How to bet on the 2021 Melbourne Cup

The race that stops a nation is finally here, and we’ve prepared a handy explainer of some of the most common horse racing bets.

PeopleÕs Cup. The Melbourne Cup is still the Holy Grail to young people. Spring carnival fans Marina Elias, Annabelle Riesz, Fabio Guergues, Bianca Markovic and Gareth Folkard with the Melbourne Cup. Picture: David Caird

The race that stops a nation is here and the Australian public is scrambling to place their bets before Tuesday’s race gets underway.

After last year’s Melbourne Cup was run in front of empty stands, a crowd of 10,000 vaccinated spectators is expected at Flemington Racecourse for the main event.

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However, some rookie punters would understandably find it difficult to slap down a bet or two under pressure – things can get confusing when there’s so many options.

But fear not, because we have prepared an explainer of some of the most common bets, so you don’t look out of place when you head to the TAB.

Win or place

This is one of the most straightforward bets you can choose, so if you want to keep things simple go for one of these.

In this type of bet you pick a horse and are betting it will win or place in the race.

With a Win bet you simply pick the runner you think will finish first in a particular race. If your hose finishes first then you win.

So if the odds for the horse are $15 and you put on $10 for the win, you’ll get $150 back if it finishes first.

With a Place bet you choose a runner and if they finish first, second or third then you get to collect your win. You get a dividend for third place in a race with eight or more runners.

The payout is slightly less than a Win bet but you have more chance of winning.

Each way

An Each Way bet is a combination of both a Win and Place bet

So if your horse comes first you collect a dividend for both the Win and Place bet.

If your runner comes second or third you only collect money for the Place bet.

Quaddie

In this type of bet you must chose winners for four different races nominated by the TAB.

You can select any number of possible winners for each race. The number of horses you pick will determine how much you pay.

Quaddie dividends are for a $1 unit.

For example, if you wanted to pick three horses in the first leg, seven for the second, one for the third and four for the last leg then that comes to 84 possible combinations.

To receive 100 per cent of the dividend then it will cost $84 for the one unit.

The race will get underway at about 3pm. Photo by Gui Ming/Xinhua via Getty

Trifecta

In this type of bet you will choose the horses that will come first, second and third.

The horses you choose must finish in the correct order for you to collect your payout.

If you want a higher chance of winning there is an option to box your Trifecta, which means you will win if your three horses come first, second and third in any order.

However, depending on how many horses you box, this option costs more than the standard $1 unit.

First4

This bet is the same premise as the Trifecta but instead of picking the first three horses, you must pick the first four.

Again, in order to collect your payout your chosen horses must place first, second, third and fourth in the correct order for a $1 unit, or you can box the horses like in the Trifecta above.

Quinella

For this bet you choose two horses to place first and second in a particular race.

Unlike a Trifecta or First4 your horses can place in any order so long as they are the first two to cross the finish line.

Exacta

Similar to the quinella, but you must choose the first two across the line in the correct order

Originally published as How to bet on the 2021 Melbourne Cup