Building P3s and P4s

[OTM Al]

I am curious how those who regularly play these build them. I only play when I can find a good race to build one around and when the races are not on turf. I construct my P3 plays as follows

$5 on a straight ticket of those who I favor and $1 each with each of the favorites singled in one race and all my possibles in the other two, for example, I might like

R1 A, B, C
R2 A, B
R3 A, B, C

So my tickets would be

$5 A/A/A
$1 A/A+B/A+B+C
$1 A+B+C/A/A+B+C
$1 A+B+C/A+B/A

The problem with this hit me square in the nose saturday at Saratoga with the P3 starting in the second when the winners were B,B,B, so no payoff at all with this scheme that requires at least one of my favorites to win. I could easily back this with an additional bet of

B+C/B/B+C

for just a couple bucks more.

Just wondering how others who play these mor often approach setting up a ticket

[andicap]

Most schemes I've seen writting about require at least one of your key horses to win, but you could have two key horses in one of the legs in a race that is particularly wide open.

Tom Walters wrote a good book about fashioning exotic bets but I can't recall the name right now. He's over at the HTR board under "tomcat." Teaches a course on handicapping at a local Ky. college.

I presume how much you spread depends on the odds of your horses you're using.

[Valuist]

I find I spread deeper in Pic 3s. My rule for Pic 4s: I must have one single in there. With Pic 3s, I like to have one leg where I go no deeper than 2 deep. For action plays, I'll often go 2x2x2 in the Pic 3 but designate one race as chaotic, looking for horses who'll be in the 10-1 to 15-1 neighborhood to use. I think the biggest payoffs can come from the obtuse strategies: singling one race, going 6 or 7 deep in another and 3 or 4 deep in the 3rd. I like to go deepest w/Mdn Claiming races, NW2 claiming and sometimes stakes races. Stakes races often have a lot of live longshots in good form. I also believe first timers are better value in the middle and final legs of P3s/P4s. Over the years, I've learned do not go cheap. That extra few bucks to spend often is the difference between snagging a four digit payoff and losing.