Exacta Payout

Exacta Payout Rating: 3,9/5 4492 votes
  1. How Are Exacta Odds Calculated
  2. Exacta Payout Chart
  3. Exacta Payout Belmont Stakes
  4. Exacta Payout Calculator

Across the board: A bet on one horse to win, place, and show.

Allowance or Allowance Race: A non-claiming event in which the racing secretary conditions weight allowances based on previous purse earnings and/or types of victories.

Also Eligible or 'AE': Horses entered into the field that will not run unless other horses are scratched.

We offer wagers on Win, Place, and Show, Exacta, Quinella and other exotics for horses on all of the United States tracks. Check with your agent to see your maximum odds. Yet at Amwager, we post probable payouts for exacta and daily double wagers. Also for exotic wagers, the payouts are calculated differently. Once the house takes its cut, typically 15%, the rest is divided between the bet winners. You can also do a $1 exacta which pays half of the $2 exacta payout and therefore cuts your investment in half. Note some tracks offer a $1 exacta as a base wager amount. Do you see a horse that has “seconditis”? You can also do an Exacta. The purpose of the Exacta is to select two horses in a single race to finish in the first two places in the EXACT ORDER – your first selection must come first, and your second horse must come second. You can include as many horses as you want in your exacta, but it will cost you R1 per combination. Exacta Box With an Exacta Box you will win your bet if the horses you pick finish in first and second place in either order with as many horses as you wish. The minimum amount that can be wagered is $1 per combination. So a 2 horse exacta.

Apprentice Jockey:A student jockey that will receive a weight allowance of varying degrees depending on his or her experience.

Backstretch: The straight part of the track opposite the finish line or the stable area.

Baby Race: A race for two year old horses, especially early in the season.

Blinkers: Eye equipment that limits a horse’s vision; generally used to help the horse concentrate on running and to reduce distraction.

Break Maiden: When a horse or rider wins for the first time.

Breeze: A term generally used to describe a workout in which a horse is easily running under a hold without encouragement from the rider.

Bridge jumper: A bettor that places large bets in the Place or Show pools on odds-on favorites.

Broodmare: A female thoroughbred that is used for breeding.

Broodmare dam: A mare that produces female progeny that are used for breeding.

Broodmare sire: A male horse that produces female progeny that are used for breeding.

Bug Boy:An apprentice jockey

Bull Ring: A small track where the oval is generally less than one mile and, thus, has very tight turns.

Buy the race: Using every single horse running in a specific race in an exotic wager.For example, if a player buys a Daily Double ticket for the 1st and 2nd race that is 8 with ALL, the bettor will have 'bought' the second race.

Carryover: Usually refers to money in the parimutuel pool for a Pick Six wager that is left over after a sequence fails to have a single player select all of the winners. For example, if there are no winning tickets for a Pick Six on a Friday at a track, the money left in the pool (minus the track take) is a considered a carryover and will be added to the pool for Saturday's Pick Six. Successive carryovers can lead to very large Pick Six pools.

Claiming Race: A race where each horse in the field has a price and can be purchased by any person that makes a valid claim prior to the running of the race.

Clocker: A person that times and/or rates workouts.

Clubhouse Turn: The first turn of races that begin on the frontstretch/homestretch.

Colt: A male horse.

Condition: To train a horse

Conditions:The circumstances under which a race will be run, such as: surface, distance, purse, and eligibilities.

Consolation:

A payout, typically in a Pick Six, where players without a full winning ticket still receive money. For example, a player that hits 5-of-6 races in the Pick 6 will typically collect a small consolation payout. Consolations are generally much smaller than the full payout.

Daily Double: A wager in which the player attempts to pick the winner of two sequential races with a single ticket.

Dam:The mother of a horse.

Dark:A day in which a track is not featuring live racing.

Derby:A stakes race for three year old horses.

Distance of ground: A route race or a race run around two turns.

Dog: A cone or other obstruction placed a specified distance from the rail of the turf course to keep horses from damaging that portion of the grass.

Eased: A horse that is pulled up or stopped prior to finishing the race

Exacta: A bet in which the player attempts to pick the 1st and 2nd place horse on one ticket.

Fast Track: Rating of a dirt track that is dry and hard.

Filly: A female horse

Fire Sale: A drastic reduction in the claiming price of a horse.

Foal: A newborn horse.

Form: The current condition of a horse; may also refer to The Daily Racing Form publication.

Fractions: Clocking at quarter-mile increments in either a race or a workout.

Front Runner: A horse that wants to run on or near the lead.

Furlong: One eighth of a mile.

Gelding: A castrated male horse.

Going: The condition of the racing surface.Dirt courses are generally rated Fast, Good, Muddy, or Sloppy.Turf courses are generally rated Firm, Good, Yielding, Soft, or Heavy.

Graded Race: A stakes race that is assigned a grade (I, II, or III) by the American Graded Stakes Committee based on the relative strength of the race as compared to all other races.This is the highest form of racing.

Half sister: A female horse out of the same dam as the other horse but with a different sire.Horses with the same sire but different dams are not considered half sisters or brothers.

Handicap: A race in which the racing secretary assigns weights designed to equalize the winning chances of the entrants; or to study horses’ records in order to determine the chances of each to win the race.

Handily: A fairly strenuous workout where the jockey urges the horse on but does not use the whip.

Handle: Total sum bet on a race or during an entire day.

Hand ride: A jockey that is urging a horse on by 'scrubbing' his hand up and down its neck.A horse under only a hand ride was not whipped by the jockey.

Heavy Track: A grass racing surface that has received an extremely large amount of water and is an almost bog-like condition.

Horse: Technically, a male horse five years old or greater is a 'horse'.A male horse under five years of age is technically a 'colt'.

In hand: A horse running under restraint.

Inquiry: An official investigation by the stewards of the running of the race to determine whether a foul was committed by a horse or jockey.

In the money: To finish in the top four; this generally entitles the owner to a share of the purse.In betting terms 'in the money' means to finish in the top three.

Irons: Stirrups

Jockey agent: An individual that obtains rides for a jockey.

Juvenile: A two year old horse.

Look of Eagles: A horse that has a confident look.John Henry had the Look of Eagles.

Lug In: A horse that bears (drifts towards the rail) in during the stretch run; usually the sign of a tired horse.

Maiden: A horse that has never won a race; or a race for horses that have never won a race.

Marathon: A race longer than 1 ¼ miles long.

Mare: A female horse aged five or older.

Middle distance: A race longer than seven furlongs but shorter than 1 1/8 miles.

How Are Exacta Odds Calculated

Miler: A horse that prefers to race at or near a mile in distance.

Minus Pool: When enough money is bet on one horse that the pool is insufficient, after the track take, to pay the holders of the winning ticket the legal minimum odds.In this situation, the track is required to make up the difference to ensure that the bettors are paid the full amount.

Morning line odds: The odds set by the track prior to the opening of the pools.

Muddy Track: A dirt track that is soft, wet and holding.

Oaks: A stakes race for three year old fillies.

Objections: A claim of foul by a jockey following the race.

Odds: The chances of a horse to win a particular race based on the pari-mutuel wagering of the general public.The payouts for a $2 bet with corresponding odds are listed below:

Odds

$2 Payout

Odds

$2 Payout

Odds

$2 Payout

1-9

$2.10

3-2

$5.00

5-1

$12.00

1-5

$2.40

8-5

$5.20

6-1

$14.00

2-5

$2.80

9-5

$5.60

8-1

$18.00

1-2

$3.00

2-1

$6.00

10-1

$22.00

3-5

$3.20

5-2

$7.00

12-1

$26.00

4-5

$3.60

3-1

$8.00

15-1

$32.00

Even

$4.00

7-2

$9.00

20-1

$42.00

6-5

$4.40

4-1

$10.00

30-1

$62.00

7-5

$4.80

9-2

$11.00

50-1

$102.00

Odds Board: The tote board, usually found in the infield.

Off the board: A horse that fails to finish in the money.

Off the pace: A horse that is lagging back in the early stages of the race.

Off-track: A racing surface that is anything other than Fast (Dirt) or Firm (Turf/Grass).

Optional Claimer: A race where the horses in the field may or may not be entered for a claiming price.

Overlay: A horse whose odds are higher than its actual chance of winning, as determined by the player.For example, if a player determines that horse A’s odds are 4/1 that he will win, but the current odds at the track offer the horse at 10/1, that horse would be considered an 'overlay'.Overlays are good, underlays are bad.

Pace: The speed of the leaders at each stage of the race.

Parimutuels: French system of wagering where winning bettors get all the money wagered by the losers, after a deduction of a percentage by the track (Take Out).

Pick 3 (or 4, 5, 6, etc.): An exotic wager which requires the player to pick the winner in successive races.

Post: Starting gate.

Quarter crack: An injury to the hoof of a horse.

Quarter pole: Post on the infield rail that indicates two furlongs to the finish line.

Rank: A horse that refuses to be rated early on in the race.

Rate: To restrain a horse early on in the race in order to conserve energy for the later stages.

Route: Generally a race that is run around two turns.

School: To train a horse, generally in the starting gate or the paddock.

Exacta Payout Chart

Scratch: To withdraw a horse from a race.

Shadow roll: A roll of cloth placed across a horse's nose in order to block its vision of the ground and prevent it from jumping shadows.

Shake up: Urging by the jockey, either with his hands or the whip, to make the horse run faster.

Shipper: A horse that has traveled from one track to another to run in a race.

Shut out: When a player fails to make his bet at the window prior to the gate opening.

Sloppy track: A track that is wet, covered with puddles, but not yet 'muddy'.

Spit the bit: When a tired horse stops running hard.

Sprint: A short race, seven furlongs or less.

Stewards: Three person panel that determines whether or not any rules violations occurred during the race.

Superfecta: A wager in which the player attempts to select the order of the first four finishers in a race. Due to the difficulty of this wager, a winning superfecta wager generally pays out at high odds.

Tag: Claiming price. A horse entered for a 'tag' is entered in a claiming race.

Track Take: Money deducted from each pool for track revenue and taxes.

Trifecta: A wager in which the player selects the first three horses in a race in order.

Trip: The course followed by a horse and rider during the running of a race and describes the 'trouble' encountered. A horse that had a 'good trip' did not encounter any unusual difficulty. A 'bad trip' might involve racing wide, or being boxed in by other horses.

Turf course: A grass covered course.

Under wraps: A horse in which the rider is holding it back and intentionally keeping it from running at top speed.

Washed out: A nervous horse that is sweating.

Exacta betting gives bettors a different way to approach a horse race rather than just betting on a single horse to win, place or show. In an exacta bet, you’ll win if you can predict the first two horses in the official order of finish. If you can do that, you can often count on bigger payoffs than if you were wagering on just a single horse in a race.

One of the reasons people associate horse racing and wagering so closely is because there are so many different ways to approach your horse racing betting. Exacta betting represents just one of the most popular methods of wagering on horse races for real money. It’s still a relatively simple concept, but winning the bet can be occasionally very lucrative if the right horses are involved.

In the following article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about the well-known horse racing bet known as the exacta. We’ll go into how exacta horse racing betting works, how to bet an exacta bet, and how payback and odds are determined. On top of that, we’ll talk about the different ways you can adjust the exacta bets on horse races to improve your chances of winning big.

What Is an Exacta Bet?

First of all, it’s important to understand that exacta horse betting fall into a category of horse racing bets known as “exotic wagers.” In an exotic wager, you will always be picking more than one horse as part of your ticket. This could occur in a single race or over a period of multiple races.

This is an opposition to straight bets such as win, place and show, where you’ll be predicting the outcome of a single horse in a singe race. Here are the most popular exotic bets:

  • Exacta: First two horses in a race
  • Trifecta: First three horses in a race
  • Superfecta: First four horses in a race
  • Daily Double: Winners of two races in a row
  • Pick 3, Pick 4, and so on: Winners of several races in a row

Basic Exacta Bets

As you can see above, betting an exacta requires you to pick the exact order of finish in terms of who finishes first and who finishes second in a race. For example, in an eight-horse field, you might choose to play a 1-5 exacta.

If that’s the case, you will win the bet if the #1 finishes first and the #5 finishes second. Any other outcome will cause you to lose the wager.

Exacta Payout Belmont Stakes

That exacta betting is based on the official order of finish. In most cases, that will sync up with the first two horses in the order of finish. But there may be times when officials at the race track will change that order if some sort of violation has occurred in the race. That’s why you should never give up on your bet (or tear up your betting ticket) until you see the word “official” next to the order.

How to Make an Exacta Bet

If you’re making an exacta wager at the race track where the race is taking place, or at an off-track wagering facility simulcasting the race, you should know how to approach a teller. They’ll usually help you out if you’re confused, but you might want to have a long conversation with them without people waiting behind you in line.

For that reason, you should be prepared to have the following information:

  1. Which track? If you’re betting a race at the track where you’re located, you can usually leave this out and the teller will assume. But if you’re planning on betting an “away” track, you should lead with that information.

  2. Which race? Again, if you’re at the track and are betting on the upcoming race, you won’t need to disclose this. But it’s always a good idea to mention the race number to avoid any confusion.

  3. How much do you want to bet? Most tracks have a minimum $2 wager. But there might be times when you want to go above that amount.

  4. Which bet? Obviously, here, you would tell the teller that you’d be taking an exacta.

  5. Which horses? Remember, you will be giving the teller the number of the horses involved. The teller, who has to deal with races from all over the world, won’t know the identity of every horse in every race, but will instead rely on you to tell them the number.

How to Bet an Exacta Bet Online

When it comes to horse racing wagering online at sports betting websites, it’s a relatively easy process. And the good news is that you can do it at your own pace. You can take your time navigating through the different information for track, race number, size of bet, type of bet, and number of horses by clicking your way through it.

Exacta Payout Calculator

One thing that is the same in online exacta horse racing betting as it is in in person is that you should double-check your information. Make sure to take a good look once you’ve completed the process to see if all of the information is what you wanted. Once the race begins, it will be too late to change anything.

Exacta Odds and Payback

When you see the odds listed for horses in a race, these are usually the win odds. In other words, if a horse is listed at 4 to 1, it means you’ll win $4 for every one that you bet if you bet that horse to win. Exacta odds are completely independent of those listed win odds.

Like all horse racing wagering, exacta betting odds are part of the pari-mutuel wagering system. With this system, your final odds are based on all the bets on the that race. This is opposed to fixed-odds wagers in other sports, where you lock down the odds at the time of the bet and they won’t change for you no matter what other bets are placed.

Exacta Pools

All of the exacta single race are placed in a pool separate from all other wagers. The track will then calculate their takeout, which is a predetermined percentage that they take for a profit. At that point, the large pool is separated into smaller pools based on the different Exacta combinations.

Let’s say that you wagered on a 2-3 exacta in a particular race. There was a total of $20 wagered on that particular exacta, out of $2,000 in the total Exacta pool.

The odds for the 2-3 exacta then would be 100 to 1, since 2,000 divided by 20 is 100. If you bet $2 on this exacta, you would win $200 in return.

Finding Your Exacta Betting Odds

Obviously, doing all this math can be a bit much every time you want to see your exacta odds. Luckily, exacta horse betting is popular enough that most tracks will provide indication of exacta odds during their broadcast. You just have to know what to look for when you see it.

Exacta Payout

At some point before a race, you might see a screen that looks something like this:

12345678
1 andx251099408530
2 and35x257060121045
3 and128x556551535
4 and201015X99303560
5 and50607099x352560
6 and1530257580x2050
7 and12158506520x45
8 and40203560802530x

This is a table meant to reveal your exacta odds. The column furthest to the left represents the horse who finishes first in the race. And the row at the top shows the possible second-place finishers.

To find out your exacta betting odds, simply combine the rows and columns. For example, if you bet on a 6-2 exacta, you would follow the “6 and” row over to the “2” column and see the number 30. That means your odds for that particular exacta are 30-1.

You have to remember that these would be the Exacta odds only at that moment. As more people bet into the pools on specific combinations, the odds will keep changing. Only once the race goes off are Exacta odds final.

Different Exacta Horse Racing Betting Strategies

Up to this point, we have stuck with the simplest exacta wagers, which is two horses on a ticket—one meant to finish first, the other meant to finish second. But there are many ways to change up your real money exacta bets in order to change to odds and improve your chances. Here are just a few.

Exacta Boxes

With an exacta box, you’ll still be picking the first two horses in the order of finish. But you’ll be able to win the wager if the two horses come in first and second in any order.

For example, if you bet a 4-6 exacta on a particular race at a horse racing betting site, you would win the wager with either of the following results:

  • 4-6
  • 6-4

The box for exacta horse betting actually gives you access to two combinations. As a result, it’s essentially two bets. In order to bet a full exacta box, it will cost you at least $4 (two $2 bets).

Many tracks have what is known as a $1 exacta box as well. This will give you a box and cost you only $2 (since it represents two $1 bets). Just keep in mind that a $1 box will earn you only half of the full exacta payout if you should hit it.

Multiple-Horse Boxes

You don’t have to limit your exacta boxes to just two horses. If there are a handful of horses that you feel could be in the mix of a particular race, you could include them all in a larger exacta box.

For example, imagine there’s a 10-horse race and you feel that the only horses that have a shot to finish in the top two in the order of finish are the #1, #3, #5 and #7. You can box them all, and you would win with any of the following results:

As you can see, you’re covered a lot of different ways. But that also means a much more sizable bet than a two-horse exacta box. In this case, there are 12 different combinations, which means you’re looking at a $24 wager.

Some bettors believe in bets like this when the field is particularly large. That’s because the payback for races like that on an exacta will tend to be substantial. By using the multiple-horse exacta box, you’ll give yourself a good chance at the payback if you handicapped the race well.

Keyed Horses

By keying an exacta, you are emphasizing your confidence in a particular horse, and leaving open the possibilities for many other horses to fill out your exacta horse betting ticket. This can come in handy when you feel good about who is going to win but aren’t sure who will finish second.

Let’s say you feel strongly that the #4 is going to win a particular race. But you aren’t sure if the #2, #3 or #5 will finish second. You can choose to key the #4 in first with the #2, #3 and #5, which would cover you for the following outcomes:

  • 4-2
  • 4-3
  • 4-5

This would be a $6 wager, since you have three different exacta bets. You could also key on a horse to finish second while having multiple possibilities to win. In addition, you could key multiple horses for both first and second, although, obviously, that would boost the size of your wager.

Wheel Bets

When you wheel the field for exacta betting in a particular race, you are essentially including every horse in the race in exacta combinations. That might seem like a very expensive bet, but it could be lucrative if you know what you’re doing.

The most popular wheel exacta bet comes when a bettor picks one horse to win then includes the entire field as possible second-place finishers. For example, imagine that you liked the #1 horse to win in an eight-horse field but have no real idea of who might finish second. You could wheel the #1 with the field and be covered by the following results:

There are seven bets here, which means you’d be looking at a $14 bet if you want a full-priced return. That might seem pricey, but consider how you can use this to your advantage.

Many bettors like to wheel a heavy favorite with the field. If you were to bet on a favorite to win, your return wouldn’t be much. But wheeling it with the field in an exacta horse betting can pay off well, especially if you end up with a long shot finishing second.

The downside of this type of bet is that, if another horse that is bet well finishes second, you might not make a profit. But a wheel exacta bet can be really effective if you have no doubt about the winner of a particular race and want to cash in a little bit more than with just a win bet.

Exacta Horse Racing Betting FAQ

It will depend on the exacting betting odds of that particular race, how many horses are in the field, and many other factors. One rough catch-all estimate might put the average exacta payout at about 20 to 1 or 25 to 1. There are times when it will rise much higher than that if a pair of long shots are involved.
If you are going to be betting the exacta a lot and find that the track takeout for that particular wager is high, it will cut into your bottom line. Of course, if you’re comfortable betting at the track, the success that you have might outweigh the difference in takeout. You should always compare and contrast what different tracks take out if you really want to maximize your winnings.
Although this rarely happens, most tracks will offer a consolation payout in this circumstance. What that means is that anyone who had at least one of the two horses in their combination in the right order will be considered to have a winning ticket. But you have to realize that will mean many more winning tickets than usual, which will dilute the payback from what you would normally expect in an exacta wager.