Bettors: Know This Before Wagering on Belmont Stakes Day

The exotic betting menu this weekend at the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival (at Saratoga) will be just as tempting for handicappers seeking elusive scores. Beside exactas, doubles, trifectas, superfectas and multiple-race wagers (pick 3, 4, 5 and 6), there will be two-day doubles combining graded stakes along with three-race action on turf.

Some prefer the shotgun approach, playing just about everything and hoping for one or two big hits to offset losses. Others zero in on a few spots that appear to offer value.

We all have felt the anguish of being alive to a big pick 4 payoff only to lose a photo in the final leg. But without risk there are no rewards. There’s no worse feeling than the dreaded “woulda, coulda, shoulda” after you lose your nerve and don’t pull the trigger on a bet that comes in. Not cashing when you should have won hurts more than losing, because at least you went for it.

There were big payoffs on multi-race stakes plays at last year’s Belmont Festival, and most were haveable. Let’s review four that paid well and didn’t require brilliant handicapping. Remarkably, three involved an odds-on favorite, and the other included two grass superstars.

There was a $5 base wager on the double linking Friday’s New York Stakes with Saturday’s Met Mile. It didn’t take a genius to come up with 6-1 shot Marketsegmentation, one of Chad Brown’s three turf runners in the New York. Beating 3-5 favorite War Like Goddess was the key, because Marketsegmentation teamed with 3-5 Met Mile winner Cody’s Wish, the eventual Horse of the Year, to pay a juicy $101.

There also were $5 base wagers on the Gold Cup-Belmont Stakes double and the Met Mile-Belmont double. Siskany, the 4-5 Gold Cup favorite, linked with Belmont hero Arcangelo, who paid a generous $17.80, to return a tasty $131.25. Cody’s Wish with Arcangelo paid $122.50 in the Met Mile-Belmont bet, which felt like a gift.

The $3 Turf Triple Play began with 6-1 winner Emmanuel, third pick in the Poker Stakes. Obvious horses won the next two legs — reigning Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint heroine Caravel ($7.80) in the Jaipur and eventual male grass champion Up to the Mark ($5.30) in the Manhattan.

The payoffs were inflated because tons of dumb money are sprayed around on event days, with many using no-hope longshots while searching for massive hits. Last year’s results proved you don’t have to do that. There’s nothing wrong with keying on a favorite if you think you can beat a short-priced horse in the other leg.

Pick your targets carefully and make every shot count. You don’t have to bet megabucks or come up with 15-1 winners to cash multi-race plays on Belmont Stakes weekend.