Making Winning Horse Racing Bets

Deciding what to bet, and when to bet it, can be quite difficult at first. You can give yourself an advantage, however, if you realize that not all the horses in the race are there to win. Quite often a trainer will place a horse in a race purely for training and conditioning purposes, or to test out a new jockey.

The horses that trainers expect to be able to win will be given the best jockey available – if you know that a particular jockey has been performing well lately, or that a certain jockey and horse combination is very strong, then you will have some idea what to look out for when placing your bets.

Remember when betting, to have some idea how much money you have to play with for the course of the day. Never bet so much that you are worried about losing, but make sure you are betting enough that you feel some excitement and interest in the outcome of the bet.

Usually a series of straight bets holds the least risk, but also the least potential for high payoffs. Perfectas and Trifectas, as well as Parlays can pay well if you win.

Be careful with 'insurance' bets – they usually just dilute your winnings if your main bet wins, and if your main bet loses there is no guarantee that the 'insurance' bets will help you recoup any of your losses. The best idea is to make your main bets, and make a small bet on an outsider to win as an 'insurance' bet. 

Avoid betting on long shots to win in a 'Perfecta' bet – the payout for a straight bet on the longshot winning would be very high, and the payout on the Perfecta bet is probably only a little higher – not enough to make up for the extra risk you are taking on the second horse in the bet managing to come in second.

If you want to make something other than a win bet, place bets can be a good option. It is a relatively conservative wager, since you can bet that your chosen horse will either win, come second, or come third. Payoffs are a lot lower than a standard bet, but can still be good for a relative outsider.

If you have been following horse racing for a while and are confident in your knowledge of the horses and jockeys competing in a particular race, then you can make a future bet on a race – these often have much better odds than a bet closer to the date of a race, so can be useful if you are confident you can make a good pick.