Horse racing and betting go together like peanut butter and jam. If horses are running at a track, you ought to believe someone has a bet on it.
Betting culture has embraced horse racing for centuries, and ever since Secretariat etched himself into history by winning the Triple Crown in 1973, the public has been even more eager to get in on the action.
With single-game betting now legal in Canada, you can bet on the ponies from the comfort of your own home. We’ll lay out some of the possible markets right here.
BET FINDER: Search & Bet!
How to bet on horse racing
At a racetrack, horse racing odds are displayed fractionally, so that's how we'll describe them for this betting guide. Luckily, with online sportsbooks, you can alter fractional odds to American or decimal if you prefer. If you need assistance understanding how to read odds, click here.
Win (outright betting)
Betting on a horse to win is the most common way to wager on a race. While it may be the most exhilarating, it doesn’t necessarily give you the best odds of winning. When picking a horse to win, they have to finish first out of the entire field, or else your ticket will lose.
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. This is especially true in racing, where certain horses will have far shorter odds to win than others. There are many variables that go into why a horse would be favoured, including its lineage, jockey, trainer, etc. Some odds vary on a race-to-race basis, depending on the track, weather, and the horse’s form.
Let’s assume a race has eight competitors. One horse would be signified as the favourite and likely would have odds less than one (such as 1/4 or 3/8).
A horse with 1/4 odds means there is an 80% implied probability of that horse winning. If you placed a bet, you would win 1/4 of your stake, so a $100 bet would win $25, for a total return of $125.
As you continue looking at outright options, you may notice some horses have longer odds — perhaps 8/1 or 7/2. A horse at 8/1 means you would win $800 on a $100 bet, for a total payout of $900.
| Odds | Wager | Win | Implied probability |
| 1/4 | $100 | $25 | 80% |
| 2/4 | $100 | $50 | 66.6% |
| 8/1 | $100 | $800 | 11.1% |
| 16/1 | $100 | $1,600 | 5.88% |
When betting winners, consider who trained the horse. Bob Baffert, for instance, has trained two Triple Crown winners and seen his horses win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes seven times each.
Place and show
Betting on a horse to place or show are safer options than picking it to win. Place betting requires your horse to finish in the top two, while show betting requires a spot in the top three. If you’re betting show, it doesn’t matter which position the horse finishes in, as long as it's in the top three.
Place and show betting create more leeway for you as a bettor, which is reflected in the odds. A horse that was 25/1 to win, for example, could be 10/1 to place and 4/1 to show. The implied probability of a horse winning at 25/1 is 3.85%, while its probability to place or show is 9.09% and 20%, respectively. Again, these odds will vary on a race-to-race basis, and there is no consistent scaling of win to place and show.
Let’s create a hypothetical horse race to demonstrate how the odds could look:
| Horse | Win | Place (1-2) | Show (1-2-3) |
| Country Fever | 6/5 | 8/15 | 1/4 |
| Frankenstein | 5/1 | 6/4 | 4/5 |
| River Rat | 13/2 | 2/1 | 1/1 |
| Royal Chalice | 25/1 | 10/1 | 4/1 |
Let’s place a series of $100 bets on River Rat as an example. Betting him to win would net a profit of $650. Wagering on him to place would win $200, and betting on him to show would win $100.
Each-way betting
If you want the safety of a place bet, as well as the higher payout potential of a bet to win, you can place what is known as an each-way (E/W) bet, where the stake is increased twofold, and the return varies on place.
From our fictional race above, let's put an E/W wager on Country Fever to win and place:
Country Fever (6/5) E/W 1/4 top 2 places
Under regular circumstances, a $100 bet on Country Fever to win would profit $120 (total return of $220). For an E/W bet, that same $100 wager is split in half because you are betting him each way ($50 to win, and $50 to place).
If Country Fever wins, you profit $60 for the victory (at 6/5 odds) and $15.02 for the place (at 3/10 odds), for a total return of $175.02. But if he finishes second (i.e., he places, but doesn't win) you only receive the $15.02 payout at 3/10 odds (meaning your $100 wager nets $65.02).
The E/W method is typically a better idea among long shot horses because you would still have a solid return if the horse doesn’t win. For a horse like Country Fever, who is already the favourite, it's not recommended.
How to bet on horse racing: Exacta, trifecta and superfecta
Now we're getting into some more advanced ways to bet horses. An exacta bet requires you to pick which horse will finish first and which horse will finish second. The order matters, and you have to get the bet exactly correct to win (hence the name). The chances of this occurring is much lower than picking a straight-up winner, but the payout is also a lot higher.
Exacta betting is tough to pull off, but if there are two heavy favourites and you have a good idea of what the horses run like, it could be a worthwhile play.
A trifecta is the same concept, except you are wagering on the top three finishes, while a superfecta is the top four finishes. Again, each horse has to finish in the exact spot you choose or the bet loses.
You may be thinking, “What are the odds of that happening?” Well, that’s a good question, and the short answer is ... slim. Hitting a trifecta is incredibly difficult, and a superfecta even more so. At this point, you’re relying as much on luck as analysis.
That said, horse betting can be a fun way to spend the afternoon and if you’re keeping the stakes low, a trifecta or superfecta can provide a little added excitement with the possibility of a monster payday.
Typically for trifecta and superfecta betting, players will place multiple $1 bets to cover a series of combinations, creating some wiggle room for how the horses could finish.
Back in 2013, a woman betting horses for the first time placed 120 superfecta bets at $1 apiece during the Kentucky Derby. One of the bets won, and she netted $28,500 — let’s just call it beginner's luck.
Parlays
Historically, when betting at a track, parlay options have been limited. You could place a “daily double,” which required a bettor to pick the winner of two consecutive races. Other options included a pick-three, pick-four, or pick-six – where you needed three, four, or six-straight winners. If someone hits a pick-six, I'd imagine CSIS would wonder how they gained access to a time machine.
In present day, you can parlay races with relative ease, making a combination of win, place or show bets to your liking. This provides flexibility for the bettor that was formerly unavailable.
Let's make up some more horse names, shall we? Suppose you want to parlay Rolex Cooper, a 5/4 favourite, to win a race, and in the following race you want Modelo Midnight to place at 10/1. You can do that, and it would look like this:
Rolex Cooper to win race 1, Modelo Midnight to place 1-2 race 2 (23.75/1)
A $100 bet on this would win the bettor $2,375.
