Why Aren’t You Betting the Triple Crown Races?
There’s big money to be made, and everybody has a shot — — if you know the right wager
I’m not a horse racing expert. I don’t smoke cigars and hang out at the Off-Track Betting parlor. So why should you listen to me about betting on Triple Crown races? Because I’ve won five-figures on The Belmont Stakes, and you haven’t.
Actually, I won even more money on The Kentucky Derby — — $48,031.00 in 1999 — — but the bet I placed in both races was the same: the Superfecta. Or as it is now referred to in my household, the Sue-perfecta.
For the price of a beer and a great burger in Brooklyn, you can place the same kind of bet I did and have some industrial-strength skin in the game for racing’s Crown Jewels. That’s right: for $24 you can make a wager that could yield thousands in payoffs. And unlike the $20 bucks you throw away every time the Powerball Jackpot hits $500 million, the odds of hitting the “Super” on the ponies are not inconceivable. I’ve done it twice in fourteen years. That’s what I call “An Attainable Miracle”.
What exactly is a Superfecta? It is when you pick the first four finishers in a race. While harder than just picking a winner, or the first two (Exacta) or three (Trifecta) finishers, the Superfecta payouts can, accordingly, be exponentially large compared to conventional win/place/show bets. This type of bet is considered an “exotic”. Whether you win or not, just telling your date that you have an exotic bet on the Belmont is cool, and who knows how you might parlay that in the future?
So how can you get into the action? It’s easier than you think, and I’ll walk you through placing the wager. The Triple Crown races (The Kentucky Derby, The Preakness, The Belmont Stakes) offer the best opportunities for large payoffs because of their popularity (hence larger betting pools). The median Superfecta payout at the Belmont Stakes between 2000 and 2010 was $10,658 — — almost exactly the amount I won on my Belmont Stakes Superfecta wager when a horse named Palace Malice crossed the finish line first in 2013. This year’s Belmont Stakes happens on June 10th. Make sure you’re ready when they announce “Riders up!”.
- Open an online betting account. It’s easy to do, and will save you from crushing lines at the betting parlor on race day. For major stakes races like The Kentucky Derby, it’s akin to going to church on Easter Sunday: there are a bunch of people there who don’t usually attend every week. If you prefer to bet in person that’s fine, but I strongly suggest you get to your local betting parlor when they open the doors.
- Check your local paper or online for the horses entered in the big race, ideally a day or two before race day. Here you will find a list of the horses entered, usually by post positions (the order in which they will break from the starting gate), along with information on the jockeys, the trainers, the owners, and the odds. Enjoy the wide array of whimsical horse names. Sometimes you can also see the silks each horse’s jockey will be wearing, which might be of interest to the more fashion-oriented bettors out there…
- Choose four horses to use in your exotic wager. Keep in mind that anything can happen in these large stakes races, and favorites certainly do not always win. No doubt you will see lots of different “expert” advice on the horses for any particular Triple Crown field, but I urge you to not get too caught up on the professional handicappers. I reviewed a dozen different expert picks for this year’s Kentucky Derby, and not one that I looked at correctly picked the top three finishers, no less the top four. My personal formula for betting Superfectas is this: pick one favorite, one long shot, and two horses with mid-range odds. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never bet a horse before. Don’t be afraid to go with the names you like best, or the horse with your lucky number. Heck, my 1999 31–1 shot Kentucky Derby winner Charismatic was foaled (born) on my birthday — — go with whatever grabs you. Triple Crown races have a high bar for entry, so it’s unlikely that any horse who is entered will have zero chance of winning.
- Time to place your bet. The key to the Superfecta wager is to “box” it. This guarantees that you are covered if all four of your horses come in first, second, third, and fourth, regardless of their exact order. Though this is a pricier wager than a straight Superfecta, boxing your bet is like buying an insurance policy. By boxing your bet, you will receive the Superfecta payout price no matter what order your four horses cross the finish line (as long as they are the first four horses out of the entire field). The Superfecta Box bet, using four horses, is actually a wager that covers all 24 different possible combinations. So a $1 superfecta box bet using four horses will cost you $24.
- Be prepared when you get up to the “window” at the track or betting parlor. To avoid rookie mistakes that will confuse the person taking your bet (not to mention annoy fellow bettors waiting behind you), have your money ready, and know how to talk the talk. Here is your script: Track, Race number, Dollar amount, Type of wager, numbers of the four horses in your bet. So for example: “At Churchill Downs, Race #11, one dollar, superfecta BOX , numbers 1, 7, 11 and 13.
Then hold onto your ticket and enjoy watching the race with a bunch of friends. I guarantee it will make watching even more exciting than if you did not have a small investment riding on it. If you had the right four horses (12–8–5–1) in the 2002 Belmont Stakes, your $24 dollar bet would have paid you $72,667 on your $1 Superfecta box wager. With a hit like that, just be ready to buy the whole bar a round of drinks! And of course Uncle Sam will take his cut before you even have a chance to touch your winnings, but take it from me: getting a W-2G (for “Certain Gambling Winnings”) is even more fun that getting a W-2. With the very real possibility of such a positive investment-to-payoff ratio, why not pick four horses and take a chance? The most exciting two minutes in sports could also become two of the most exciting minutes of your life. Bettors up!
Susan Biegler