Horse Racing is called the Sport of Kings for many reasons, but the most obvious one is you feel like a King when you hit a winner and walk out of your local track with bundles of cash. There are some bets however that most professional horse players stay away from. Knowing what not to bet at times is just as prudent as knowing what to bet. Here are the five worst horse racing bets and the reasoning why they're not going to make you feel royal or rich. For you amateurs out there, just stick to betting to Win! A wise man once said if you ain't first, you are last.
5) The Show Bet
If you are betting on one single horse in one race, then you can bet on that horse to Win, Place, or Show. In order to win a show bet, all your horse has to do is take first, second, or third. Seems easy right? Although it may seem easy, you'd have to bet a ton of money to actually make any money betting to show. Most of the time, your $2 wager will return between $2.10-2.40. That's as low as 5% on your money invested. After say eight or nine winning show bets, you may still not have enough to cover the beers you bought to enjoy during the races.
4) The Quinella
Simply put, this is a bet that is $1 minimum in most places, and you have to pick who will finish in first and the horse that will take second, consecutively. For only $1 they box these two horses so as long as both your horses run 1-2, you win. The low bet amount means the payouts are much lower, as this bet is a cost-effective way to bet the races. The $1 exacta box, which would cost $2 to box two horses, usually pays out much better due to the fact that many more people wager on this type of wager over a quinella.
3) The Superfecta
How to win a superfecta is you’ll need to pick who is going to finish first, second, third, and fourth consecutively in one race. This is not an easy task! Predicting in a standard field of eight horses, who will come in 1-4 is not easy to predict. With a minimum bet of 10 cents, it may be enticing for cheaper players, but odds are even when you hit this bet, you usually aren't breaking anything close to $100 or more.
2) Jackpot High 5
If predicting the first four consecutive horses in a row in one race is tough, try doing the first five in a row. Most tracks offer this wager only on certain races, and most often, they have it as a jackpot wager. This means a part of your wager goes to a jackpot prize pool to be paid out if ever only 1 person has the winning combination. If you aren't playing the races every day, and not playing on a mandatory jackpot payout day, this is surely a bet to skip. It's really hard and it also won't ever really payout unless you somehow are the only jackpot winner.
1) Jackpot Pick 6's
The by far, no doubt about it, worst bet in horse racing is the Jackpot Pick Six on a non-jackpot day. A pick-six is different from the exotic wager mentioned above as they all dealt with one race. Here, we are looking at picking winners in six consecutive races before the first of those begins. Usually, the minimum wager is $1.
In tracks that have jackpot type pick-six wagers, a portion of your wager goes to the jackpot and if only one person has the winning ticket, they win the entire jackpot pool. Jackpot Pick Six pools can grow into millions of dollars. The only time you should ever bet on this is a mandatory payout day where they pay out the jackpot even if no one single person hits it. This is usually the closing day of the meet at the tracks that offer this wager. Sure it seems nice to take your chance swinging at a million dollars, but unless you have the single unique winner, you've got a better chance at winning the lottery.
