A Sure Bet: Four of a Kind
October 30, 2009
Just as in poker, four of a kind is a good thing on the race track.
By In poker, four of a kind usually means the player wins big.
Similarly, horseplayers that hit a pick four generally win big. As it sounds, the pick four is a bet that you can pick the winner of four races in a row. Los Alamitos makes its early pick four a worthwhile playing opportunity as the track guarantees that the pool will be a minimum of $50,000 on most Thursdays and $75,000 every weekend night! The pick four is not easy to hit, but with a minimum unit wager of $.50, we can bet several combinations and keep the size of our wager within bankroll limits.
To bet a pick four, go to a mutuel window prior to Race 1or Race 6 (at Los Alamitos when there are only 9 races), and say “$2 pick four 7 – 6 – 1 – 5. If 7 wins the first race, 6 wins the second race, 1 wins the third race AND 5 wins the fourth race, you win the pick four.
If a huge longshot wins one of those four races, there is a chance that no one will have correctly picked all four winners. In that case, every player that picked three winners will share the net pool. We are all aware of how hard it is to pick one winner, let alone several in a row, so betting just one $2 ticket is a bit like buying a lottery ticket, although easier because we can pick the horses based on some information.
I like to increase my chances of winning a pick four by playing more than one horse in some (or all) of the races that make up the pick four. For example, we could play a pick four that starts with Race 1 like this: $1 pick four 1, 3, 7 with 6, 10 with 1, 9 with 5. If either 1, 3 or 7 wins Race 1, then either 6 or 10 wins Race 2, then either 1 or 9 wins Race 3 and 5 wins Race 4, our ticket would be a winner.
If you’re crazy about horse racing, then you need AQHA’s twice-weekly Q-Racing e-newsletter. It’s free, and it’ll give you all the info you need to know about the hottest race horses and the best races to wager your bets!
To calculate the cost of that wager, multiply the number of runners in each race times each other. In our example, we would multiply 3 x 2 x 2 x 1 equals 12 possible winning combinations. Because I bet a $1 unit, my cost would be $12. If I played a $.50 unit bet (I’d have said, “I want a 50-cent pick 4,” etc.), that bet would only cost me $6.
The pick four payoff announced and shown on TV monitors may be either the $2 payoff amount or $1 payoff amount. If we bet a $.50 unit ticket, we will get one fourth of the $2 payout or one half of the $1 payout. Pick fours can be fun, exciting and financially rewarding . Plus, you can include multiple horses in each race and keep your investment reasonable and within the limits of your bankroll.
As executive director of The Elite Program, C. Reid McLellan organizes and teaches Groom, Owner and Trainer Elite classes around the country. Find out about the next available class here!
As owner and agent of Purple Power Equine Services, Reid helps people buy and sell race and show prospects and provides guidance and assistance with training, breeding and other equine services.
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