What Is A Superfecta In Horse Racing
What is a Superfecta? You must select the first four horses in the exact order of finish in one race. (See Trifecta for bragging rights.). Horse racing’s Triple Crown series is officially completed — and a determined filly took down the boys in the Preakness Stakes. 4 Swiss Skydiver, the only female in the 11-horse field, captured the 145th running of one of the sport’s three marquee races for 3-year-olds.Swiss Skydiver, trained by Kenny McPeek, made history in the triumph, becoming just the sixth filly to win the 1 3.
Superfecta is largely considered the most lucrative of all horse racing betting opportunities, and at the same time, the hardest wager to collect on. You’ll have to correctly predict the first four horses to finish the race, in exact order, to release this massive purse. It is generally the type of wager only veteran handicappers place with any degree of confidence, but if you are looking for a very large payout and are feeling lucky why not give it a try at an online betting site such as Bovada.lv.
In some countries, the name Superfecta refers to a wager on more than four horses, as high as five or six. Since the name doesn’t exactly relate to a number, as in the case of a “Trifecta” (first 3 horses), some horse racing tracks have begun using terms like “First Four” or “Quartet” in place of, or in combination with, Superfecta.
What is Superfecta Horse Racing Betting?
A Superfecta is a complex horse racing bet where the bettor is required to pick not just the win, Place and Show horses, but the fourth place finisher as well. Picking the first four animals to finish a horse race, in exact order, is no easy task.
Above is an example of the “superfecta” menu at Bovada.lv where you can bet on any horse to either win, place or show. You will also get $250 free at Bovada for the Kentucky Derby.
In order to collect on the bet, every horse chosen must finish in the chosen order. If you select them to finish in order as 5-4-6-2, and instead they finish 5-4-2-6, your wager is lost. But should they come in 5-4-6-2 as predicted, the payout can be astronomical!
You are also given the option to “box” your selections, which will put in a series of bets for every possible order of the 4 horses you’ve selected. With a superfecta this will cost $24 if you choose $1 bets (as their are 24 possible outcomes). More on this can be found below.
Types of Superfecta Horse Racing Betting
There are three ways to place a Superfecta bet in horse racing betting:
Cent Superfecta Box All
Straight Superfecta
Superfecta Box
Superfecta Wheel
The minimum bet size in horse racing is generally $2, though most Superfecta bets are reduced to a $1 minimum. For this reason, we’ll be using a $1 wager in the following examples.
Straight Superfecta Horse Racing Betting
The Straight Superfecta is the most simplistic of all Superfecta bets. The bettor chooses four horses, selecting the exact order they will finish – first, second, third and fourth. The bet slip would read something like this: $1 Superfecta 5-4-6-2.
It would be a $1 bet that the #5 horse would Win, the #4 horse Place (second), the #6 horse Show (third) and the #2 horse finish fourth.
Superfecta Box Horse Racing Betting
The Superfecta Box is a similar bet, but includes all possible combinations of the chosen horses to finish in any given order. A $1 Superfecta Box would cost the bettor $24, as there are 24 possible ways to combine the finishing order of four horses.
For example, $1 Superfecta Box (5-4-6-2) is a $24 bet ($1 each) on the following 24 possible outcomes:
5-4-6-2; 5-4-2-6; 5-2-4-6; 5-2-6-4; 5-6-4-2; 5-6-2-4
4-2-5-6; 4-2-6-5; 4-5-2-6; 4-5-6-2; 4-6-5-2; 4-6-2-5
2-4-5-6; 2-4-6-5; 2-5-4-6; 2-5-6-4; 2-6-4-5; 2-6-5-4
6-2-4-5; 6-2-5-4; 6-4-2-5; 6-4-5-2; 6-5-2-4; 6-5-4-2
Bettors can also choose to add more than 4 horses to a Superfecta Box, but the price rises with each possible combination.
5 horses = $60
6 horses = $120
7 horses = $210
8 horses = $336
Superfecta Wheel Horse Racing Betting
The Superfecta Wheel is used when you are certain which horse will win, but aren’t so convinced on the exact order of the next three horses. Instead of paying full price for the Superfecta Box, you would choose the winning horse, followed by three more horses to finish in the next three positions. (See our Horse Racing Wheel Betting Article)
Let’s say you want the #5 horse to win, with 4-6-2 finishing in second, third and fourth. The bet slip would read“$1 Superfecta Wheel 5 with 4-6-2 with 4-6-2 with 4-6-2 = $6”. There are six possible combinations, therefore 6-$1 bets made.
Superfecta Horse Racing Betting Payouts
There is no set payout in pari-mutuel horse racing betting. The payoff for a Superfecta will always be determined by the overall purse, and how much of that money was placed on the winning Superfecta, as opposed to any other bets placed. The tote board at the horse racing track won’t display the probably payout either since there are simply too many combinations in Superfecta horse racing betting to display them all.
Ready to test your luck with a Superfecta bet? Click here for $250 free at Bovada for the Kentucky Derby
Superfecta betting is one of the most popularsystems among horse handicappers. For the newbies, it offers the ability to tryout betting with minimal risk. For the experienced, it allows for high payoutswith low costs. In the 2005 Kentucky Derby, a superfecta payout was $864,253,one of the highest ever. This case was rare, but is an excellent example of howa relatively cheap horse bet can pay off huge! It is not unusual to see horsebettors win hundreds of dollars for a relatively small investment (just a fewdollars). You simply need to know-how.
You do not always need to be an experiencedexpert to win a superfecta bet. You need enough knowledge and The Wizardsselections to get a chance at making the illustrious winning on the 10-CentSuperfecta.
What Is a Superfecta System?
A Superfecta bet is a complicated horse racingwager where the bettor is required to pick not just the Win, Place and Showhorses, but also the fourth place position finisher. Picking the first fourhorses to finish a horse race, in exact order, is no easy task, no matter thesize of the field.
The Superfecta requires that the bettor pickout the first four places in a specific order. If their selected horses win inthat exact order – they get a huge payoff! If you bet on only one combination,your odds are relatively low. If you bet on a few variations, the odds areslightly better. This approach is precisely what expert handicappers starteddoing. They bet on several educated combinations, significantly increasingtheir chances of winning.
However, initially, betting on multiplecombinations is expensive. Then came the 10-Cent Superfecta.
The 10-Cent Superfecta
In 2004, at a dog track race in New Hampshire,the 10-cent Superfecta was introduced. This move was to attract more gamblers,increase the pool, and allow the bettors to cover a more significant number ofcombinations.
With the 10-Cent Superfecta, you can makeseveral combinations and use more than four horses for as little as a fewdollars.
To give you perspective, in a 14-horse race,there are almost 24,024 superfecta combinations possible. With a 10-Centdenomination, that is a $2,400 bet. Initially, the betting denomination wouldusually be at least a dollar, and in that case, this outlay would be at$24,000. Having a 10-Cent option brings down the betting amount significantly.No one includes all 14 horses, but even if you pick out a relatively highnumber of horses, say 10, your costs are still relatively lower. For example,your cost for all the possible combinations with ten horses would be just $504.AThe 10-Cent superfecta approach is a fraction of the cost compared to the $1 or higher denomination bets.
Sounds incredible, right? Well, it is, and itisn’t.
The Positives of the 10-Cent Superfecta Bets
With the 10-Cent incentive, there is a strongmotivation to include as many horses as possible, and rightly so – it is cheapto do so. However, playing with all the horses in the field would not be asmart approach. According to multiple studies, almost 50% of the combinationsare unplayed. So most bettors are just playing with the remaining 50% possiblecombinations. The 10-Cent bets allow you to play strategically with these 50%combinations.
What Is A Superfecta In Horse Racing
For instance, when you want to buy aninsurance wager. Assume that you placed several expensive bets (Superfecta withdenominations higher than 10 cents), and those bets chose a few horses verycarefully. However, there are a couple more horses you want to bet on but arenot confident about this second set of selections. In such a case, placing 10cent bets to include those horses in your total mix is a good idea. A goodcombination of higher denomination bets and 10 cent bets can help you cover asmany horses as possible, and increase your chances of winning.
The 10-Cent Superfecta helps you takeadvantage of several other strategic moves, such as the previously mentionedinsurance wager.
The Negatives of the 10-Cent Superfecta Bets
The 10-Cent figure is quite tempting. As aresult, people use this as a crutch to make up for their bad bets to recoversome costs of their other poorly placed wagers. However, it is not the beststrategy, and we are about to tell you why.
Let’s say there is a 10-horse field. Thisscenario means the total possible combinations is 5040. If you are bettingmoney, people will do their homework and find out the likely winners andfavorites. This situation means only a select few horses have significant bets.If you look at the popular ratio, usually only 40-50% of the horses are bet.Assuming 50%, out of our 5040 possible combinations- only 2520 combinationswould be included in the betting slips. That means almost 2520 combinations areentirely left out.
Even out of these 2520 combinations, a selectfew combinations will form the majority. Meaning the top favorite horses willbe part of most of the combinations. Very few combinations will have thenon-favorite horses.
Now there are two scenarios:
Scenario1: The 2-3 favorite horses finish in the winningpositions, which means that the majority tickets win. Although you will win,the payouts will be low because you only get a share of the winning pool.
Scenario2: The top 2-3 horses do not make it to the winningpositions. In this scenario, the select few who did not go with the favoritehorses will get a massive payout.
It is important to note that there have beenmany cases where only 1 or 2 winning tickets have received the entiresuperfecta payouts.
As you can see, both scenarios are not simple.You might win in scenario 1, but the amount is not significant. If you widenyour bet and invest a lot, you could find yourself in scenario 2; however, theodds of that scenario are very low.
Hence, do not let the 10-Cent tempt you, andbe smart about using it only as a betting tool in your handicapping toolkit.
The above example also further explains twopoints:
- With the 10-Cent bets, you can at least win minimal amounts.
- Do not bet on the entire pool. If you want a wide pool, go for 50% of the combination, which is usually unlikely. You will not be able to recover even costs if you bet on all possible combinations.
Understanding How to Plan and Bet the 10-Cent Superfecta
Although the 10-Cent bet is super lucrative,you should be strategic about when to play for it and when to pass. In an idealworld, you should place a 10-Cent Superfecta bet when you are convinced thatthe crowd favorite will not win. Of course, that is not always easy to know,even for the most experienced handicappers.
That said, if you know the favorites are goingto win, you can act smart and place the bets on them in many different ways toincrease your chance of winning and also to increase your correct bets placed,and hence to increase your winning share. To better understand this, read on tofind out how you can do this.
In the following sub-section, we will touchupon the different betting options under the superfecta system. We will coverthe 10-Cent Superfecta, but for other denominations, you can modify the bettingamount. The underlying concept remains constant. We will assume horse # 4, 1,7, and 5 are our favorites for the race.
Straight Superfecta
As is the concept, you must choose four horsesyou think will Win, Place, and Show along with the fourth-place position.Picking the first four horses to finish a horse race, in exact order, is noeasy feat, no matter the size of the field.
So you betting slip will be – $0.10 for4-1-7-5
Box Superfecta
You still need to select the first four horsesin the correct order, but by boxing your selections, they can finish in anycombination. This bet also allows you to choose more than four runners, for anincreased cost, of course.
Simply put, you will not choose the order ofthe four horses, but choose the four horses you think will come in the firstfour positions. You will have 24 possible combinations in this case, and youwould have to pay for each one.
So you betting would slip will be $2.4 for 24combinations of horse number 4,1,7,5 for the Boxed 10-Cent Superfecta.
If you want to widen your selection pool, youalso have the choice to do so. You can pick out more horses and have that manymore combinations.
Five horses = 120 combinations = $12
Six horses = 360 combinations = $36
Seven horses = 840 combinations = 840
Five to six horses are ideal if you want to atleast recover your costs with a strong level of confidence.
Wheel Superfecta
This bet is a cheaper option than Box and yetallows you to have several combinations. As a result, it is the most favoredout of the three.
When you are confident about which horse willwin the first position, but not so confident about the other 3, you can choosethe wheel betting system.
Full Wheel
In this, say you are sure of #4 winning. For1, 5, 7, you are not as confident. So you bet for all combinations where #4 isranked 1st, and the other horses are ranked in each of the other positions.
This tactic increases your chance of receivinga payout if you are right about #4. You are insured for all other scenarios aslong as you are the #4 horse performs to expectations.
Part Wheel
You can include even more than three horsesfor the other three positions. This system is called the part wheel bettingsystem. The cost of this is lower than the box system. So even if you bet with6-7 horses, your costs are lower. For example:
Six horses – $6
Seven horses – $12
Eight horses – $21
and so on…
With this system, you can get strategic. Forinstance, if you think #4 and #7 have a sure chance of winning, then your partwheel combinations should cover these horses in the first two positions and theother in the remaining two. This further increases your chance of a largepayout.
Time to try your 10-Cent luck
To summarize, the 10-Cent Superfecta bet is super lucrative, if you get creative and play smart. Knowing when to play is as important as knowing how to play when it comes to Superfecta. Until you learn how to take a calculated swing at this, you can put in some money and keep experimenting. The stakes are relatively low, and modest payouts are quite in reach. Need to bet with confidence? Get The Wizards picks today and level up your handicapping game.
The Wizard’s Thoughts on the 10-Cent Superfecta
The Wizard’s cardinal rule playing the 10-Cent Superfecta is that no matter how many horses you include in the first-second-third spots, in the final spot (to finish 4th) you MUST use the ALL button. This means you MUST include every horse in the 4th spot because any horse can run 4th and what you are hoping for is for a long-shot to fill out the 10 Cent Superfecta.
The Wizard