Horse Racing Betting Types

Superfecta

With this bet you must pick the first four finishing horses in the order of their finish. In other words, you must pick the horse that wins, the horse that finishes second, the horse that finishes third and the horse that finishes fourth. Since it is very difficult to determine the top four finishing horses without playing a lot of combinations which can be very costly, the superfecta is not a very popular bet among seasoned handicappers. If by chance, the top four finishers are a standout and easily determined, then the return on the wager is generally very low and can easily be smaller than the amount of money required to hit the winning combination. Nevertheless, I will give you the details if you choose to be daring.

The simplest form of this wager is the Straight Superfecta, which is a single combination of the first four finishers. The minimum bet for a Straight Superfecta is $2. To purchase, simply tell the clerk: "$2 Superfecta on 1-2-3-4." A Superfecta is not offered in all races at all tracks (refer to program).

Superfecta Box

The Superfecta Box has a $1 minimum bet per combination -- $24 minimum total cost. You can box four or more horses on a single ticket and wager $1 (or more) on each combination.

Example: To purchase a $1 Superfecta Box using four horses, tell the clerk: "$1 Superfecta Box 11-2-3-4."

The following examples are for a $1 Superfecta Box:

4 horse box ( 24 combinations) Cost $ 24
5 horse box (120 combinations) Cost $120
6 horse box (460 combinations) Cost $460
7 horse box (840 combinations) Cost $840

Superfecta Key

The Key Wager requires the key horse to finish FIRST with any combination of three or more horses finishing second, third and fourth. For example, if your key horse is #5 and your other horses are number's 2, 4, 6 and 8, you will win if #5 finishes FIRST and three of your other four horses finish second, third and fourth.

Example: To make the bet, tell the clerk: "$1 Superfecta Key No. 5 on top of 2, 4, 6 and 8," and the ticket will cost $24. If five horses were coupled with the Key horse, the cost would have been $60, etc.

Superfecta Full Wheel

You may select one or more horses to finish in any given position and combine these selections with all possible entries in the other positions. The number of combinations will vary according to the total number of horses in the race.

Example: If you pick horse #6 to finish FIRST in a 12 horse field and want to have $1 Full Wheel, tell the clerk: "$1 Superfecta 6-All-All-All." The total cost of the ticket is $990. This is another situation where even if you win, it is likely that you will still lose money.

Number of horses in race:

Cost in this Example:

$210

$336

$504

$720

$990

Superfecta Part Wheel

The Superfecta Part Wheel is offered at a $1 minimum bet per combination -- $2 minimum total cost. It is now possible to make a Superfecta wager coupling one or more horses to finish 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th.

Example: You want the (#4 and #7 in the win position), the ( #1, #4, and #7 in place position), the (#1, #2, #4, #7 and #9 in the show position) and the (#1, #2 #4, #7, #9 and #11 in the fourth position). To bet a $1 on Superfecta on the above example, tell the clerk: "$1 Superfecta Part Wheel (4 7) with (1, 4, 7) with (1, 2, 7, 9) with (1, 2, 7, 9, 11)." There are 36 possible combinations in the bet for a cost of $36. To win, the (4 or 7) must finish FIRST, the (1, 4 or 7) must finish second, the (1, 2, 4, or 7) must finish third, and the (1, 2, 4, 9, or 11) must finish fourth.

As you can quickly see, the cost of the part wheel can be much less than the cost of the full wheel, but it requires you to be more selective and do a better job handicapping.