Horse Matchups Question

[xfile]

Any help here is appreciated! TCBets offers Horse Matchups. Can someone shed some light on this wager for me? I'm totally old school so this is greek to me. :cool:

HORSE MATCHUPS - Sep 25

FAIRPLEX PARK RACE #5
Tactical Yodeler +128
Ocean Melody -148

[Valuist]

Its basically the same thing as a baseball moneyline. At -148, Ocean Melody is the favorite. You'd have to risk $148 to win $100 (or get back $248). Tactical Dreamer is +128 on the takeback, so you'd have to risk $100 to win $128 (or get back $228).

The matchup lines tend to move considerably so if you have a strong opinion, bet it early. I tend to avoid laying much heavier than -140/-145 chalk. Generally dogs and small priced favorites are the way to go, IMO.

[DrugSalvastore]

It's pretty simple, whoever finishes better of those two horses posted wins the match-up.

For example, if one of them finishes in 4th place and the other finishes in 7th place...the 4th place finisher wins the bet.

You will see a lot of horses (typically speed horses) who are all or nothing types.

I'll use an extreme example...think back to outstanding female sprinter and top broodmare Too Bald. Her lifetime record was 24-13-0-0. Basically, she won 54% of her starts, and was entirely out of the money in the other 46% of her career starts. In other words, she's a great horse in the win slot, but a horrible head-to-head matchup horse.

Too Bald was the dam of stakes winners Exceller, Capote, Baldski, American Standard and Vaguely Hidden if anyone is curious.

A horse like Ky Derby winner War Emblem, who was 13-7-0-0 lifetime is another extreme example of a bad match-up horse.

A horse like Perfect Drift would be the opposite and is a good match-up horse. He seems to find ways to lose races, however, you almost always have to run either 1st or 2nd to beat him.

It's a pretty simple bet....just don't fall for any traps. Sometimes the 3/1 shot with a legit chance at winning, is a head-to-head bet against at level odds while facing a 5/1 shot who has less chance of an outright victory.

It's pretty simple stuff really.

[Valuist]

Exactly. Win odds are not necessarily a good barometer for matchup prices.

I liked to bet matchups right after scratches come out. Scratches usually have a definite impact on the pace scenario. I've seen horses go from -125 to -225 by race time.