History
The daily double was the first so-called "exotic" wager offered by North American racetracks. Introduced in 1931 at Ottawa's Connaught Park Racetrack, [2] [3] the wager was typically offered only for the first two races of each day's program as an enticement for spectators to arrive early for the entire program. The wager was also extremely popular at New York City OTB among those who worked in Manhattan, with the lunch-hour wager handling $500,000 or more, compared with only $200,000 for the "late double".
As with all other American racing wagers, the "double" is conducted in parimutuel fashion, but with the number of betting interests in the daily double pool equal to the product of the number of entries in each race. For example, if there are ten entries in the first race and eight in the second, there will be eighty betting interests, one for each combination of two potential winners. This results in higher payoffs than those found in straight betting for win, place, or show.
For many years the daily double was the only exotic wager offered. Later, the "exacta" was also offered on selected races during each program. The wagers were offered only a few times on each card, largely because of the limitations of electro-mechanical totalisator systems. When computer technology took over, more exotic wagers were introduced, such as the "trifecta", "superfecta" and "pick 6". The higher payouts for these wagers tended to diminish interest in the "old-fashioned" daily double, but it is still offered at all tracks, sometimes more than once during a program. A "late double" is frequently offered on the day's final two races; some tracks offer a "rolling double" - a daily double starting on each race on the program except the last race.
The "Pick 3" and "Pick 4" wagers are derived from the daily double. These wagers require bettors to pick the winners of three or four consecutive races. These are also often offered on a rolling basis — a rolling pick 3 on races one to three, another on races two to four, and so on throughout the day.
Occasional doubles are offered on important races contested on separate days. The most prominent example is the "Oaks-Derby Double" offered by Churchill Downs, where bettors pick the winners of the Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky Derby. The Oaks is run the day before the Derby; the latter is traditionally run on the first Saturday of May.
Daily Double Song
The "Daily Double Song" is played at many racetracks before the national anthem:
I went down to the track one day
with just two bucks from last week's pay
I picked two longshots on the way
to play the Daily Double
I never thought that I could win
But in the stretch they both flew in
Let the Daily fun begin
I won the Daily Double
Everybody swing around the floor
Have fun like you never had before
Get up, drink up let the spirits flow
Trouble's just a bubble when you win the Daily Double
Everybody clap your hands and shout "Hey Hey"
Here's how you learn what the thrills about
Pick two horses then you'll soon find out
Playday can be payday when you win the Daily Double
Parimutuel betting or pool betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the "house-take" or "vigorish" are deducted, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all winning bets. In some countries it is known as the tote after the totalisator, which calculates and displays bets already made.
Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic premise – to identify which of two or more horses is the fastest over a set course or distance – has been mostly unchanged since at least classical antiquity.
The superfecta is a type of wager in the United States and Canada parimutuel betting in which the bettor, in order to win, must pick the first four finishers of a race in the correct sequence. This is even more unlikely than a successful wager in the trifecta, which requires correctly picking the first three finishers in order, and as such will have a correspondingly higher payoff.
The Australian and New Zealand punting glossary explains some of the terms, jargon and slang which are commonly used and heard on Australian and New Zealand racecourses, in TABs, on radio, and in the horse racing media. Some terms are peculiar to Australia, such as references to bookmakers, but most are used in both countries.
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A pick 6 is a type of wager offered by horse racing tracks. It requires bettors to select the winners of six consecutive races. Because of the great difficulty in picking six straight winners, plus the number of betting interests involved, payoffs for successful wagers are quite high, sometimes in the millions of dollars.
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Glossary of North American horse racing:
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The 2015 Breeders' Cup World Championships was the 32nd edition of the thoroughbred horse racing season-ending premier event held on October 30 and 31 at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky. The race series, held for the first time at Keeneland, required a significant amount of preparation to transform the small, historic track into a venue capable of handling large crowds, comprising 13 championship races held over a two-day period.
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