Exotic horse betting involves wagering on more than one horse at a time, which results in more difficult to win bets and much bigger payouts than win/place/show wagers. Even though these bets are harder to win, professional horse bettors will often place exotic wagers and these are the horse racing bets that make dreams come true.
Exotic Horse Race Betting Explained
As mentioned earlier exotic wagers involve betting on more than one outcome. Those outcomes can be from the same race (Quinella, Exacta, Trifecta, Superfecta) or from several consecutive races at the same track (daily double, pick 3, pick 6, etc). If all picks that you have chosen are correct, you win the exotic bet. If just one of your picks is incorrect then you lose.
Different Exotic Horse Racing Bets
Here is an explanation of a variety of exotic horse racing wagers. To place your own exotic wagers on horse races I suggest you visit BetOnline.ag.
Quinella Betting – A Quinnella bet involves wagering on the first two horses to finish a specific race. The horses can finish in either order in a Quinella bet.
Exacta Betting – An Exacta bet involves wagering on which horse will finish first and which will finish second. It is similar to the Quinella bet except that the position of the first two horses does matter.
Trifecta Betting – A Trifecta bet requires you to pick which horses will finish first, second and third, in the correct order.
Superfecta Betting – The Superfecta bet takes it one step further. You must select which horses finish the race ranked 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th.
Daily Double – The Daily Double involves picking the winner of two consecutive races at the same track. This bet is typically offered for the first and last two races of the day.
Pick 3, 4, 5, etc – A pick 3 bet works in the same way as the Daily Double except that you must choose the winner of 3 consecutive races. There are also pick 4, 5 and 6 betting options available at some online sportsbooks.
Huge Payouts
Exotic bets can result in huge payouts if you manage to pick your horses correctly. Here is a look at the 2019 Kentucky Derby and the payouts that would have resulted from each of the exotic wagers that can be made on a single race. The winner of the race was Country House (65-1), Code of Honor placed (14-1), Tacitus showed (5-1) and Improbable placed fourth (3-1).
Each payout is the result of a $2 wager:
- Exacta Payout – $3,009.60
- Trifecta Payout – $22,950.60
- Superfecta Payout – $102,800.20
In 2019 the Kentucky Derby exotic bets paid out higher than normal, but you can still see that hitting a superfecta can be life changing money.