A Pick 6 Strategy For The Horse Bettor Articles | Horse Betting

By: Richard Bleuze

The goal when betting on horses is to beat the odds. Bets are made through either a sports book or bookmaker. You can place your horse racing bets in person, over the phone, or even online.   I recommend online.

A Pick 6 is just one of several exotic bet options available to horse racing fans. It requires the bettor to pick the winners of six consecutive races.  Usually, the last 6 races of the day at a track. It's not uncommon for the payout of a Pick 6 to be in the six figures and on rare occasions the payout is sometimes seven figures.  Especially, on Belmont race day.

I've had many questions in the past few years regarding playing the Pick Six. Is it a good bet? When is the best time to play it? What's the best strategy?

The Pick Six is a terrific wager under certain circumstances and disciplines. First understand, it's very difficult to hit. There are small ticket winners almost every day! Outside the lottery, where do you have a better chance to win very big money for a relatively small wager?

I think it a particularly good bet when you can isolate 3 solid singles and at least 2 of the singles are not the favorite in their race. Beyond finding the 3 singles I really like, my betting pattern is 2 horses with 3 horses , with 4 horses (sample ticket 1/1/1/2/3/4) for a maximum amount played of $48. I NEVER go over this amount on any given day on my pick six play. Throwing out lots of money on big tickets just cuts into my horse playing profit too much, and most importantly, when you are right, you get paid anyway and when you lose, which is often, it's too much to lose on a real long shot gamble.

When to play the Pick 6

The best time to play is not on big carryover days! You are up against too many huge pools which chop the pot way too much, and too much competition. You stand a better chance on week days, where there's a lot less competition, when there's no carryover, and your winning ticket will be $30,000 to $100,000.  Also, the 5 of 6 consolation pay out is sometimes real nice.

To put the odds in your favor you have to be able to spot value where others cannot. And you will have to "single" (play one horse only) in some races to make sure the cost of the ticket(s) is not out of your price range. To beat the syndicate players, who can often take all horses in many of the Pick 6 races, you are going to have to find value where they cannot.

The toughest decisions you will have to make to make when playing the Pick 6 will be determining which horses you can confidently single. If you can't find any singles in the Pick 6 you are probably better off not playing it. If you don't feel strongly about any horse in the Pick 6, then I repeat,  do not play!

On the other hand, if you really like an 8-1 shot in a wide-open race and you feel you can single that horse, you may have found just the edge you need. Many horse bettors will take numerous horses in a wide-open race, leaving them weak in other legs of the Pick 6. Your high-value single allows you to take more horses in races where your fellow horse bettors will be weak. In other word, if you can get your non-favored single home in a race where others have used multiple horses - you have a substantial edge.

Almost every Pick 6 horse bettor is likely to have the 3-5 single when it wins (and you should too), however, few will single an 8-1 shot on their ticket. Also, if you see a race in which you really dislike a morning-line favorite, play against the horse. Don't let the morning line persuade you to throw in bad horses. If you handicap the race and think the horse looks solid at even-money that's fine. If you handicap the race and determine the horse's chances of winning to be more like 6-1, take a stand against the horse with your value selection(s). A losing even-money shot will knock out Pick 6 horse bettors in droves.

Your Pick 6 ticket should also include some longshots since these are the horses that trigger massive payoffs. Too many horse bettors let the morning line influence their selections and dismiss horses listed at long odds. 

Every horse should be looked at in detail for a number of angles. You should handicap every horse since these  plays often produce numerous Pick 6 winners that many horse bettors miss due to sloppy handicapping. Also, try not to single any horse that is coming into the race off a layoff of six months or longer. Very few trainers can have these types of horses ready to win and with all your money riding on them in the last leg of the Pick 6 you might see your money go down the drain!

Always remember it's not the track that you are competing with, it is the other horse players. And that's what makes playing the horses the best form of wagering. Over the long run the money transfers form losing horse player's pockets to the winning horse player's pockets. On real big carryover days, where the competition is real tough, I suggest that you play small , it's a good bet.

When the circumstances are right on normal days using the disciplines outlined above, you will find the Pick 6 to be a very good bet. Just make the plays you like and stay within the discipline, and don't try to buy the Pick Six; try to win it!