The Horseplayer's Equivalent of a Hole in One?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Today, I went to our local horse racing track. They also do simulcasting from other North American tracks, and I chose to play Woodbine, in Toronto. I know Woodbine, and its horses and trainers and owners and track bias, better than any other track, so I like to play Woodbine.

There were two horses I liked in one of the races: number 8 and number 9. Unable to decide between them, I decided to play them both in a boxed exactor. In this wager, I’m wagering that these two horses will finish first and second, but the order of finish doesn’t matter–as long as 8 and 9 finish in the top two spots, I win. This is somewhat like a quinella, except it’s really two different exactor bets–8 then 9, and 9 then 8. At least one bet will lose, but if one wins, you generally still come out ahead, since it pays the same as an exactor. I bet a $2 base bet, so the cost to me of this wager was $4. I’ll occasionally play a two-horse boxed exactor if two horses are clearly the best but my analysis reveals that they are so close that I can’t decide between them.

Anyway, after the race had been run, and decided by a photo-finish, it was determined that numbers 8 and 9 dead-heated (i.e. tied). Since I had them boxed, I won for the 8-9 finish and the 9-8 finish. In other words, I won two different exactor bets on one race!

This wouldn’t have happened if any of the following occurred:

– I hadn’t played both horses in a boxed exactor
– I had played one straight exactor (either 8-9 or 9-8); or a wheeled, or part-wheeled exactor (e.g. 8 with 3/5/9 etc.)
– The horses did not dead-heat

Thanks to photo-finishes, dead heats in racing are rare events. To have bet the two horses that dead heat, and only those horses, in the ways you want them to be, such that each way pays, is extremely rare–in fact, I’d say, bordering on “so rare, it may only happen once in a lifetime.” I’ve never shot a hole in one in golf, or bowled a perfect game, or hit for the cycle in baseball. But after today, I can honestly say that I’ve hit a two-horse exactor box both ways due to a dead heat.

Phew! Now I can get on to working on that hole in one… :slight_smile:

2

So what was the payout?

Don’t make me go to Equibase, please?

3

You are asking us to tell you if this is a hole in one equivalent? Frankly you seem to know more about horse racing betting than a neurosurgeon knows about brain anatomy.

4

The 8-9 exactor paid $36.60, and the 9-8 exactor paid $25.20. The total was $61.80.

5

We call it an “exacta” down here.

6

Actually, the frequency of dead heats increased once photos were introduced. With the ability to look at the photo, judges could see an actual dead heat, whereas when it was up to their judgment, they often would see one horse or the other ahead due to their angle or how the horses were moving.

They’re still pretty rare, of course.

7

I have to disagree- well with modern technology. With the capacity to enlarge a photo finish at a mouse click there are far less dead heats.

8

Since a real one hasn’t happened in 31 years, can we say you won the betting Triple Crown?