Learning To Bet: 2nd Day

by Taylor Kalkbrenner

My day at the races today consisted of starting to wager and I couldn’t be more excited of how far I have gotten already. I came to the races today and I realized that today would be the day that I would make my first wager. Out of the thirteen races that took place, I was there for seven of them.

I walked over to my typical table and talked with some of the owners to let them know that today was day one of wagering for me. Throughout the day, I tried to do as much as I could on my own but it was nice that the table of owners was still open to any questions that I had.

Race 1 was about to start and I looked closely at my program to see what I was going to do for this race. Instead of picking an individual horse to win, I decided to do an exacta, so I bet a 5 2 exacta box. An exacta box consists of me choosing two horses that to finish in first and second place. Adding a box to the bet gives me the opportunity of your selections come in any order and still win. I was unlucky due to the fact that the top four were 2 3 5 1, but hey, I was close if the fifth horse would have beaten the third. I was only off by about a head so I would say that’s a pretty good start.

I was feeling adventurous for race 2, so I decided to try a superfecta. A superfecta is the same concept as my previous bet, except four horses are chosen. I did not add the box, so my selections would have to come in the exact order I chose. I bet a 6 8 with a 2 1. Talk about close, the final results for that race were 6 8 7 2. As race 3 was approaching I was starting to get the hang of things and I wanted more.

Hoping to make the saying “third times a charm” come true, I was really feeling it for the third race. Sir Jack, the fourth horse driven by Tony Hall, really stood out to me this race since he was one of the favorites and his recent fast race times. I decided to bet him to win. I got lucky and he took the win for the third race. I was so happy I got to win one and the information in the program was finally starting to make sense to me.
Race 4 came along and since the exacta went pretty good the first race, I decided to try it once again. I knew I was for sure going to pick the 3 horse as 1 but I was between 6 and 7 and I ended up going with 6. The 3 horse came through for me but I ended up trailing behind with the 6 horse not finishing in second.

After looking at the page for race 5, I was very eager for this race to get started. I took a while to look over all of the necessities that would determine the top competitors for this race. I studied the favorites, their most recent race times, and some of their purse earnings and their rankings. At first I was going to go with the 8 horse but then he was scratched, so I decided to bet a superfecta once again (I was feeling adventurous today). I chose a 1 3 with a 5 4. My luck wasn’t too good for this race with the results being 5 4 3 7.

For my last two races of the day, I was really trying to snag another win. I saw that I could bet a trifecta for this race so I went for it. I chose the 8 horse to take the win with a 5 3. I was watching the race anxiously hoping my trifecta would pull through. It went back and forth with many different horses taking the lead. In the end, the result was 4 5 3 with the 8 trailing behind in fourth place. If only the 8 and 4 horse were switched I would have been in luck.

Going into my last race of the day, I was proud of how I had come in one day. For the last race, I decided to bet another superfecta. I chose an 8 6 with a 1 3. Sadly, I was pretty off this time with the order being 2 5 9 8.

Overall, my first day of wagering was a great experience and I learned so much already. I can’t wait to get back to the track to experience some more wagering and to eventually bring my family and friends to teach them how to wager too.