Beating the quinella

The quinella is easier to win than the exacta because instead of having to predict the precise one-two finish you merely have to select the top two finishers. The order of finish is immaterial. It is about twice as easy to win a particular bet in the quinella as opposed to the exacta, hence the payoffs are about half as much. Quinella bets are not as popular as exactas or triactors because they have smaller payoffs. Hence many tracks are phasing them out or minimizing their use. However, they are still used in many racetracks and serve as an exotic bet that is intermediate between the win bet and the exactor. You must select the winner and the second horse. Hence payoffs will usually but not always exceed win payoffs and will always, except for very strange betting pools, be smaller than exacta payoffs would be…