BOXING

In boxing the trifecta, the bettor may bet a minimum of three horses on a single ticket, giving the bettor every possible combination of the chosen horses to finish first, second, third in exact order.

WHEELING

If you like one horse and want to play it with all other combinations of the rest of the field, so that any other two can run second and third,  that's called wheeling. For example, if you like the #2 horse and want to play him to win, with all the other horses in the race, you'll say to the mutuel clerk "$1 Trifecta, Wheel the #2 on top."

$1 is just an example; you can wager whatever amount you like. Also, you can put your horse "in the middle," in which case he must run second, or "on the bottom," in which case he must run third.

TRIFECTA KEY WHEEL

This is a simple variation of wheeling. In a KEY wheel, you select one horse to win, and then your choice of  x number of horses in the second and third positions. An example is in order. Let's say you like the #3 horse really well to win, and you think the # 6, 7, and 8 horses are the only other horses in the race who have any shot at all of hitting the board. You would play a  "$1 Trifecta,  Key the 3 over the 6, 7, and 8."

Your ticket would cover these combinations: 3-6-7, 3-7-6; 3-6-8, 3-8-6; and 3-7-8, 3-8-7.

Don't be confused by the slight odd-looking overlap in the two charts above. There are a couple of  duplications simply expressed in different ways. For example, if there are six horses in the field, saying "Wheel the #2 on Top" is the same as saying "Key Wheel, #2 with 1,3,4,5,6." 

Don't sweat it--just make sure to check your ticket before you leave the window to make sure you've been given the bet you called out AND that you've been charged properly.

TRIFECTA PART-WHEELS

The favorite of many trifecta players, this variation is virtually the same as a basic wheel, except that you can exclude as many horses as you want. This allows you to build some pretty creative bets. Since Trifecta Part Wheels are largely played using $1 as the basic betting unit, and in the interest of displaying part wheels as clearly as possible, we'll feature only the costs of tickets using $1 in the chart that follows. Remember, of course, that $1 tickets always pay HALF as much as $2 ones!

The chart does not cover all possible combinations. The selection of which combinations to include was based on what I thought would be the most probable combinations players would use and an upper limit of $60. Let's not get crazy here.

How to read the chart:

Example 1: 1  234  34567 means one horse in the win position, three horses in the place position and five horses in the show position, two of which are horses that are also in the place position ( the 3 and the 4).

Example 2: 12  12  3456 means two horses in the win position, the same two horses in the place position and four horses in the show position

In example two, if you liked the 5 and 6  horses to run first or second, and either the 4, 8, 10, 11, or 12 to show, your ticket would be "$1 Trifecta Part Wheel, 5 and 6 over the 5and 6, over the 4, 8, 10, and 12." 56  56  481012

WRITE DOWN your bet to make sure you have it right before you go to the window, and CHECK YOUR TICKETS, COST, and CHANGE before you walk away from the window. Whether a mistake is yours or a clerk's, it can be very costly in terms of both money and frustration.