Betting on Horse Races

Horse racing is one of the most popular international sports. There are millions of people that watch horse racing on a regular basis in the United States, Ireland, Canada, Europe, India, UK, Australia and many other countries.

While there are a lot of dedicated people who regularly bet on horse racing, the majority of wagers come from casual punters looking to have some fun. Every weekend millions of people place bets on horse racing because they like the horses name, or because they have ‘a feeling’. For entertainment purposes, there isn’t anything more fun in sports wagering than horse racing.

Unless you watch a lot of horse racing and really understand the betting options, long-term horse racing betting can be a difficult way to pull a profit. There are a lot of different types of bets in horse racing and until you learn them you won’t likely not make much money – but it’s a hell of a lot of fun.

* For current odds, visit our Horse Racing Odds page.

Legal Horse Racing Betting Sites
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Most of the money bet on horse racing is done at the big races every year. Many countries around the world have their own Triple Crown races. In the United States, the Triple Crown races are the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes.

If you follow local tracks in your area then you may be able to make good money wagering on the horses that you watch everyday. If you focus your attention on getting to know the local horses really well, you can more easily pick the winners.

You’ll need to decide whether you want to bet with a sportsbook or racebook on the internet. The best horse betting sites offer odds on popular horse racing events as well as many daily races at small local racetracks. If you bet with an online racebook then you’ll be able to bet on hundreds of racetracks all around the world. My favorite racebook is the Bet365 Racebook, as they have a nice sign-up bonus and over 100 racetracks to wager on.

Types of Horse Racing Bets

The three most common horse racing wagers are win, place and show. A win wager is when you select a horse to finish first place, a place wager is when you select a horse to finish in the first two places and a show wager is when you pick a horse to finish in the top three.

You may also want to bet on the across the board wager, which is close to the show wager above. In this type of wager you’ll be betting on a horse to finish in the top three, but there is one difference. If your horse finished 3rd you win 3rd place money, but if your horse finished 1st or 2nd then you win 1st or 2nd place money.

An exacta wager is when you pick the first place horse and second place horse on the same wager in the correct order. If you don’t want to have to pick the top 2 horses in the correct order then you should bet on the exacta box wager.

A trifecta bet is when you pick the top 3 horses in the correct order in any horse race. This type of wager offers incredible payouts, but it’s very hard to win. You may also bet on a trifecta box, which is the same as the trifecta bet, except you don’t need to pick the horses in the correct order.

The hardest bet to win in horse racing is the superfecta, which is a wager where you need to pick the top 4 horses of a race in the exact order. You may also bet on the superfecta box, which just means you don’t need to pick the top 4 horses in the exact order.

Some sportbooks and racebooks will also support daily double bets and pick 3 bets. In a daily double bet you need to pick the winner of 2 consecutive horse races and in the pick 3 wagers you need to pick the winner of 3 consecutive races. These bets are very difficult to win and should only be wagered on with a small piece of your bankroll.

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