How to bet on Horse Racing: The beginner's guide to wagering on the ponies

The Kentucky Derby is finally here!

These races bring text messages, emails and phone calls from people I haven’t communicated with in quite some time. And I love that they reach out for betting advice. 

Betting on horses is supposed to be fun. Some may choose a horse based on a name. Others may choose their winner based on the silk colors. Some may even just choose their lucky number. Whatever works, right? So for those who want to learn about how it works and get a little more involved than just a win bet, let's talk about the several ways to bet on this race. 

Here is a quick beginner's guide on how to bet on ponies.

This is the simplest way to bet on horse races.

Pick a horse and bet him to win (finish first), place (finish second) or show (finish third). This is a $2 base bet, and you can certainly bet more if you’d like. You can also bet the horse "across the board," meaning you have him to win, place and show — which is a $6 bet on a $2 base bet. And if your horse finishes third or better, you’ll collect. You can also do a "win-place" wager, which means you have the horse to finish first and second. That’s a $4 bet on a $2 base. 

If you want to keep it simple, give these a try.

Think you can peg the first two runners to get across the line? That’s called an exacta. The beauty of exacta betting is you can bet it "straight." Here's an example: "I’ll take a $2 exacta on [horses] 1-2." That means the runners need to finish in that exact order; the one horse has to win, and the two has to finish second. 

Or you can bet a box. In that case, you might say, "I’ll take a $2 exacta box 1-2". That means as long as the one and two horses finish in the top two positions, you win. The box will cost you double the amount, as you