The first two races of this year�s triple crown illustrate the power of wagering with a betting line. With decent, if less-than-brilliant, handicapping, I was able to take money from both races. How is that possible? In the Derby, my fourth pick won. In the Preakness, my third pick won at 2/1 odds. In both races, my top pick was out of the money.

My meat and potatoes betting includes win, place, show and exacta wagers. If there are overlays in a race, I will generally bet them in some or all of these pools. My wagering method is mechanical, easy-to-implement, and well-worn � I�ve been happily doing it this way for years. The overarching principle is to place bets that involve overlays as defined by my betting line. Here�s how it works:

�Win Betting: Bet if the horse�s odds are equal to or greater than the Bet Odds.
�Place Betting: Bet Win/Place if the horse�s odds are 3+ times the Fair Odds.
�Show Betting: Bet Win/Place/Show if the horse�s odds are 6+ times the Fair Odds.
�Exacta Betting: Wheel the overlay(s) top and bottom with the top two favorites. If there are more than one overlay, box them.

Using the betting line I posted for the Kentucky Derby in Capper�s Corner the night before the race (assuming $20 win/place/show bets and $5 exacta bets) here�s how this betting method worked

I didn�t expect to get my 9/1 Bet Odds on Monarchos, but they�re generous on Kentucky Derby Day, and it ended up being a bet. I missed my big exacta payday when Congaree got nosed out of the second spot, but the $23.00 win payoff for Monarchos made it a profitable day.

Before the race, the Preakness looked like a passer, unlikely to offering much value. I expected one of the top three favorites to win the race. I did give an outside shot to A P Valentine or Richly Blended to pull off an upset. Here�s the betting line I posted in Capper�s Corner the night before:

As I and just about everyone else figured, one of the favorites won the Preakness. What allowed me to make money in the race was one of my overlay�s driving finish to get second. Despite a troubled trip, A P Valentine rushed up to complete a bounteous $81.40 (for $2) exacta.

The best explanation of how to use a betting line to make money at the track is contained in Barry Meadow�s book Money Secrets at the Racetrack. My personal betting method is a bastardization of his methods which I developed in the search for the easiest possible method which still incorporated the power of the betting line.

The idea behind my place wagering is, if a horse is going off at three or more times its Fair Odds, it�s likely to pay its Fair Odds payoff or more in the place pool. And that�s for an event that�s much more likely than finishing first � finishing first or second. The same logic applies for show bets when a horse is going off at six or more times its Fair Odds. This is based on something Mark Cramer wrote about � he posed this question: If you�re willing, for instance, to take 4/1 on a horse in the win pool, why wouldn�t you bet it to place if you�re likely to get that price in the place pool?

The notion behind my exacta wagering method is, if a horse is overlayed in the win pool, it�s likely to be overlayed in the exacta pool. Combine that with the fact that one of the top two favorites is going to be in the exacta more than 80% of the time, and you�ve got my method. If any of my overlays runs at least second, I�m probably going to make money in the race. If I have multiple overlays that run one-two, I�m going to have a bonanza. And I don�t have to look at exacta payoffs for 12 different combinations with three minutes to race time � I just watch the win odds, mark my bets, and place them.

I�ve never been a trifecta player, but I�m thinking of testing some ideas. (If anybody has experience with profitable, easy-to-use trifecta wagering methods with a betting line, I�d welcome suggestions.) Here�s what I plan on testing: Trifecta as a Show Bet. I�m going to look at how I�d do if I bet all my betting line contenders (horses with Fair Odds of 7/1 or less) in the first spot, to all my betting line contenders in the second spot, to just my overlay(s) in the third spot. So, it�d be a Contenders-Contenders-Overlays trifecta ticket. A typical one might be 4-4-2 or a $12 ticket. If this works, I could take money from the race if one of my overlays ran in the money.