What is an Exacta Box?

What is an exacta box?

Basically this is an bet that is structured so that all the combinations horses selected will result in a winning bet if any pair of them finishes in the top two spots, in any order.

For a straight exacta, the bettor must specify which horse is to finish first and which is to finish second.

But when an exacta is "boxed" the bettor need not specify which horse is to finish first and which is to finish second, but by selecting two or more horses he thinks will end up coming in first and second (boxing the selections), all possible combinations of those horses selected are covered by boxing them.

As an example, if a horse player boxes the #2 and #5 in a bet, whether the #2 wins and the #5 finishes second or the #5 wins and the #2 finishes second, it will be a winning bet. A two horse box will result in two distinct sequences that are being purchased.

If the bettor wishes to box three horses, say the #2,#5,and #9, then as long as any of these selected horses can finish in the top two spots in any order, it is a winning bet.

The costs of a $1 Exacta Box increase with the number of horses selected:

2 horses selected = $2

3 horses selected = $6

4 horses selected = $12

5 horses selected = $20