bet stated here. It’s worth noting as well that the lower the odds of winning a given bet is, the lower the minimum bet amount will be for the said bet. This keeps the wagering action flowing across all types and for a minimal investment for the more daring betting propositions.

This is just one of the many sports betting guides that you can read here at Nitrobetting news. Create a Nitrobetting account now to start placing your own stakes on the biggest horse racing events of 2022 such as the Kentucky Derby, the Belmont Stakes, and the Preakness Stakes among many others.