Richard Eng

People have been betting on horse races since horses have been running. Betting on the outcome of formal horse races can be fun and profitable if you know what you’re doing and can beat the odds.This handy Cheat Sheet has advice on what to pay attention to and what tools can help you at the track, as well as the mechanics of placing a bet, the types of bets you can place, and your odds of winning.

When you’re at the track betting on horse races, you’re looking to put yourself in the best position for winning, right? Of course you are, and the facts and stats in the following list can help you better your odds: Every racetrack has a television simulcast commentator who handicaps between the races. Listen and see if you can pick up any good tips to bet on.

Just as all horse races are not created equal, neither are all horses. However, racetracks overcome this inequality as best they can by pitting horses of similar ability together for various races. This practice is known as parity. To envision how the horse races are planned by the racing secretary's office, think of a pyramid.

Before the advent of parimutuel wagering, horse race betting was done with bookmakers. Bookmakers, also known as bookies, are essentially businesspeople that handle gambling bets — mainly on horse racing and sports. Bookmaking is now illegal in the United States, but it's a highly respected business in other parts of the world.

Straight bets are the simplest kinds of lets you can place, if you're betting on a horse race. A straight bet means that you're betting on a single horse to do one good thing for you. (For those wanting bigger payoffs, try the family of bets called exotic wagers. Exotic wagers link up multiple horses in a vertical fashion or multiple races and horses in a horizontal manner.

Along with your sunscreen (or umbrella!), a few items come in very handy when you’re at the racetrack betting on horses. You may want binoculars to see your favorite pass the finish line, but the tools in the following list are even more useful when it comes to actually placing your bets: Racetrack program: Like a program at a baseball game, it has information on all the players.

Are you with a group of friends betting on horses at the racetrack? A fun way to bet on horse races that gets everyone in your party involved is a group show parlay. It works like this: Have each person ante up $5, and pool the money. Each person in the group picks one race and one horse to bet to show. Place the first bet, and if you win, parlay the money on the next race and horse.

When it comes to betting on horse races, before you even place a bet on a horse you need to decide what type of bet to place. As the bets you can make range from a simple bet on a single horse in one race to choosing the winning horses for six consecutive races, you may need to the information in the followin

You’re betting on horse races and want to know how much your winning bet will give you. To compute your $2 win price, take the odds of your horse and multiply the first number by 2, divide that by the second number, and then add $2 — simple as that! Following is a list of payoffs at various odds for quick reference: Odds $2 Payoff Odds $2 Payoff Odds $2 Payoff 1/9 $2.