How to bet parlays in horse racing

Have you ever considered betting a horse racing parlay?

The pari-mutuel wagering offered on horse racing comes with plenty of multi-race wagers to choose from—Pick 3s, Pick 4s, Pick 5s, etc. But these wagers cover preselected races, and they’re not always the races you would like to include in a parlay.

However, if you’re willing to put in a little extra effort, it’s possible to play parlays in horse racing. After all, parlays aren’t really that complicated.

What is a parlay?

Let’s say you’ve analyzed a busy Saturday of racing and identified five horses you wish to bet. The five horses are running in five different races at three different tracks. Let’s say each one is listed at 2-1 odds, and you wish to bet a total of $50 on the five horses.

Unfortunately, you’re unlikely to find a Pick 5 wager covering the precise races you wish to bet. And betting $10 to win on each horse (for a total investment of $50) will only return $150—a solid, but hardly earthshattering profit.

That’s where a parlay can be an enticing strategy. Instead of betting $10 on each horse, you bet $50 on the first horse in action, and then, if the horse wins, you bet the profits on the second horse. If the second horse wins, you wheel back the winnings on the third horse, and so on. By betting larger and larger amounts on each successive horse, you’re eligible to win a massive sum if all five horses visit the winner’s circle.

How much can a parlay pay?

Exactly how much a parlay returns depends on the amount of money you initially invest and the odds of the horses you’re betting. But the more races you play, the higher the profits can rise.

Using the example above, let’s say you bet $50 on the first 2-1 shot. The return would be $150. Then you bet $150 on the second 2-1 shot, for a return of $450. Betting $450 on the third 2-1 shot returns $1,350, which can then be wheeled back on the fourth 2-1 shot for a $4,050 payoff. Investing this sum on the final 2-1 shot brings your winnings to $12,150—far superior to the $150 yielded by betting $10 to win on each of 2-1 shots.

The table below shows the payoffs that can be gleaned by betting $2 parlays across two, three, four, five, or six horses, assuming all horses in the parlay start at the odds listed in the far-left column. The higher the odds—and the more horses in the parlay—the higher the payoff.

Examples of betting pari-mutuel parlays

Parlays can yield returns on investment similar to multi-race wagers while allowing you to choose precisely (and only) the races you wish to bet. There’s no need to struggle through betting a Pick 4 in which one leg is absolutely inscrutable—with a parlay, you can skip the race in which you have no opinion and bet the other three instead.

Do you prefer handicapping turf races more than dirt races? At many tracks, dirt and turf races alternate throughout the card, so betting a Pick 4 or Pick 5 comprised only of turf races is impossible. But with a parlay, you can skip over the dirt races.

Let’s cite an example from the 2024 Breeders’ Cup. Perhaps you were keen to bet Rebel’s Romance at 1.90-1 in the Breeders’ Cup Turf (Race 7), Moira at 5.80-1 in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (Race 9), and More Than Looks at 6.90-1 in the Breeders’ Cup Mile (Race 11). There was no Pick 3 linking these three races, but by betting a three-horse parlay starting with a $2 win bet on Rebel’s Romance, you could have won a grand total of $311.58.

You can also bet parlays across multiple days. Perhaps you were keen to support 15.90-1 shot Citizen Bull in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Friday and 19.80-1 chance Soul of an Angel in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint on Saturday. Again, no double bet linked these two races. But a two-horse parlay starting with a $2 ticket on Citizen Bull would have returned $703.04.

Keep in mind, you can bet more than one horse per race in a parlay. Maybe you wished to start your parlay with Citizen Bull, then bet both Soul of an Angel and 2-1 favorite Ways and Means in the Filly & Mare Sprint. In this case, you could have bet $2 on Citizen Bull, then taken your winnings ($33.80) and placed half ($16.90) on Soul of an Angel and half on Ways and Means. The payoff when Soul of an Angel won would have been reduced to $351.52, but a lower payoff can be acceptable when you’re buying more chances to hit. It’s similar to spending more money up front to cover extra horses in a multi-race wager like a Pick 3—it lowers the ultimate return on investment, but reduces the risk involved.

Downsides of pari-mutuel parlays

Of course, there are some downsides to betting horse racing parlays. For example, each win bet you place is subject to takeout, whereas takeout affects official multi-race wagers (like the Pick 3, Pick 4, etc.) only once.

Secondly, seeing a parlay through to the finish requires fortitude. Bet a Pick 5, and there’s no turning back after the first race—either you’ve selected all five winners and will ultimately cash, or you’ve overlooked the winning combination and will lose your bet. But when betting a five-horse parlay, you might be tempted to call it quits after four horses win and you’re sitting on thousands of dollars. Why risk it all on the fifth horse, knowing your profits will be reduced to zero if the fifth horse loses?

Also, be careful betting parlays on quiet race days with small betting pools. If you’re playing a five-horse parlay and reach the point where you’re betting thousands of dollars to win on your final horse, your bet may cause the horse’s odds to meaningfully drop. Our talk about fortitude aside, you may wish to rethink betting $2,000 on your final horse if doing so will drop his odds to 1-20 and your bet will return only $2,100.

Parlays aren’t for everyone, but if picking winners is your strong suit, why not give a parlay a try? Four or five short-priced winners in a row can quickly turn a modest initial investment into a hefty payday.