By G.S. Thompson
The $1 Pick 4 at Assiniboia Downs has become one of the best bets in North American racing, with pools consistently topping $75,000 and many times going over $100,000, but many Pick 4 bettors leave money on the table.
With less than 90 days left before the live race meet begins on May 12, we thought it would be a good time to share this Pick 4 betting strategy, which will give you enough time to test and tweak it before you cash those big tickets on the local races.
Structuring Pick 4 Tickets to Cash Multiple Times
Most recreational bettors approach the Pick 4 the same way. They throw all their contenders onto a single wheel ticket, cross their fingers, and hope to cash once. This can occasionally be a reasonable strategy, but it leaves serious money on the table. Read on to discover a smarter way to build your Pick 4 tickets.
The Core Concept
The multiple ticket method is built around a simple idea: identify your single strongest selection in each leg, then structure separate tickets that isolate each key horse individually. When two or three of your best horses win, you cash two or three tickets instead of one.
Here’s a typical four-race sequence to illustrate the point. Your top selection in Leg 1 is the 2-horse at 4-1, with the 3 and 4 as backup contenders. In Leg 2, you love the 6-horse at 5-1, with the 4 and 7 as alternatives. Leg 3 has the 1-horse at 2-1 as your key, backed up by the 9 and 10. In the final leg, the 8-horse at 7/2 is your anchor, with the 2, 5, and 6 rounding out your coverage.
The Single-Ticket Mistake
Combining all those contenders onto one $1 wheel — 2,3,4 / 4,6,7 / 1,9,10 / 2,5,6,8 — costs $108 and produces exactly one ticket. Cash it or don’t. There’s no reward for being right in three of four legs with your top selections.
Building the Multiple Ticket Structure
Instead, you construct five separate tickets totalling $137:
A $1 wheel singling your Leg 1 key (2 / 4,6,7 / 1,9,10 / 2,5,6,8) costs $36. A $1 wheel singling your Leg 2 key (2,3,4 / 6 / 1,9,10 / 2,5,6,8) costs $36. A $1 wheel singling your Leg 3 key (2,3,4 / 4,6,7 / 1 / 2,5,6,8) costs $36. A $1 wheel singling your Leg 4 key (2,3,4 / 4,6,7 / 1,9,10 / 8) costs $27. A $2 straight ticket combining all four key horses (2 / 6 / 1 / 8) costs $2.
Total investment: $137 — just $29 more than the single-wheel approach.
Where the Real Payoff Lives
Assume the Pick 4 pays $500 on a $2 ticket, meaning $250 for a $1 ticket. The single-wheel bettor collects $250 regardless of how many top selections won. The multiple-ticket bettor collects $250 when one key horse wins alongside contenders, $500 when two keys win, $750 when three keys hit, and $1,500 when all four keys win, because the $2 straight ticket fires along with the four $1 tickets.
The difference between walking out with $250 and potentially walking out with $1,500 comes down to $29 and knowing how to structure your action.
This is what separates serious Pick 4 players from the field and turns you into a long-term winner. But, as always…
Practice makes perfect.