Horse Racing Wagering to Win For a complete list of all of our Racebook locations throughout the province of British Columbia, please visit our website at WWW.BCRACEBOOK.COM Watch Wager Win Head Office #220-17667 65A Avenue Surrey, BC V3S 1Z8 Tel. 604-574-6900 www.bcracebook.com Problem Gambling Help Line 1-888-795-6111 www.bcresponsiblegambling.ca Know your limit, play within it. 19+ to play! Problem Gambling Help Line 1-888-795-6111 www.bcresponsiblegambling.ca Know your limit, play within it. 19+ to play!
E xperience the thrill of watching live horse racing at the world s best racetracks from the comfort of one of our fabulous Racebook locations! In each of our Racebook locations, you can experience the adrenaline as the horses round the final turn and head for home. Feel the rush of excitement when your horse crosses the finish line first and the excitement of cashing in a winning ticket. Wagering In pari-mutuel wagering, bettors compete against one another, not against the track, while the racetrack holds the stakes. A percentage of the money wagered is deducted for taxes, purse money for the races and the track share. This is called the takeout. The remainder of the money wagered is divided among the winning bettors. Odds are determined by the amount of money wagered on an individual horse or betting propositions. They are automatically calculated by the pari-mutuel computer after the takeout is deducted. The more money wagered on a horse or combination of horses, the lower the odds. The odds to win are displayed on the toteboard at the track and on the television monitors for those who are wagering remotely (at one of our B.C. off-track wagering locations), also known as simulcasting. These odds are expressed in relation to a $1 wager and continually change as wagering continues. Payouts are based on $2 wagers, thus a horse that wins at 8-1 will pay 8 x $2 plus your $2 investment totaling $18. race day s entries close, by a blind draw. Qualifying Race A race without a purse or betting used to determine a horse s ability and manners. Scratch Withdrawing a horse from the race for any reason, after its entry has been accepted. Silks/Colours The colourful cap and jackets that jockeys and drivers wear. Simulcast Simultaneous broadcast of a race to betting facilities away from the live racetrack. Standardbred The breed of horse that paces or trots a race, usually one mile, on a stone or clay track with a sulky behind them, which the driver sits in. Tack Equipment used to ride or control a horse. Thoroughbred The breed of horse that races variable distances on turf, dirt and synthetic tracks with a jockey on their back. Trainer A person who is responsible for conditioning, entering the owner s horses into races. Underlay Horse whose odds are more promising than his potential to win. Weight The assigned weight for a horse, including the jockey, equipment and lead weights if needed. Every type of wager has its own wagering pool and the odds and payoffs for each are calculated separately. Workout Exercise session at a predetermined distance. Odds And Payout Yearling A horse that is one year old. The universal birth date of horses is January 1. Approximate payout based on a $2 wager Odds 1-9 1-5 2-5 1-2 3-5 4-5 1-1 6-5 7-5 3-2 8-5 9-5 2-1 5-2 Payoff 2.20 2.40 2.80 3.00 3.20 3.60 4.00 4.40 4.80 5.00 5.20 5.60 6.00 7.00 Odds Payoff Odds 3-1 7-2 4-1 9-2 5-1 6-1 7-1 8-1 9-1 10-1 11-1 12-1 13-1 14-1 8.00 9.00 10.00 11.00 12.00 14.00 16.00 18.00 20.00 22.00 24.00 26.00 28.00 30.00 15-1 16-1 17-1 18-1 19-1 20-1 25-1 30-1 40-1 50-1 60-1 70-1 80-1 90-1 Payoff 32.00 34.00 36.00 38.00 40.00 42.00 52.00 62.00 82.00 102.00 122.00 142.00 162.00 182.00
Selecting Winners Before making a wager, it is best to study up on the horses in the race. At each of our Racebook sites, there are several Racing Programs and the Daily Racing Form available for purchase from either Guest Services, the Mutuel Teller or one of the automated program kiosks. These contain detailed past performance information about each horse from its most recent races. Furlong One-eighth of a mile. This is the distance multiplied to create the length of a thoroughbred race. Gelding A neutered male horse. Handicapping Using horses past performances to determine their chances of winning a current race. Handle Jockey In thoroughbred racing, the individual that sits on the horse and steers it. Lasix Diuretic medication given to horses which bleed. Length A measurement that represents the approximate length of a horse. Maiden A horse of any sex who has never won a race. Money wagered. There are several different strategies to picking winning horses. Some racing fans use non-technical methods such as the name, colour of the horse, their lucky number or their license plate numbers. One random selection is as good as the next but learning to read a Racing Program or Form will provide many more winners in the long run. Using the Racing Programs and Forms will allow you to handicap* the horses, analyzing their past performances to make an educated choice based on their relative merits. To learn more about how to handicap a race, feel free to ask one of the helpful workers at one of our Racebook locations or visit our website at www.thebettingcompany.com for more information. *See definition of handicap in Terms to Know section Mare An older female horse. Morning Line The starting odds set by the track handicapper. Odds An indication of the public s opinion of the relative merits of the individual horse, or in the case of exotic wagers, combinations of horses. Odds are determined by the amount of money bet on each horse or proposition, relative to the total amount bet. Overlay A horse whose odds are greater than its potential to win. Pari-Mutuel System of wagering where all the money is returned to the wagerers after a deduction of track and government percentages. Post Position A horse s position in the starting gate. Stalls are numbered from the inside rail. Positions are assigned after a
Terms To Know Win Horse must finish the race first Across the Board A win, place and show wager on a horse. Wager Types Win Horse must finish the race first Place Horse must finish the race first or second Show Horse must finish the race first, second or third Daily Double Must pick the winning horse in two consecutive races Exactor Select the exact order of the first two horses in the race (ex. 1,4 - #1 must finish first and #4 second) Quinella Select the first two horses that cross the finish line in any order Triactor Select the exact order of the first three horses in the race first, second & third Superfecta Select the exact order of the first four horses in the race first, second, third & fourth Pick Three elect the winning horse in three S consecutive races Allowance A race other than a claiming event for which the race secretary drafts certain conditions. Apprentice A jockey who has ridden for less than a year and who receives a weight allowance for less experience. Backstretch The racetrack s barn area. Beyer Speed Figure A measure of performance popularized by Andy Beyer of The Washington Post. Blinkers The hood with eyecups worn by horses to limit peripheral vision and avoid distractions. Bullet Workout Fastest workout of the day at a particular distance. Chalk The wagering favourite in the race. Claming Race A race in which the horses are for sale at a price specified before the race. Claims are made up to 15 minutes before the race and the new owner assumes possession immediately following the race. Colt An ungelded male horse four years old or younger. Coupled Entries Two or more horses, owned by the same owner or trained by the same trainer, comprising a single betting interest. Entries are listed in the program as #1, #1A, #1X. A wager on any horse in the entry is a wager on all of them. Pick Four Select the winning horse in four consecutive races Pick Six Select the winning horse in six consecutive races Dead Heat Two or more horses finishing a race in a tie. Driver In standardbred racing, the individual that sits in the race bike and steers the horse. Box Selected numbers are put into every possible combination Wheel A key horse is selected to finish first, second or third with remaining horses in all possible combinations Enquiry/Objection An immediate review of the race to check into possible rule infractions by a jockey, driver or horse. Filly A young female horse.
Reading The Results Place Your Bets Once the race is over, and the horses have all crossed the finish line, the winning horse returns for the winning picture. Now it is time to check the official results and see how much you won. You have made your selection and it s now time to place your bet. There are two ways to make a wager at most sites: place a wager with one of our mutuel tellers or use a self-serve wagering terminal. The results are listed at the track on the toteboard and on the television monitors. Mutuel Teller Here is an example of how the official results will look. Once you have arrived at the mutuel window, call your wager to the teller in the following order: Horse Number 4 7 2 WIN (1st) PLACE (1st, 2nd) Show (1st, 2nd, 3rd) $20.80 $8.20 $4.70 $4.30 $2.80 $3.40 It is important to remember that payoffs for WIN, PLACE and SHOW are always based on a $2 wager. In this example, if you placed a $2 WIN bet on the #4 horse, you would receive $20.80. The final odds on this horse were approximately 9-1 (9 X $2 + $2 investment). If you had made a $5 WIN wager on the horse, you would receive $52 ($20.80 X 2.5). If you had made a $2 PLACE bet on the #4, you would receive $8.20 and a $2 SHOW bet would return $4.70. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Track name Race number Bet amount Bet type Horse number Example Hastings Racecourse, Race #3, I would like $5 to win on horse number five. Or, Fraser Downs, Race #7, I would like a $1 triactor box two, three and six. Self-Serve Wagering Terminal When using an Automated Wagering Terminal, follow the steps listed below: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Insert a bill, voucher or winning ticket Choose the racetrack Choose the amount of the wager Choose the type of wager Choose your horse Press Finish or if you want to place another wager on the same track, press Next Bet If you are placing a wager for less than the value of funds you inserted, the change will be dispensed on a separate voucher after your ticket. The vouchers are treated as cash so remember to take both tickets out of the machine to avoid losing the remainder of your voucher. When you are finished wagering for the day, you can cash out your vouchers and winning tickets with the pari-mutuel teller or at the predetermined location at each site. Remember, winning tickets and vouchers do not expire.
Program Exotic Wagers Exotic wagers involve picking more than one horse, making it more difficult to win. Their payoffs can be much larger than straight wagers (Win Place Show). The large payoff possibility makes the exotic wagers a popular choice amongst avid handicappers. Some veteran horseplayers purchase tickets with more than one combination of horses. To facilitate the purchase of multiple combinations, certain techniques have evolved. Box An easy way to reverse an exotic wager is to box it, giving you all possible combinations. Exactor Example Box three horses, #1-2-4 for $2 (totaling $12) creating six combinations (bets) 1-2, 1-4, 2-1, 2-4, 4-1, 4-2. You win if any two of your selections, #1, 2 or 4 finishes first and second. Pacers vs. Trotters Currently in British Columbia, all harness races are paces. This gait has the horse moving both legs on the same side forward in unison. Most pacers wear hopples, straps connecting front and rear legs on the same side. Hopples help the horse keep stride without limiting speed. The other gait in harness racing is the trot. Trotters move their left front and right rear legs forward almost simultaneously, then follow suit with right front and left rear. Most trotters usually do not wear hopples, so they tend to go off stride if inexperienced or trying to trot too fast. This is called breaking. Quinella Example Box three horses, #3-5-6 for $2 (totaling $6) creating three combinations (bets) 3-5, 3-6, 5-6. You win if any two of your selections, #3, 5 or 6 finishes first and second. Triactor Example Box horses #1-5-9 for $2 each creating six combinations (bets) 1-5-9, 1-9-5, 5-1-9, 5-9-1, 9-1-5, 9-5-1 for a total of $12. You will win if your selections, #1, 5 & 9 finish first, second and third in any order. Last Quarter & Final Time - :30 1:561 LILKENT paced the last quarter of a mile in :30 and paced his mile in 1:561. Superfecta Example Box horses #1-2-4-8 for $1 each, creating twenty-four combinations (bets) for a total of $24. You will win if your selections, #1-2-4 & 8 finish first, second, third and fourth. EXOTIC BOX WAGERS # of Horses 3 4 5 6 $2 Exactor $6 $12 $20 $30 $1 Triactor $6 $24 $60 $120 $1 Superfecta N/A $24 $120 $240 Dollar Odds, Driver & Number of Horses in Race 13.35 DPHudon 9 The dollar odds on LILKENT were $13.35 to $1. D P Hudon drove the horse and there were 9 horses in the race. Top Three Finishers LonnieMack BigPromise Lilkent The race finished with Lonnie Mack winning the race, Big Promise finishing second and Lilkent finishing third.
H ow T o R e a d T h e KEY In a key wager, the bettor uses a single horse in a wagering combination. Keying is effective for the Daily Double, Exactor, Triactor, Superfecta, Pick Three, Pick Four & Pick Six wagers. Daily Double Use the #1 horse in the first race with four horses in the second race. Key #2 in the first race with #1-2-4-9 in the second creating four combinations (bets) 1-1, 1-2, 1-4, 1-9 at $2 each, for a total of $8. You win if #1 wins the first race and #1, 2, 4 or 9 wins the second race. Exactor Example To better understand a Standardbred horse s past performance when betting on Harness Racing, let s look at the sample race for LILKENT at Fraser Downs. The horse s last race is highlighted in yellow above. When, Where and Temperature - 9 May 13 FrD5/8 17 ft LILKENT s last race was on May 9th in race 13 at Fraser Downs. Fraser Downs is a 5/8 of a mile track. On that day at race time it was 17 degrees Celsius and the track was fast. Race Type & Purse 8000ClmCd...2900 LILKENT was in a $8,000 Claming Condition race with a purse of $2,900. Almost all harness races are one mile in length. The odd race may be longer or shorter but would be noted on the race page. Fractional Times :281 :581 1:254 1:554 Fractional times are recorded in 1/5th of a second intervals. The leader of the race was at the 1/4 mile in :281 and the half mile in :581. They paced the 3/4 of a mile in 1:254 and the race was won in 1:554. Key the #3 horse with the #2-5-6, creating three combinations (bets) 3-2, 3-5, 3-6 for $2, totaling $6. You win if the key horse, #3 finishes first with #2, 5 or 6, finishing second. Triactor Example Key horses #1-6 with #1-6 with #4-9 creating four combinations (bets) 1-6-4, 1-69, 6-1-4, 6-1-9 for $1, totaling $4. You win if #1 or #6 finishes first and second (either order), and #4 or 9 finish third. Performance Line 8 111/2 111/2 22 221/2 321/4 LILKENT started the race in the eighth post position and at the first quarter was first by 11/2 lengths. At the half mile, he was still first by 11/2 and at the three quarters he was second two lengths back. At the top of the stretch he was second 21/2 lengths back and LILKENT finished third beaten by 21/4 lengths.
How To Read The Daily Racing Form Page To better predict how well a horse is going to do in a given race, purchase a Daily Racing Form (DRF) or Racing Program from the Kiosk to study the horse s form. Let s look at the sample race for Splattered at Hastings Racecourse. The last race that this horse ran is highlighted in yellow above. When, Where & Distance 2May09-2Hst fst 61/2f Splattered s last race was on May 2, 2009 in the second race at Hastings Racecourse with a fast track condition. The race length was 6 1/2 furlongs. Times :222 :462 1:131 1:201 Fractional times recorded in 1/5th of a second. The leaders s first recorded time was at the 1/4 mile marker with :222 seconds, then :462 at the half mile and 1:131 at the 3/4 mile marker. The final time over 6 1/2 furlongs was 1:201. h Type Race 3 Md5000(5-4.5) Three-year-old and upward competition in a maiden race. All of the horses in this race have never won a race before. Beyer Speed Figure & Running Line 58 7 5 2hd 11/2 12 111/4 The 58 represents the Beyer Speed Figure that Splattered ran during the race. The other figures represent Splattered s performance during the race. He started the race in the seventh (7) post position and at the break he was fifth (5). At the first call he was second a head behind the leader (2hd). Then he was first by a half length (11/2) at the next call and first by two lengths (12) at the top of the stretch. At the end of the race, Splattered finished first by one and 1/4 lengths (111/4). Jockey, Medication & Weight - Wilson D H L122 Splattered s jockey was D H Wilson for this race. The L represents Lasix which is a medication that is given to horses with a tendency to bleed. The weight assigned to the horse was 122 pounds. Betting Odds, Speed Rating & Track Variant *.70 77-17 Betting odds for Splattered were $0.70 to $1.00 or 0.70-1. The (*) means that he was the betting favourite of the race. The 77, the speed rating, is a comparison of this horse s time with the best time at the distance at that track in the last three years. The figure has a par value of 100. The 17, the track variant, shows how many points below par the times for all races at that distance on the same surface were that day. The lower the track variant, the faster the track was for that day. Top Three Finishers Splttered12211/4 GretGetwy 1224 Dontcllmtomorrow1145 Splattered won the race by 11/4 lengths, Great Getaway was second by 4 lengths over Don t Call Me Tomorrow who was third by 5 lengths. The 122, 122 and 114 denotes the weight the top three finishers carried in the race. Race Comments & Number of Horses in Field Drew clear, driving 7 Brief comment about Splattered s race explains that he drew clear of the field and was driving. The seven (7) represents that seven horses competed in the race.