One of the most popular events for gamblers is horse racing. The entirety of the modern gambling industry grew from horse race betting.
Even now, many people’s first foray into the world of gambling is to have a bet on something like The Grand National or the Kentucky Derby.
The problem is that horse racing betting lingo is quite complicated unless you’re betting on the winner of a race. You’ll hear words like ‘Trixie,’ ‘Exotic,’ ‘Show,’ and ‘Union Jack’ thrown around regularly, and you’re expected to know what they mean when, rarely, people do.
So, we put this guide together. We’ll walk you through some of the more common lingo in horse race betting. We won’t be able to cover everything, but you should be able to have a decent idea of how everything works by the end of this.
Straight Bets
These are the easiest bet types to decipher since they’re just bets on a single race:
- Win: This one should be self-explanatory. You’re choosing the horse that wins.
- Place: You bet on a horse to come first or second. You are more likely to win this bet than a ‘win,’ but the odds are slightly worse.
- Show: You’re betting on a horse to finish in the top 3. This bet is one of the rarer ‘straight’ bets.
These bets can also be broken down further into: - Reverse forecast: You predict the first two horses in the race but do not choose the exact position in which they finish.
- Each way: Your bet will be split between a ‘win’ and a ‘place’ bet. It is just combining two bets on a single horse. It is safer than a single ‘win’ bet but often delivers slightly worse odds on the ‘place.’
Parlay
A parlay is when you roll multiple bets into a single bet. Technically, in horse racing, only bets with more than four selections are classed as ‘parlays,’ but we’re considering everything from two bets up here.
- Double: Bet on two events. You need to win both to get a return.
- Treble: Bet on three events. All three need to be winners to return.
- Parlay: A fourfold involves four bets, a fivefold is five bets, etc.
And this is where the more ‘confusing’ lingo comes into play. Because there are various types of parlays, just like there are different types of horse-related sports, such as racing or showjumping, so understanding the differences is important. This is where you combine various types of parlays into one bet. Although, you don’t necessarily need to win everything here.
Some of the names can get pretty confusing, and we won’t be able to cover everything here (since there are probably types we are not aware of since some of it can be pretty location-specific), but these are the most common:
- Trixie: you choose three doubles and a treble. You must win two of your selections.
- Patent: three singles, one treble, and three doubles. You should win two of your selections.
- Yankee: Six doubles, a fourfold, and four trebles. You must win 2.
- Lucky 15: One of the most common types of horse racing bets. This involves four singles, six doubles, a fourfold, and four trebles. You must win two.
- Heinz: So named because it has 57 bets (like Heinz varieties). This is 15 doubles, 20 trebles, 15 fourfolds, six fivefolds, and a sixfold. Unlike the other bets, these will all be a single wager, and you need to win them all.
- Union Jack: Eight trebles. This is quite a confusing type of bet, so we won’t talk much about it since the selection will be grid-based. Most sportsbooks won’t offer it.
As we said – things can get quite confusing with the parlays. Luckily, most online sportsbooks will guide you through the process. However, we probably wouldn’t recommend combining tons of different bets until you’re advanced with horse race betting and follow the sport closely (rather than just betting once a year on the Kentucky Derby). It would require a solid knowledge of the sport.
Exotic Bets
Exotic bets are fun, but they are very tough to win. They work like parlays in many ways. Exotic bets can be split into horizontal and vertical.
Horizontal Exotics
Horizontal exotic bets are similar to parlays. With a horizontal exotic, you choose the winner of multiple races in a row. So:
- Daily Double: Choose the winner of two races in a row.
- Pick 3: The winner of three consecutive races.
- Pick 4: The winner of four consecutive races.
If you want, you can place a horizontal exotic for every race that day. Although, of course, predicting the winner of multiple races in a row is tough, let alone the whole racecard. Still, a small bet can deliver massive returns.
Vertical Exotic Bets
Vertical exotic bets are focused on a single race but functionally the same as horizontal exotics. They do have some unique names, though:
- Exacta: Correctly choose which horses will finish first and second.
- Trifecta: Predict the correct order of the first three finishers in a race.
- Superfecta: choose the correct order of the first four finishers in a race.
These bets are easy to understand but very tough to win. After all, so many factors can influence which horses place at the top, let alone the correct order in which they will finish. Serious horse race gamblers won’t see these as a way to make money, but they may throw on a few dollars here and there due to the potential big returns they could deliver.
Don’t Understand? That’s OK!
Horse race gambling lingo is pretty tough to wrap your head around. Thankfully, you won’t need to know most of these terms. For example, most people won’t be going through the potentially dozens of different parlay combos you can place (we rarely encounter somebody who places a ‘Heinz,’ for instance). If you want to dabble in that, online sportsbooks will generally guide you through the process anyway, ensuring you don’t make any mistakes.
If you’re just getting started with online gambling on horse racing, start with some straights and maybe throw a couple of parlays in there, too. It is the best way to get to grips with how horse race gambling works without giving yourself a headache.
