The third and final jewel of the Triple Crown horse racing series, the Belmont Stakes is one of the most prestigious thoroughbred race in the United States. Three-year-old thoroughbred horses run for glory in this event. Thus, testing their endurance and stamina around 1 ½ miles racecourse in Belmont Park. In our Betting Guide to the Belmont Stakes, you will learn the essential of horse betting.
The Belmont Stakes is an important event for New Yorkers, as well as online bettors in many parts of the world. Annually, it garners an average total bet of around $130 million, the second highest betting handle in a horse racing event after the Kentucky Derby. The highest betting handle ever recorded in Belmont Stakes was in 2014, which went up to $151 million.
If you’re planning to bet as a high-roller or solely to test your beginner’s luck, it will be wise for you to know how to bet on the Belmont Stakes. Here’s a guide for you for that purpose.
The Types of Bet
There are several types of bets on this prestigious thoroughbred race event. The three main types of betting are the ‘win,’ ‘place,’ and ‘show’ bets. Here’s a simple definition of the three.
- Win. This is the common wager on Belmont Stakes. It simply means that you get paid if your chosen horse wins.
- Place. You win if your chosen horse got the 1st or 2nd place.
- Show. To win this bet, your chosen horse should finish in the top 3.
The money you get from your bet will be based not only on the pot money but also on the level of difficulty of your wager.
The ‘win’ bet will naturally get you the highest payout, the ‘place’ bet the second highest payout and, since it’s the easiest, the lowest payout is on the ‘show’ bet.
You can also choose another more interesting bet types when betting on Belmont Stakes.
Aside from the straight bets, there are also what horseplayers called exotic bets.
These exotic bets are the exacta, trifecta, superfecta, and quinella bets.
- Exacta. A type of bet where you must pick the 1st and 2nd place in exact order. If your picks are among the top 2 but not in correct order, you’ll lose your bet. An exacta is a kind of pari-mutuel betting. So it means that your payout will be based on the size of the betting pool and the number of people who win the bet.
- Trifecta. A type of bet where you must select the horses who will finish 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in exact order. You can have a huge payout for a relatively expensive outlay in the trifecta bet. The dividend will be based on the size of the betting pool and the number of winners.
- Superfecta. A bet type where you must select the first four horses in the right order. Since it’s difficult to guess the first four in exact order, you can get a high payout in this type of bet.
- Quinella. A type of bet where you must choose the horses to fill the 1st and 2nd place in any order. If you win, your payout will be based on the odds of the top 2 horses.
The betting on Belmont Stakes happens at the venue of the event and online, including betting websites outside the United States.
Factors on Deciding Your Bet
The Big Sandy racecourse in Belmont Park is one of the most challenging dirt course in the United States. Hence, bettors often decide to place their bets on the runners who have the stamina and experience to handle this type of dirt course. Aside from the racecourse, there are other factors bettors consider.
- The Top Favorite. Forty percent of the top favorites have won the race throughout the history of Belmont Stakes, while just 22 percent got the first place in the last 30 years. So if you decide to pick your bet/s, you can base it according to the Belmont Stakes Odds or the winners in the Kentucky Derby or Preakness Stakes.
- The Top Jockey. You can also base your decision according to the active jockeys who have the most wins in Belmont Stakes. Right now, Gary Stevens is the top active jockey who have three wins out of 11 rides in the prestigious event.
- The Top Trainer. It’s also good if you bet on the horse which is trained by a top active trainer. As of today, D Wayne Lukas is on the top spot, training four winning horses out of 24 runners he has trained.
Of course, there are other factors besides the ones mentioned above for you to make a bet. Also, if you can’t figure out which runner is going to take the first place in Belmont Stakes, you can just place your bet on any horse for the sheer luck of it.
Takeaway
It’s essential that you know how to bet on the Belmont Stakes event, especially if you’re a beginner or a high-roller who want to wager a significant outlay. You need to understand the types of bets, as well as the factors of deciding which horse are you going to pick to win the Belmont Stakes race.
Learn more about sports betting with our sports betting tutorials
