Rolling Pick 3 wagers are popular at North American racetracks as they give bettors the opportunity to pick out the three races they like the best on the card to play the bet.
Maybe you have a strong opinion on a certain race so you can decide to bet a Pick 3 starting in races leading up to your best bet of the day or you could start your wager with that race.
It’s always a good idea to go through a card of racing and decide what races and/or horses you prefer, leaving out races that you have no opinion about.
Another good time to play a Pick 3 is if you can find one that overlaps with a Pick 5 and Pick 4, wagers that tend to get a lot more attention from bettors because of the potential for a higher payout. With more people playing those wagers, the Pick 3 sometimes gets overlooked leading to a generous payoff.
Depending on the size of the fields in the Pick 3 races you have chosen, a payoff for a $1 base bet (the lowest base bet for the Pick 3 is 20 cents) is usually anywhere from $20 to several hundred dollars. And studies have shown that betting a win-parlay on the three races you choose of a Pick 3 would often pay less than the Pick 3 payoff.
Find a key horse
The best strategy for any type of vertical wager (Pick 3, 4, 5, and 6) is to try to have a key horse in one of the races of the sequence. This allows you to keep the cost of the wager down and your profit to be higher.
A key horse is a runner you have the strongest opinion about or a horse you regard as a contender against a favourite who seems vulnerable.
Conversely, keying a horse at odds-on, if all the fields in the sequence are small, is not worth spending much money on and it's best to look elsewhere for a Pick 3 sequence to play. You can get clues in the first race of the sequence from the tote board to see how your horses(s) are being bet, often valuable if there are first-time starters in the field.
Fort Erie late Pick 3, Races 5-7
The final Pick 3 on Fort Erie's Tuesday card is an appealing play as the final race of the sequence (Race 7) is a wide open turf race with several contenders and no standout runner.
Race 5: The morning line favourite in this six furlong race on dirt is No. 3 MORE SAVVY (see image) who seeks her first win of the season and she is racing for a new low-class level. The class drop is just one of several factors that make this mare an ideal key horse for the Pick 3.
More Savvy has raced at Fort Erie 11 times in her career with a record of 3-3-3 but she’s versatile as she also enjoys Woodbine's Tapeta surface. In 2023, when she raced at Fort Erie, she was in the care of trainer Josh Robillard who did well with her. Robillard has recently taken over the training of this mare again. In her latest outing, More Savvy earned a 54 Beyer Figure for a good try in the slop. Two starts ago she was second to the red-hot Mountain Sound, who came right back to win again.
Five of More Savvy's rivals in this race competed against each other at this class level two weeks ago, with front runners So Breanna and Creative Performance holding off a host of closers to finish 1-2. It wasn't a fast race (49 Beyer Figure for So Breanna) and More Savvy has a good chance to catch up to these for the victory.
Race 6: This is a maiden special weight race at 6 1/2 furlongs and there are a variety of horses in the field seeking their first win, including several who are coming out of a similar race but on a sloppy track on Aug. 5. Interestingly, the 2-1 morning line favourite for the race is No. 1 BOSTON BAY, who was claimed from his latest for $7,5000 by high percentage claiming trainer Nick Mileni. This might not be a significant move up in class for this Woodbine invader, but it will be his first try on the dirt.
There are six horses in this field and I will use 1, 3, 4 and 6, three of which raced in the Aug. 5 event and Boston Bay.
Race 7: This race is scheduled for about 1 1/16 miles on the grass and a few of the entrants in the field have won on the Fort Erie turf in the past, others have recently come down from Woodbine and the morning line favourite at 3-1 is No. 9 GLITTER BAY, who has won two of her last four races. Glitter Bay looks very strong in this spot, but with the widest post and a short run to the first turn, she could be a vulnerable favourite.
I’m going to use a few horses in the Pick 3 in this race, including several horses who have been racing against each other, with No. 1 SWEET SERENADE, No. 3 EMERALD LAKE, No. 7 PLUIE D'AVRIL and No. 8 MIMI'S HOLIDAY. I will also include Woodbine invaders No. 4 ANTIGONE and No. 5 TURF AND SURF, hoping for nice odds on the winner of the last race.
Here is what the Pick 3 wager might look like for Tuesday’s final Pick 3 at Fort Erie:
Race 5 – 3
Race 6 – 1, 3, 4, 6
Race 7 – 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9
=$28.00 or $5.60 for 20 cents
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