The richest horse race in North America each year is not the Preakness Stakes nor is it the Belmont Stakes. Nor is it even the Kentucky Derby itself. The biggest horse race in the USA happens to be the Breeders’ Cup.
Between events spread across two days of Grade I racing, $28 million in purses are up for grabs in total.
Where to Bet on the Breeders Cup
The Breeders’ Cup Classic goes off as the thirteenth race of the meet. Sites that offer horse racing betting are gearing up for the festivities with odds available for every race and a whole range of Breeders’ Cup promotions designed to reward bettors for participating in the biggest North American horse racing event of the year.
In this post, we discuss outright Breeders Cup betting odds, comparing the top online racebooks and betting apps for betting on the Breeders’ Cup online and outlining the best promotions.
Breeders Cup Morning Line Odds
For those who do not bet on horse racing often, keep in mind the morning line odds are merely the projections of an on-track oddsmaker. When you bet on horses in the US, the actual payout odds are ultimately determined by the betting action of the public in general. That’s the nature of parimutuel betting in which all bets taken are pooled together and payouts generated by disseminating that money back out to the winning tickets.
What this means is these odds are probably pretty close to what you’ll get, but nobody knows for sure until the race goes off.
If you live outside the United States, you can bet into the parimutuel pool as well. However, you can also take the early odds to lock your price in. Here are the morning line odds according to BreedersCup.com:
Breeders Cup Betting Promotions
TVG and TwinSpires are both running a number of promotions designed specifically for anyone betting on the Breeders’ Cup online. These horse racing promos are open to all customers, both new and existing.
Of all the legal US horse betting sites accepting Breeders’ Cup bets this year, TwinSpires has the most promotions related specifically to this weekend’s races. Other online racebooks and betting apps also offer basic welcome bonuses to new players. Overall, TwinSpires is your best bet from a promotions point of view.
TwinSpires Breeders Cup Bonus
18+ only / 21+ in Washington, T&Cs apply
If you don’t already have an account at TwinSpires, you can a Breeders Cup welcome bonus as a new customer. First, visit TwinSpires.com and click the “join now” button to sign up for an account. On the registration page, use the Twinspires offer code BET200 to claim your bonus.
After you have an account, you can make a deposit and begin placing wagers to release the Twinspires Breeders Cup bonus money.
- Visit TwinSpires.com
- Register for an account
- Insert the offer code BET200 when asked
- Bet on races to release your bonus in increments
TwinSpires: Breeders’ Cup Bet Back
TwinSpires is offering to pay your Win bet back (up to $5) on all Breeders’ Cup races Friday through Saturday. If your Win horse comes in second and you qualify, TwinSpires will refund your bet.
Breeders Cup bettors can qualify for the offer by visiting the TwinSpires promotions page and choosing “claim now.” Then, place bets on at least five separate races on Friday and/or Saturday to qualify for that day.
Now, make a $5 Win bet on a single horse or entry in Breeders’ Cup races. Your first Win bet on each race will qualify for a refund if your pick comes in second.
This offer gets even better if you bet at least $250 on Friday or Saturday. If you bet at least $250 on Friday or Saturday across five separate races, TwinSpires will pay back your first $5 Win bet on each race if your pick comes in second OR third.
In addition to the Twinspires Breeders Cup deposit bonus, and the bet refund offer, new customers who sign up at TwinSpires to bet on the Breeders Cup receive free past performances, Insider Picks report, and a Power Plays report.
How to Bet on the Breeders’ Cup
Whether attending the Breeders’ Cup in person or planning to bet online, bettors have many different types of wagers to choose from. The most basic individual wagers serve as a nice starting point for those with little horse racing experience.
Win, place, and show bets all revolve around picking individual horses to perform well in a single race. A win bet pays if your horse takes first, a place bet pays if your horse takes first OR second and a show bet pays if your horse finishes anywhere among the top three. These straight bets are simple enough to understand and still offer attractive potential payouts thanks to the large fields and unknown runners in the non-Classic races.
While straight bets can offer impressive payouts, exotic wagers are where you start to see the really big payouts. Exactas, trifectas, and superfectas have you pick the top two, three, and four finishers in any one race in that exact order. The increased difficulty in picking these wagers correctly greatly magnifies the potential payouts.
Some of the difficulty in correctly placing Breeders Cup exotic wagers in races (especially in the first twelve races) is that once you get past the top one or two horses, the field becomes less uncertain with horses that don’t have established names or a whole lot of experience.
This is where Pick 3 and Pick 6 wagers can prove useful. These wagers involve multiple horses and require you to specify an exact finishing place, but are spread across multiple races. In a Pick 3, you are asked to pick the first-place horse in three consecutive races. In a Pick 6, you do the same except across six different races.
The advantage here is that you don’t have to dig as deep into the starting lineup for each race. You only need to pick the one horse you feel strongest about in each race. This makes for an easier decision-making process versus trying to figure out which random horses will finish 2nd, 3rd and 4th in a single race.
The payouts for these can be just as impressive. Once again, we can turn to the Breeders’ Cup website and see that they have an estimated payout of more than $250,000 for a $2 Pick 3 and a whopping $3 million payout for a $2 Pick 6.
These incredible payouts offer the additional advantage of giving you a chance to hedge your Breeders Cup bets within each individual race. If you have a ticket with a massive potential payout, you have the option to place separate win bets on horses not involved in your Pick 3 or Pick 6. A lot of the fun in betting on the Breeders Cup is devising your own strategies to spread the risk, hedge your bets and go for the big payout all at the same time.
Wes Burns has more than a decade’s worth of experience as a writer, researcher, and analyst in the legal online betting industry and is co-founder of OnlineBettingSites.com. Wes approaches his work from the viewpoint of players.