Understanding Horse Racing: What You Need To Know About Exacta Betting

If you’ve ever been to the track—or even to an offtrack betting location or horseracing forum—you’ve probably heard people talk about Exactas. No, this is not a case of a bunch of grammar school dropouts who don’t know how to properly pronounce the word ‘exactly’.

The exacta is a type of horse racing bet that could lead to big gains. Rather than betting on a horse to win, you bet on which two horses will finish first and second in a particular race. The exacta bet is easy to make—if you know what you’re doing. New to horse betting? We’ll walk you through it.

There are three types of exacta bets you should know about:

The straight exacta—You pick the horse that you think will finish first and the horse that you think will finish second in a single race. They must finish in that order for you to win.

The exacta box—You pick the horses that will finish in first or second place. But either horse can finish in either spot for you to win.

The exacta wheel—You pick the horse you think will win plus two or more horses that you think will come in second.

If you’re new to horserace betting, you might be tempted by the exacta box bet. On the surface, it seems amazing. That’s because you can actually put as many horses as you want to in the exacta box.

But here’s the thing. The cost of your bet will actually rise as you add more horses. Inexperienced horse punters make the mistake of betting on more horses, thinking that they’ll make more money. But the truth is the more horses you add to the exacta box, the more likely you’ll be to end up losing money in the end.

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