Exacta strategy
 

I can’t bet right now but have a system that takes the top 4 horses and as it’s stategy, it says to box the 4 in a Exacta, which means for $1 it’s 12 and for $2 is 24. I was wondering if there was any other way to put my top 4 in a Exacta still and maybe make it less costly. Thanks to all who reply. ;)

I got to be honest, unless you have identified a really weak fav who is not going to hit the board I hate that strategy.

It essentially weights 12 bets the same, meaning you have no real opinion on the race and over the long haul I dont see how that will yield profits.

I would rather pick 1 horse, play in first and second at $2.

You would also need to track this over a number of plays and compare it to win betting with the lower takeout.

At least that’s no my strategy, the book. But I was also thinking of choosing 1 horse and either doing an $5 or $10 win bet or $4 across the board???

Whether you like it or not, if you pick 4 horses, your horse with the lowest odds will win more often than any of your other picks.

How about betting a 50¢ trifecta key using your lowest odds horse over the other three, then bet $2 win on your selection with the highest odds.

For only $5.00 per race, you'll have two chances to be a hero.

I like to play a box with 4 horses:


1,2 / 1,2,3,4

If your top two hit you get it twice.

Is this still the exacta correct? And what total?

Stays the same as the 4 horse box.

You can play it as a $1.00 for $12.00 and then play it straight for $6.00.

Box: 1,2 / 1,2,3,4

Straight: 1,2 / 1,2,3,4

All of the other good responses aside, take your top two picks and box them with the two other horses. 1-2-3 and 1-2-4.

If the top two come in you have an extra ticket.

If you have a single, it may be better to bet to win (which is exactly what you are doing with a horse on top of an exacta). You just have to look at the will pays. For example, boxing 1-2-3 (for a dollar) costs $6. Let's say you have a 3-1 horse. If he wins, you would collect $24. For the exacta to be as good it would have to pay that amount for a dollar or $48 for $2. Just figure out the best use of the $6 by watching the board.

I definitely have done this, but I prefer it in a chaos type event, I usually though turn it into a trifecta.

I was trying for 15 minutes to enter this on XB wager-pad--on one ticket. Is it possible to do this?

Stupid wager-pad expects you to already know how to bet :D

Sometimes I also use exactas in a weird way for 'keying' a rare long shot contender exactly 2nd.

You could have done this with a trifecta (or superfecta etc), and those bets often pay out a higher dollar amount, but when you don't have an opinion for 3rd, - a tri or super is less efficient than an exacta for doing this.

extreme example;

Love the :1: and he's the 7th choice in a 10 horse field.

Win :1: , perhaps a multi featuring/singling :1:

Exacta :4::3::2: / :1: (the 3 win contenders over my pick)

Tri :4::3::2: /:6::5::4::3::2: / :1: (the 3 win contenders over the 5 contenders for second over my pick)

.... So now I've got my :1: 'keyed' in all 3 slots.



Maybe I would have needed the poor value of "Tri :4::3::2: / :1: / :11::10::9::8::7::6::5::4::3::2: (the three win contenders over my pick, over The ten contenders for third)" if I were to use the Tri to 'key' my shot 2nd.

Get payoffs and equate out 2-4 or even 6 combinations and shoot for a 6-1 payoff or pass. If all the denominations surpass a reasonable bet where it starts to creep into 4-1, 3-1 territory,pass. I've just gone through a period where I am picking a tad under 20% winners in my last 30 bets at Saratoga(a common phenomenon for me over a 10 year period!). Have a win place on those contenders of 43% but have a 6-1 return on 31% of those bets. Do the math. I was 3 for 22 before that. Tough game.

I've been a repeated victim of the wholesale approach to betting. It's not my style. Never works for me. I'm fine with that.

I do this a lot in the winter Jay. Bet the higher odds horse to win and double key. Plenty of 3 x 5's at Tampa or a KY Downs and have had glorious days when I have no idea what exactly the hell is going on!

if you can't limit your combination's to 1 or 2 tickets, i suggest you abandon the idea of playing exacta's or any other multiple ticket wager.