Exacta Strategies

[jamey1977]

I play to Win. But I do plan on saving 2000 dollars and starting an Exacta Division. I always said If I could minimize my exacta plays and still hit. I could show a solid R.O.I. It is damn ridiculous to box everything in sight to make a lousy 3 percent. R.O.I. That's bullcrap. I heard of a New York player who earned a living by betting selective exactas and Win Bets. Well, what did he do? . What is your R.O.I for exactas ?. No one's goal should be 3 percent. Isn't it more of a challenge to bet little and win big.? How about a 50 percent R.O.I.- 70 percent. R.O.I ? . I saw a guy at Santa Anita, Did a 20 dollar exacta straight. Winner with 2 runners. 64 dollar exacta for 2 dollars. He put down 40 dollars and went home with 640 dollars for the day and that was his only bet for the day. That's what I'm talking about. Anyone have any solid strategies?

[BELMONT 6-6-09]

Martin Rhitt, the late movie director, who was a successful horseplayer would make three one way exactas for $40 ($120) and he wouldn't turn it around for a dime.

[thaskalos]

Martin Rhitt, the late movie director, who was a successful horseplayer would make three one way exactas for $40 ($120) and he wouldn't turn it around for a dime.I tried this...

And the money I saved by not turning my exactas around...I gave to my psychiatrist.

[BELMONT 6-6-09]

I tried this...

And the money I saved by not turning my exactas around...I gave to my psychiatrist.

LOL. I agree, though I play exactas infrequently Rhitts method takes some real ironclad discipline to keep your sanity when the key horse runs second and you collect zip.

[SchagFactorToWin]

That's the EX method I use- pick on top with my next 2 picks. Nicely profitable but subject to, well, let's just say 'variance'. What am I saying... It's got more mood swings than my last girlfriend! It works for me but it's tough to cash 1 out of 5 or 6 races, esp. since I only bet 2 per day.

The method requires a sufficient reserve (like 80-100:1) and a certain Zen approach to the loss streaks.

[46zilzal]

Horses underneath, according to the 55% Solution written by Sartin, run often opposite style to the winner's profile and show horses tend to run in the style of the winner.


Early wins/ sustained runs second

[Greyfox]

Early wins/ sustained runs second

Depends on the track. Sustained does well on some poly surfaces and turf routes with early wilting.

I build my exacta plays.

A/BC box ABC ABC/ABCDE.

[Tom]

I had breakfast with a couple of touts, er, professional players, at Toga and they got me interested int he idea of exacta as place bet. So far, it has been a positive move.

[Dave Schwartz]

Tom,

Please tell us more.


Dave

[Charlie D]

I agree with Dave. Please do tell more Tom.

[RaceBookJoe]

I had breakfast with a couple of touts, er, professional players, at Toga and they got me interested int he idea of exacta as place bet. So far, it has been a positive move.

Isnt that a Mark Cramer idea...and also his trifecta as show bet. I will do that at times, but i usually do exactas 2 ways : either when my top choice goes off at odds that are too low to bet to win, i try to hook him up with 1-3 other choices and make the wager worthwhile. The other way is when my horse is a logical longshot, then besides win/place...i also do an exacta box..longshot/all. There is anoth wager i make from time to time where i make an exacta bet and then do a trifecta saver. For example, if i have 5 contenders and my top choices are 2-1,3-1 and the other 3 are 8-1 and up, and my oder is a,b,c,d,e....i will do an exacta of a/c,d,e and then back up tri of a/b/c,d,e. I dont do it often, but sometimes for fun...use it at harness and dogs too. rbj

[InTheRiver68]

Caveat: I am not a professional horseplayer.

I built a spreadsheet that I copy exacta probables onto. (I get the exacta probables from the ADW screen ... I select the whole exacta probables grid, "copy", and then "paste" onto the spreadsheet.) The spreadsheet uses the probables (and the track's exacta and win takeouts) to calculate what I call the "exacta win odds", which I compare to the actual win odds.

(What are "exacta win odds"? Using the spreadsheet, I can break out the total exacta pool into amounts of money that have each horse on top in the exactas. If there's $10,000 bet in the exacta pool, and a total of $2,000 of that has the 1-horse on top, then that horse's "exacta win odds" are about 3-1. If the horse's actual odds are 6-1, then the horse is overbet in the exactas. If the horse's actual odds are 9/5, he's underbet in the exactas.)

If a horse is overbet in the exactas, I may bet it to win. If it's underbet in the exactas, I might do a wheel and maybe a part-wheel to pick up some extra of the lower-probabled exacta combinations.

I don't have an ROI. As a non-professional, I just play for fun, but part of my fun has been looking for a way to prove an overlay. I have a couple of W-2G's from monster exactas, though!

- InTheRiver68

[bisket]

i mainly play trifecta's. i usually mix exacta's in with the trifecta bets. usually if i think favorite will finish third. i'll limit my trifecta combinations, and play exacta's with the scenario of the fav finishing 3rd. the majority of times there isn't much difference between the exacta payout than the trifecta payout with a favorite in the show spot. at least not enough to make the bet worthwhile.

[Charli125]

Caveat: I am not a professional horseplayer.

I built a spreadsheet that I copy exacta probables onto. (I get the exacta probables from the ADW screen ... I select the whole exacta probables grid, "copy", and then "paste" onto the spreadsheet.) The spreadsheet uses the probables (and the track's exacta and win takeouts) to calculate what I call the "exacta win odds", which I compare to the actual win odds.

(What are "exacta win odds"? Using the spreadsheet, I can break out the total exacta pool into amounts of money that have each horse on top in the exactas. If there's $10,000 bet in the exacta pool, and a total of $2,000 of that has the 1-horse on top, then that horse's "exacta win odds" are about 3-1. If the horse's actual odds are 6-1, then the horse is overbet in the exactas. If the horse's actual odds are 9/5, he's underbet in the exactas.)

If a horse is overbet in the exactas, I may bet it to win. If it's underbet in the exactas, I might do a wheel and maybe a part-wheel to pick up some extra of the lower-probabled exacta combinations.

I don't have an ROI. As a non-professional, I just play for fun, but part of my fun has been looking for a way to prove an overlay. I have a couple of W-2G's from monster exactas, though!

- InTheRiver68

I played with the same kind of thing last summer. Instead of manually copying the data I had it feed from the tote though. I did find a lot of overlays through this method, but I didn't get to a point of tracking long-term ROI.

[CincyHorseplayer]

This is a high cash rate bet.You might not hit your top 1-2-3 combinations with regularity but you are going to cash 50% of your bets and keep from damaging yourself.Picking a horse to win or place coupled with the main contenders in the field is no great shakes as far as brilliance.But it makes a nice staple of a bet.

Pick 2 or 4 combinations and bet them heavy.Cover the rest with minimum denominations.I hover around the 25% hit rate but the ROI is over 60%.Make the plays,be patient,the rewards are there around the corner.

[jamey1977]

This is a high cash rate bet.You might not hit your top 1-2-3 combinations with regularity but you are going to cash 50% of your bets and keep from damaging yourself.Picking a horse to win or place coupled with the main contenders in the field is no great shakes as far as brilliance.But it makes a nice staple of a bet.

Pick 2 or 4 combinations and bet them heavy.Cover the rest with minimum denominations.I hover around the 25% hit rate but the ROI is over 60%.Make the plays,be patient,the rewards are there around the corner.
How is your bet structured? Just the basics. We need help. We would love to get a 50 percent R.O.I How many total exacta bets are in one of your tickets for a race? The second pick winning and favorite exacta, that straight exacta gets bet a lot. We are lucky to get 13 dollars for a 2 dollar exacta. Anything that can get us that R.O..I.. In my exacta work sheets. The losing streaks are awful. I would wheel the second pick with the 3rd, 4th and 5th picks, all that did was break even after 5 days of losses. Anything that can help us.

[CincyHorseplayer]

How is your bet structured? Just the basics. We need help. We would love to get a 50 percent R.O.I How many total exacta bets are in one of your tickets for a race? The second pick winning and favorite exacta, that straight exacta gets bet a lot. We are lucky to get 13 dollars for a 2 dollar exacta. Anything that can get us that R.O..I.. In my exacta work sheets. The losing streaks are awful. I would wheel the second pick with the 3rd, 4th and 5th picks, all that did was break even after 5 days of losses. Anything that can help us.

Well as long as your handicapping puts you on the contenders you will cash at a frequent rate.That shouldn't be a problem.As I said zeroing in on a horse to win or place is a relatively unheralded feat.It's not that hard to do.

You have to have some sense of locking in on horses though or it is a crapshoot.If you're looking at it like "I'll box the favorite with the 3rd and 4th choices" you're done.Something has to grab you about a horse.There is no plug in the calculator and let's roll.You handicap a race and a horse gets you fired up and you watch him or her in the post parade looking like they are ready to kick a$s,then it's time to dig in.If there is no special opinion it's best just to pass.Isolating 2 or 3 horses in any given race is the key to winning the exacta.For me the key is crushing payoffs in the $25-40 range.Bread and butter.Annihilate them.You do a handful of those a week that ROI is soaring.

[CincyHorseplayer]

How is your bet structured? Just the basics. We need help. We would love to get a 50 percent R.O.I How many total exacta bets are in one of your tickets for a race? The second pick winning and favorite exacta, that straight exacta gets bet a lot. We are lucky to get 13 dollars for a 2 dollar exacta. Anything that can get us that R.O..I.. In my exacta work sheets. The losing streaks are awful. I would wheel the second pick with the 3rd, 4th and 5th picks, all that did was break even after 5 days of losses. Anything that can help us.


I'll use a base $1 exacta box bet.Will play one way if a horse is less than 3-1.Will box my key horse with all of the contenders.Then I'll play $20-$10 on 2 combinations or $12-$12,$6-$6 on 4.

Or if the payoffs are generous across the board I'll even those amounts.

Bottomline is though,if you key a horse and box them with the contenders you'll cash half your bets.This is a high return bet.I'm not selling it,it is what it is.No way should this bet have long losing streaks.Maybe some trips between big payoffs,but not,not cashing.That's crap if you are worth your salt as a handicapper.

[CincyHorseplayer]

Oh yeah and multiply my numbers by ten for all you big bettors out there!!!I know you look at my measly bets knowing it wouldn't raise your pulse one iota!!!!I still take my money seriously while not being in your league!!:)