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[MJC922]

If it's a serious bet which for me would be considered something compelling about the horse in the scenario today both an excellent chance to win at a decent price then I'll just flat bet the horse to win. If the odds are too low then I may try to get some leverage in the exacta but it becomes more of an action bet then. The value with the exacta is IMO people use more horses than they really need to sometimes. With an exacta even if you like a longshot to win or place then one of the three favorites will still be in the exacta except for maybe one race on the entire card.

I do think doubles if played selectively may present some of the best value in the game. It's a short enough sequence where if you beat a favorite you can have some very nice doubles going and it isn't so long of a series that you're almost sure to have an underlay mixed in there somewhere to dilute your value like in the longer horizontals.

So for me, win first then exactas or doubles depending upon the situation at hand. For bread and butter scenarios I still like the smallish field where I prefer one horse over the rest and it isn't the favorite, the race has a logical favorite but I have just as good or better horse against it, that's a flat bet scenario that I seem to do well in as long as I've thoroughly done the work on the race, watched all of the replays etc.