Made it to Churchill Downs for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Didn't cash a ticket, but my wife hit on several so that was good all around. I tend to bet exactas or trifecta boxes, working in a horse somewhere between 5-1 to 10-1 or so odds with a more favored horse or two in my boxes so there is some payoff if it hits - and I only place 1 or 2 bets a race, so not like I'm throwing much out there. Picking which medium-long shot will be that third horse in the top three when you know nothing about the horses, jockeys or trainers is really quite the crap-shoot. It was last weekend of their summer/early fall season, so there were a lot of scratches (2 or 3 in most races and even 5 scratches out of an original 15 horse field. Made it hard to study ahead, as a number of horses I had planned to play were ultimately scratched. The ninth race (I think it was) turned into a four-horse, 6 or 7F sprint. All four came across the line within a few lengths, so it was still a fun race. Of course, I couldn't even pick a first or a second out of that, LOL.
Did have a mint julep and the weather was perfect. Great way to spend an evening and a Sunday afternoon.
Sounded like you and your wife had fun and thats a good thing. Never been to CD and never wanted to. There a thousand way to structure your bets. In my case early on, I made a small fortune by wheeling top and bottom in the exacta the horse that i liked, and they were always 20/1 and up. And i also made standard plays where i played the same amount. If you do the math, I believe its the best way to go. My rationale was, if I'm playing 20/1+ and if i can't hit 1 out of 20 for 5% then I'm playing the wrong game.
I think you ALWAYS need to have one horse you're keying on. That doesn't mean play him on top with others, it just means when you play exacta or trifecta boxes you should have ONE horse that you really like. He could be 5/1 or higher, as long as there are not 2 or more others in the race that look like they could be the winners, because even if you win, the payoff doesnt warrant the wager.
After I mastered the wheel of top and bottom, i graduated to trifectas. In the old days, there were only exactas cause tris didnt exist. So with the trifecta I have always felt the VERY BEST PLAY IN ALL OF HORSERACING IS my horse/with 4 horses/with 5 horses. Ive had some monster payoffs doing that. In that race IF one horse scared me, i might play 4 horses/with my horse/with 5 horses. Mostly a hedge cause you know there are hundreds of ways of losing a race. Eithere way, its only $ 20.00 for 1.00 tri.
When supers came along, i did a lot of 5 horse boxes, and still do although supers are no longer very fashionable. I graduated to taking my horse/all/all/all and was able to hit some monsters when my 40/1 or 50/1 won the race. You can calculate any superfectaa key by taking, for example: in a 11 horse field, if I key my horse with all/all/all it for a dime it only costs $ 72.00.
Its simple math, 10/9/8 = 720/10 cents = 72.00. It doesnt take long to learn the math.
Sorry to ramble, keep on doing your best and having fun with your wife at the track, and good luck.
