Horse Racing Exacta Bet
With this bet, you must pick the first two finishing horses in the exact order of their finish. In other words, you must pick the horse that wins and the horse that finishes second.
Exacta Box
A "box" on two or more horses in a race means taking all the possible combinations of those horses in each place of finish. If you have determined that two horses are the best in the race but you are not sure which one will win and which one will finish second, then the safest bet is to do the exacta box. You can box more than two horses, but it is very important to remember that with each additional horse you add to the box the cost of the wager goes up substantially. The formula for calculating the cost of an exacta box is (horses in the box) x (horses in the box minus 1) x (dollar amount of bet). A $2 box of two horses would be (2 x 1 x 2) = $4. A $2 box of three horses would be (3 x 2 x 2) = $12. A $2 box of four horses would be (4 x 3 x 2) = $24. As you can see the cost of the exacta box increases greatly with each additional horse. Also, remember that you can wager a $1 exacta box. This reduces the amount of your wager by 50% but also reduces your earnings by 50%.