Winning Quinielas in Dog Racing

Trifectas usually pay bigger than quinielas at the dog track. So why would I want to bet quinielas, you ask? Why would anyone want to play them when they could win much more with a trifecta bet?

Well, for that matter, superfectas, Pick-Sixes and other exotic bets pay more than trifectas, so why doesn’t everyone just play them instead of trifectas? You probably already know the reason, although you might not have completely thought the whole thing through yet.

You can play a three-dog quiniela box for $6 and if you hit it you get all of it. A three-dog trifecta box will cost you the same – $6 – but if you hit it you only get half of it. Your chances of hitting a quiniela with three dogs are much better than your chances of hitting a trifecta with three dogs.

A quiniela, as you probably know, is the dog that finishes first with the dog that finishes second. Unlike the exacta, where you have to pick the dogs in the exact order of finish, with a quiniela, you can have the dogs in either order. As long as you have the first two dogs to cross the finish line, you win.

What does the average quiniela pay? Well, that depends on your track takeout, the odds of the two dogs and the order they finish in. But at most tracks, the average quiniela pays between $12 and $24. Once in a while, there are much bigger and much smaller quinielas, but that’s the average payout.

Obviously, in order to make money with quinielas, you have to hit enough to pay for your $6 box bet with enough profit to cover the races where you bet but don’t hit the quiniela. This isn’t as hard as you might think it is.

If you’re pretty good at greyhound handicapping, you should be able to pick a quiniela often enough to be ahead of the game at your favorite track. The trick with betting quinielas is to pick them often enough so that your losses are covered by your wins. It’s as simple as that.

If you’d like to get better at greyhound handicapping, read as much as you can about it, watch races and replays and practice handicapping by making “paper bets.”. Greyhound programs are free on the net at Trackinfo and you can find my books on Amazon and CreateSpace.