Japan conducts more than 21,000 horse races a year in one of three types: flat racing, jump racing (races over hurdles), and Ban'ei Racing (also called Draft Racing).

There are a total of thirty racetracks in Japan. Ten of these tracks are known as "central tracks", where most of Japan's top races are conducted. Races at these ten tracks are conducted by the Japan Racing Association, which operates under the oversight of the Japanese government. The remaining twenty tracks are operated by municipal racing authorities and run under the affiliation of the National Association of Racing (NAR). Two tracks, Sapporo Racecourse and Chukyo Racecourse, run separate meetings under either JRA or NAR jurisdiction.

The JRA purse structure is one of the richest in the world. As of 2007, a typical JRA maiden race for three year olds carries a purse of ¥9.55 million (about US$83,000), with ¥5 million (about US$43,000) paid to the winner. Purses for graded stakes races begin at around ¥75 million (about US$650,000).

Japan's top stakes races are run in the spring and autumn. The country's most prominent race is the Grade 1 Japan Cup, a 2,400 m (about 1 1/2 mile) invitational grass race run every November at Tokyo Racecourse for a purse of ¥530 million (about US$5.4 million), currently the richest turf race in the world. Other noted stakes races include the February Stakes, Takamatsunomiya Kinen, Yasuda Kinen, Takarazuka Kinen, Arima Kinen, and the Tenno Sho races run in the spring and fall. The Satsuki Sho, Tokyo Yushun and Kikuka Sho comprise the Japanese Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing.

Horse Racing bets

Here are some of the bets you can place in horse racing:

Win
If you place a bet to Win, you're betting on a horse to win the race. In order for the horse to win, they must cross the finish line first. It is one of the more common types of horse betting wagers.

Place
If you are making a horse betting play for Place, the horse you wager on must either finish first or second in order to collect.

Show
A Show bet is a bet that a horse will finish in the top three in the horse betting. This bet pays out if your horse arrives in first, second, or third place.

Across the Board (Win, Place and Show)
Across The Board is one of the most popular betting types. It's not much different than a Show bet, in the sense that you're betting on a horse to finish either first, second or third. The difference is this: If your horse finishes 3rd, you collect only on the show bet. If your horse finishes 2nd, you collect on two bets; place and show. If your horse finishes 1st, you collect on all three. The difference between this and a "Show" bet is that when you bet a horse to show it is only one bet on either of the 3 places.

Exacta
The Exacta is a bold wager but also a huge horse betting payout. You must correctly select which two horses will finish first and second, in that specific order. If you select horse 3 to finish first and horse 7 to finish second, your bet will only pay off if exactly that happens.

Quinella
The Quinella is quite similar to the Exacta Box as you must select the top two finishers, but in no specific order -so long as you pick the horses that finish in the top two. The Exacta Box, however, is two bets on the same ticket. Not every horse betting site offers the Quinella. If they do, check to see which offers better value between the Exacta Box or the Quinella.

Trifecta
When it comes to horse betting the Trifecta is the proverbial jackpot. The Trifecta is picking the top three finishers in exact order. One of the hardest horse betting types to get right, the payouts can be enormous depending on the horse betting odds.

Play Casino Games Now!