How To Win A Trifecta Articles | Horse Betting

By: Richard Bleuze

How to win a trifecta

Picking the winners of the first three finishers of a horse race is difficult for many horse bettors.  However, it can be done if you can recognize the right circumstances and if you "box" your bet.  Of course, nothing is guaranteed when you bet on horses.

However, if you bet the horses online once or twice week, here is a simple  trick you can use to increase your chances of winning a trifecta, especially if you do not know how to read the past performances.  Let the general public do the work for you and use their trends to make your choices.

Prior to the start of each race, examine the odds closely.  Compare the odds to the morning line odds (M/L Odds).  Once you have done the above, take note of the horses that had odds set at 10:1 or less.

The next step is to look closely at the current betting odds.  These numbers do change prior to the race because horse bettors are betting on them or against them (by betting on other horses).  If the current odds are single digit or less (9:1 or less) make a note to yourself.

If five horses or less have betting odds less than 9:1 and morning line odds at 10:1 or less, then you have an opportunity to pick a winning trifecta.  Focus on these horses and rank them in order of current odds starting with the favorite (the horse that has the lowest current odds).

The next step is to compare the betting odds to the morning line odds.  Is there a horse that has morning line odds of 10:1, and now has betting odds that are significantly lower?  On the otherhand, is the morning line favorite (say 2:1) now at 6 or 7:1?

Now, you need to narrow the field.  Do this by dropping two or more of the horses whose betting odds are higher than the morning line odds even if they have current betting odds that are lower than the remaining three horses.  Many experienced horse bettors will say that you are just picking the top three favorites.  However, that is not really true, exactly!  What you are looking at is the confidence level of the betting public - often times a knowledgeable betting public will spot a long shot horse and make it a popular choice.  The horse may have betting odds at 9:1 now, but the morning line odds were 15:1.  Obviously some horse bettors are seeing a potential long shot winner.
 
It is now time to place a trifecta bet.  Let us "box" our three horses since it is almost impossible to choose the exact order of finish.  What is "boxing"?  "Boxing" means that if our three horses finish 1,2,3 in any order, we still win.   You must decide on the dollar amount and type of bet (in most cases, most online racebooks accept a $2 trifecta box).  Finally, pick the horse numbers of the horses based on the above forumla.  It is that simple!  

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