The payout for a show bet on a winning horse isn’t as much as the payout on a win bet, however.įourth, once you’re certain you’ve picked the winner, head to the betting window. Be aware that if you bet a horse to place, you get a payout if it wins or places, and if you bet a horse to show, you get a payout if it wins, places, or shows. Third, once you’ve picked a horse, decide how much you want to bet (there’s a $2 minimum), and whether you want to bet on the horse to win, place (finish second), or show (finish third). Though there are payouts for second and third places, the winnings are impossible to calculate until the race has been run because they vary based on which three horses end up in the money and in what order. This translates to 5 to 1 odds, which means that you’d get a $5 payout for every $1 bet if said horse wins.

At Churchill Downs, odds are listed as a single number, such as 5. They change continually as people place bets. Second, scan the tote board to see the current odds for each horse. There are as many ways of picking a winner as there are people, ranging from complicated mathematical formulas to lucky numbers and colors, so go with whatever feels right to you. You’re going to need to know what horses are racing, and you might want to know what jockey is on board what horse, what the horses’ previous race results are, or maybe just what color silks the jockeys will be wearing.

Youbet com churchill downs