Give the daily double a shot next time you’re at the horse races.

Can you pick a winner?

The slogan for a popular brand of chewing gum can also apply to the daily double.

The daily double is a $2 bet that allows you to pick the winners of two consecutive horse races. Some tracks offer “rolling” daily doubles on all pairs of races on their cards. Retama Park introduced what they call the “49er Double,” where players attempt to pick the winners of their fourth and ninth races.

Some tracks have daily double wagering on the first two races and the last two races. There are even daily doubles requiring players to pick the winners of races on back-to-back days. Churchill Downs has the “Oaks-Derby Double” combining its marquee races for 3-year-olds on Friday and Saturday of the first weekend in May. Ruidoso Downs provides opportunity for American Quarter Horse fans to select the winner of the All American Derby on Sunday and the All American Futurity on Labor Day Monday.

The daily double was the first exotic wager. An exotic wager is a wager that involves more than one horse. Straight wagers, win, place show, only require one horse to finish in a certain position. Track marketing folks came up with the idea of the daily double. They were looking for an incentive to encourage players to get to the track before post time for the first race. The daily double was many times the biggest single payoff for a $2 bet on a given race day. Fans hurried to their local track and through the turnstiles in order to play the double. With the advent of additional (and many times higher-paying) exotic wagers, the double may not be as popular as it once was, but it offers big value in some instances.

To play a daily double, handicap the two races and decide on the horses you think will win. Let’s say you like #5 to win the first race and #8 to win the second. Go to any mutuel window, say “$2 Daily Double 5 – 8″ and pay the mutuel clerk $2. When #5 wins the first race, you will be “live in the double.” Now you just have to cheer hard for #8 in the second race. You collect the daily double payoff amount if #8 wins the second race.

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You can increase your chances of winning a double by selecting more than one horse in each leg. If you have a strong feeling that #5 will win the first race but can’t decide which of four runners in the second race might win, you could go to the window and say, “$2 Daily Double part-wheel 5 with 1, 4, 5, 8.” That wager costs $8 since you actually have four separate $2 daily double bets. You win when #5 wins the first race and any one of your four horses in the second race is the winner. Maybe you want to play several horses in each leg. Go to a betting window and say, “$2 Daily Double 4, 5 with 4, 8.” Once again, you will be spending $8 as you have the following four daily doubles (4-4; 4-8; 5-4; 5-8). If you have strong confidence in a runner in the second race but don’t have a clue about the first race, consider a daily double backwheel. To bet a backwheel, say “$2 Daily Double ALL with 8.” This will cost $2 times the number of runners in the first race. You could lose money if a favorite wins each leg, as your bet would cost $20 with a 10-horse field and the double may only pay $14. So if you are considering a wheel, make sure your solo selection is at least 2-1 or more.

The daily double may not be as cool as the newer exotic bets at the horse races, but sometimes this original can help you double your pleasure and your bankroll!

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