Picking the winner of a Triple Crown race is never easy, simply because the fields are made up of the very best horses in the sport right now. If you think just hitting a win ticket is difficult, imagine how hard it would be to predict the exact order of the top 3. That is exactly what you need to do with the trifecta bet, and while it’s not an easy one to win, the payouts make the gamble well worth it. The good news for this year’s Belmont Stakes on Saturday, June 10 is that we are potentially looking at an 8-horse field. While this reduces the chances of the trifecta payout hitting the thousands of dollars, there is still a shot that you could be looking at a few hundred, depending of course on the order of finish. The live odds will dictate exactly what that payout is, so let’s take a look at how you can play the trifecta ticket to maximize your chances of winning.
Taking a Sneak Peak at the 2016 Belmont Stakes Trifecta Odds Picks
Get to know the field for the 148th Running of the #BelmontStakes! https://t.co/BbYDbvMIBr pic.twitter.com/UpEZ7jxeGn
— Belmont Stakes (@BelmontStakes) June 2, 2016
Keying the favorite on top in your trifecta ticket
There are a few different ways you can go if you are positive that Exaggerator, the morning line favorite, will win the 2016 Belmont Stakes. Rather than trying to play a straight trifecta, you can increase your chances of winning by playing a number of different horses in the second and third place spots. For example, let’s say that you have Exaggerator as the winner, and then have 3 other horses battling it out for the other spots, you would play a ticket that reads Exaggerator with horse 2,3,4 with horse 2,3,4. This is a $6 ticket when going with a $1 stake, so you have a very good shot at making a nice profit. If you really want to play it safe, you could play Exaggerator with all with all, which would cost you $42.
Boxing your trifecta ticket
When playing the exotic bets, you want to maximize your chances of winning as much as possible, which means paying extra to get a large number of potential winning combinations. The easiest way to do this is by boxing your trifecta ticket. When boxing a ticket, you are essentially saying that any combination of your selected horses can finish in the top 3. You can put as many horses as you like in there, but the more you add, the more it will cost. I tend to go with 4 horses in my trifecta box tickets, which means 24 potential winning combinations. As is the case with all exotic bets, you multiply the stake by the number of combinations to get the total cost. In this case, you would be looking at a $24 ticket.
You need to pay attention to the tables that show the potential exotic payouts to see if the amount wagered will actually deliver a profit with each potential winning combination. The favorite winning will deliver the lowest payout, but if you can get one of your longer priced horses on top, you will start to see those payouts creep up.
The 4 horses I like for the trifecta are Exaggerator, Stradivari, Suddenbreakingnews, and Brody’s Cause.
