Superfecta betting is not for every horse bettor. Superfecta betting is for horse bettors that who love to play the high-risk high-return game. Generally, the payoffs can be huge. It is not uncommon to see a $1 superfecta ticket payoff of $10,000 and many superfectas that pay at least $20,000 occur often enough to make it worth taking a shot.

Not an easy task, superfecta betting requires you to pick the first four finishers in a race in exact order. However, structuring a superfecta bet can be very lucrative for those willing to put in the extra work. Structuring a superfecta wager to include your value plays with all possible combinations is important.

The most common superfecta wagers will involve boxes and wheels with multiple combinations of horses at a cost of $1 per combination. You will find that the minimum amount you can spend on a straight superfecta wager is $2. A $2 straight superfecta 1-2-5-6 would pay off if the first four finishers in the race were 1-2-5-6 in that exact order.

A $1 superfecta box of four horses costs $24 and requires that your four selections finish in the top four positions in any order. An example of a $1 superfecta box for example might be if you picked 2-3-5-6. The superfecta pick would be a winning ticket if horses 2,3,5 and 6 finished in the top four positions in any order.

The above wager would appear on paper as: $1 superfecta box 2,3,5,6 = $24

A $1 superfecta wheel, on the other hand, involves your key horse or horses played in various positions with other combinations of horses. An example of a $1 superfecta wheel with horse 2 to win and 3,5, or 6 to finish second, 3,5,or 6 to finish third and 3,5,or 6 to finish fourth would cost $6. This ticket would be a winner if horse 2 won with either of 3,5 or 6 finishing second, 3,5, or 6 finishing third and 3,5 or 6 finishing fourth.

The above wager on paper would appear as:
$1 superfecta wheel 2 with 3,5,6 with 3,5,6 with 3,5,6 = $6

While superfecta wagers can be expensive because of the various number of playable combinations, many horse racing tracks offer $0.10 and $0.20 superfecta wagers. This $0.10 or $0.20 superfecta wager has become popular in recent years since this wager now gives the average horse bettor a chance to go after huge payoffs with large boxes and wheels, at one tenth or one fifth of the traditional cost of a $1 combination.

A $1 superfecta box of five horses would cost $120, however, the same superfecta wager at $0.10 per combination costs only $12. This is within the range of many horse bettors. Another bonus to these non $1 superfecta wagers is the fact that if you are the only winning ticket holder, you still collect the whole superfecta pool, not just one tenth of the pool.

Also, remember that you will find long shots in almost every superfecta somewhere in the first four finishers, and these long shots trigger huge payoffs. Long shots on top of favorites can produce very lucrative payoffs.

One strategy that is used by sharp horse bettors that play the superfecta bet is to look for races where the favorites are weak, find the three horses whose odds represent the best value in the race, and then wheeling those three horses to the board in the superfecta.

For example say that in a 8-horse field, you decide that horses 2 (3-1), 3 (6-1) and 5 (10-1) represent the best value plays in a race where the favorites look weak. Other than 2,3 and 5, the remainder of the field looks inseparable – meaning any of the remaining horses could finish in the top four. In this case, in order to cover all possible combinations with your three horses in the superfecta, you would structure your superfecta wager as follows.

$1 superfecta wheel 2,3,5 with 2,3,5 with 2,3,5 with All = $42
$1 superfecta wheel 2,3,5 with 2,3,5 with All with 2,3,5 = $42
$1 superfecta wheel 2,3,5 with All with 2,3,5 with 2,3,5 = $42
$1 superfecta wheel All with 2,3,5 with 2,3,5 with 2,3,5 = $42

Total cost of wager: $168

The above wager covers 168 possible combinations at reasonable cost, includes all your top value horses and will probably provide a highly profitable payoff even if the favorite does happen to win – as long as your three main selections finish in the top four. If a longshot happens to finish in the money or better still, win the race, with your three selections finishing in the money, you are looking at a nice payoff.

A $0.10 superfecta wheel using the above combinations would cost only $16.80.
A $0.20 superfecta wheel using the above combinations would cost $33.60.

There are too many superfecta combinations to illustrate here, but finding good value and structuring your superfecta wagers to include your value horses in all four positions can give you an edge on the myriad of superfecta bettors who do not spend the time to structure their tickets properly and instead bet wild combinations of illogical numbers.

Also keep in mind that while rare, there are occasions at smaller tracks offering minimum superfecta wagers of $1, where no one will have selected the winning combination of horses. In this case, the superfecta pays off to the next closest combination – or to those who have the top three finishers with any horse in the fourth position. In this scenario, the value of playing superfecta tickets such as the $168 wheel listed above might produce the only winning ticket, especially if a long shot finishes in the all leg.

Below are the basic costs for a simple $1 superfecta boxes and wheels. Keep in mind however, that in order to gain an edge on your fellow superfecta bettors, you should use your imagination and experiment with more complicated multiple horse wheels and combinations that take advantage of your value plays. This will give you a big edge on your fellow bettors when playing the superfecta.

Cost of $1 superfecta boxes with multiplehorses:

· 4 horse $1 superfecta box = $24
· 5 horse $1 superfecta box = $120
· 6 horse $1 superfecta box = $360
· 7 horse $1 superfecta box = $840
· 8 horse $1 superfecta box = $1680
· 9 horse $1 superfecta box = $3024
· 10 horse $1 superfecta box = $5040
· 11 horse $1 superfecta box = $7920
· 12 horse $1 superfecta box = $11880

Cost of $1 superfecta wheel keying one horse with multiple horses in the other three positions:

· $1 superfecta wheel 1 horse with 3 horses= $6
· $1 superfecta wheel 1 horse with 4 horses = $24
· $1 superfecta wheel 1 horse with 5 horses = $60
· $1 superfecta wheel 1 horse with 6 horses = $120
· $1 superfecta wheel 1 horse with 7 horses = $201
· $1 superfecta wheel 1 horse with 8 horses = $336
· $1 superfecta wheel 1 horse with 9 horses = $504
· $1 superfecta wheel 1 horse with 10 horses = $720
· $1 superfecta wheel 1 horse with 11 horses = $990