Exacta

Kentucky Derby Odds – Exacta

So you’ve got a good handle on the basic straight bets in horse racing: win, place and show. Now it’s time to kick things up a notch. It’s time for your first exotic bet. In this case, exotic doesn’t refer to an exotic vacation prize or anything like that. It simply means you’re betting on more than one horse in the same race.

The simplest exotic bet, and one of the most popular at the horse track, is the exacta bet. All you have to do here is pick which two horses will finish 1-2, in that exact order. This is also known as an exactor bet in Canada and a straight forecast in the United Kingdom; you may also see it referred to as a perfecta. It’s much harder to pick the exacta correctly than a typical straight bet, but if you do, your payout increases substantially.

We mean substantially, too. Our example race, the 2013 Preakness Stakes, saw Oxbow finish first (paying out at $32.80) and Itsmyluckyday finish second (paying out at $7.80). If you had these two horses 1-2 in your $2 exacta bet, you would’ve been paid out at a very healthy $301.40.

To bet the exacta at your racebook, find the button marked exacta on your online ticket, and click on it. You’ll then be able to select which horse you want to finish first and which one you want to finish second. Odds and payouts are all automatically displayed for you. There are a number of strategies involved with picking the exacta, such as the exacta box and the exacta wheel. We’ll go into greater detail about these strategies elsewhere on this site. For now, think of the exacta as your simplest way to deliver a 1-2 punch at the pay window.