Grand Slam Bet
 

I have found the Grand Slam bet at the NYRA tracks to be a hidden gem and a healthy alternative to addictively playing Pick 4's and some pick 5's.With this being an off day I thought it would be an excellent time to drop this note and throw out my ideas.

For those they may be unaware of exactly what the Grand Slam bet is I will briefly explain. It is a multi race wager that ends with the feature every day, typically the race before the nightcap. It begins 3 races prior to create a 4 race sequence. In the 1st three legs your horse only need to hit the board, while in the feature you must select the winner. You can play it like any sequence, singling or using a few runners if you want, with the cost calculated out the same way you would play a pick 3, 4, 5 etc. You can have multiple horses within a single race move through the 1st 3 legs if you are so fortunate.

I spent typically between $250-$300 per card playing pick 4's and 5's. I started toying around with the Grand Slam bet during the Belmont meet, playing it for $20 and going 1x1x1x2 with the occasional use of 2 in one of the 1st 3 legs. I'm talking about a $40 or $80 play. I found myself alive to more $1000+ hits than in months worth of pick 4's. Hitting 4 figure pick 4's for $60 is not common but yet with this bet I found myself alive to them a lot. I didn't cash any of them in the final leg but I knew that none of them were bombs and, in fact, twice I had favorites. This got me thinking...

What if during the Saratoga meet I allotted my entire $250-$300 for this play and hammered it. Not to red board but I've been alive 3 times this meet to 5 figure scores cashing in once. I have never been alive to that in a pick 4 and only a handful of times in pick 5's. For the same bankroll.

I didn't hit yesterday but was alive to a 7-1 and a 2-1. I played an $80 Grand Slam.

5) 6
6) 10
7) 1
8) 6 7

$160

5) 5 horse field I had 2nd choice who ran 2nd. King Kranz was off the board at 9/5.

6) No clear favorite. I had 2nd choice at 7/2 who won. A longshot hit the board.

7) Played a 6-1 that would be charging late, the type that "hit the board" in a race with no clear favorite. This horse should have won, ended up 2nd, but that's cool. I believe the other board hitters were both 4-1.

I have done nothing remarkable here.

8) I'm alive to the 6, 7-1, for $8600
I'm alive to the 7, 2-1, for $4000

I lose.

fantini, I have been intrigued by the Grand Slam because of a player's ability to hit it multiple times on a single ticket. If two of your picks in the first leg both finish in the top three, then three of your picks in the second leg do the same, and then only one hits the board in the third leg, but you have the winner in the final leg, you have hit the GS a total of 6 times. That can lead to a very nice return on your investment.

The downside is that on some occasions the payoff on the GS is somewhat small, so for it to be profitable you almost have to hit it multiple times.

My ideal GS play is when I have a very strong opinion in the final leg, so that I can spread in the early three legs and then single the final leg, hoping for multiple hits on a winning play in the leg where my opinion is strongest.

The important thing in any sequence is getting yourself "live" in the payout leg. Keep getting "live" and you will hit your share. The Grand Slam is a MUCH easier bet to end up "live". Yesterdays example is a solid one and there have been hits for less and losses for more on similar type examples. I don't think I would pursue this bet on a Thursday at Aqueduct but when the fields are a touch deeper this is a nice play in my opinion.

It may be that there is a lot of novice type chalky $2 action that feeds into the pools. While the payoffs at 1st glance do not seem to astound (a will pay of $45 on a $1 bet doesn't exactly get the heart racing.) The truth is that its 45-1! These sequences do not need to be played like a pick 4. Bigger amounts going 1x1x1x2 or something like that, keeping in your general budget, and the payoffs become juicy.

I would strongly encourage trying this bet any day, but especially on one when your opinion in the feature is strong and/or you don't like a favorite in the prior 3.

I agree with hitting it multiple times but I prefer to live and die with less horses and a higher increment, that way if it comes up chalky you can still walk with a couple hundred. And...it feels good to be wrong and still move forward!

Not that anyone cares but I will be posting my actual Grand Slam play on a daily basis and hoping that others get involved in what feels like a fantastic bet on a daily basis, especially at Saratoga.

Just thought I'd share my opinion with everyone here knowing that I would get feedback from terrific players. It feels like such an "old person" bet, or a "rookie" kind of bet, but the value it seems to be creating regularly is noteworthy.

Is this something that is available on all the betting platforms or just certain ones?

Popular bet at the OTB and now that you've explained it I think
I'll give it a whirl. I didn't know you had to win the last leg!
Will be a good bet Travers Day
Thanks for sharing

I've played through Xpressbet, Twin Spires, and on track. My guess is that it is available everywhere.

I think it's important to point out to all the home gamer's that Place or show wagering must be available in any of the first three legs of the wager for a horse to qualify as a winning selection finishing second or third. For example, a horse that finishes third in a race with no show wagering is not a winning selection.

An added bonus is that all 4 of the races in the grand slam sequence are televised on a daily basis.

Now if it would just stop raining!!!

Not an option for me on TVG platform... Go Getem Ed.

I play $1.00 Grand Slams if I feel the favorite in the last race is vulnerable or its a very chaotic race. I play single/single/single/ALL. Oct 8th,2017 I played the favorite in 5th,10-1 shot in 6th(fav. finished 4th),favorite in 7th,and all in 8th(just 6 horses w/big favorite Grand Jete-finished 3rd) .War Flag @10-1 won the 8th@Belmont. For my $6.00 investment I received $2008.00 back. I had to check my account, but the payoff was correct. Not a every day wager but when you feel it will be profitable a very fun bet.

Jim you can bet grand slam on TVG

How do you do it? I am on Web and it is not an option for me in Race 6 today?

Yes Race 6 today. It's coming up as an option just above pick 3. I never played it but it is showing up

Not for me...

That's strange. I don't know how to post photo but I am able to make the bet on my phone.

I've played the Grand Slam pretty regularly for almost 2 years.

I agree with most of what's been said but here's my approach.

I like the Grand Slam primarily because the "payoff" leg is almost always the feature race and it allows you to avoid the night cap - which is often some impossible maiden claiming event.

I will only play under when the following circumstances appear to be present based on my opinions:

1. At least 1 vulnerable favorite in the first three legs of the bet (important, vulnerable here means off the board)
2. Strong opinion on Payoff leg - regardless of price/likely post time odds
3. The only time I'll play a ticket and not single a horse in the payoff leg is when the second horse is likely to be 8-1 or higher
*Getting a heavy favorite off the board in one of the first three legs will often boost the payouts much more than having the favorite lose the payoff leg. Put differently, I often use the favorite in the payoff leg if I think I found an earlier race when a horse that's a heavy favorite might run out.

My typical ticket structure is 1x1x1x1 and occasionally I'll play 2x1x1x1 - I will use two horses in Maiden races, especially with many FTS. My typical investment is $25-75

This meet has been rough to say the least. The one place where I've had some success is the Grand Slam.

Sunday is a great example of how this bet can be useful. I singled the Admission Office ($3.60) but the maiden race knocked me out...My approach was the following -

Race 6 - Used 7 We Should Talk - I thought Vitsal was vulnerable and this was the main reason I played.

Race 7 - Used 8 Flatter My Heart - Knocked out here

Race 8 - I used 6 Petrov and 3 Behavioral Bias - I used two horses here. I liked Petrov best and my thinking was that if he hit the board and BB was off the board, I'd have created a ton of value. At the same time, BB didn't really look vulnerable and I thought I would have enough value already if Vitsal didn't hit the board in leg 1, so I included him to avoid getting knocked out. As an aside, this leg was particularly frustrating for me because I used Petrov as a Double Down play in the Huddie Contest and managed to extract $0 from his win.

Race 9 - Singled Admission Office - Again the idea is to use this bet to turn a 4/5 shot into something much more....

It paid $228 for $1

My play for today would be:

6 / 8 / 1 / 9

I think Mrs. Orb could be vulnerable in the second leg - I also think that Chad could get overbet in Race 6...Seems like he's leaving the horse in because they want him claimed away. Jerkens has been on fire the past few race days and Rocketry should be fine with the ground and distance. If the other horses hadn't scratched in the payoff leg, I'd have considered a smaller ticket using Focus Group too.

Can't but would play

1/8/1/8,10

Knickslion, are you from NJ? Like JMS, I’m from NJ and I don’t see the grand slam option. I’m guessing it could be something wonky about the 4NJBets platform...or something specific to NJ.

Jim it says new on the screen for this wager. I can email or text you a photo

I'm in Ohio so maybe nj has something against it

Wednesday August 22nd

$50 Grand Slam

6) 5 6
7) 9
8) 5
9) 8 9

$200

I tried it

1
6
4
6,8

GL

Good luck all. I can’t make the wager but would bet:

$10
R6: 6
R7: 3, 6, 8
R8: 1
R9: 5, 9

Maybe I’ll figure out if there is a way to wager it.

Mrs. Orb looks extremely vulnerable in Race 7, imo. There should be some value with the 3 Mohanie and the 6 Adorina.

I cant play the Slam but I will play along. I will play a $20 show parlay on first three races and if I make it to the last split those winnings on two win bets

1($24)/1($31.20)/1/5,8

Interesting... Will do the same but for $40 assuming a $20 Grand Salami

1($48)/8($55)/1(57.75) /8,10

Moved to 5 due to scratch $29 on 8 and 10 to win. This will fare far worse than the actual Grand Slam I can see that.

Gs $1 2,6 /2 2,6/ 2,3 / 4,10

I should add - I have a $5 double 6 with the 3, 6 so hopefully one of them can pull through. Bummer that the NJ folks can’t make the GS bet.

****ing Joke.. They need to get those 2 guys coupled

Didn’t catch the race. What happened?

It seems like several folks on here were relatively unfamiliar with the Grand Slam bet...So, I thought it was worth reviewing yesterday's results.

A quick look at the charts will tell you that yesterday was essentially the worst case scenario for the wager.

Leg 1 - The top 3 betting choices all hit the board
Leg 2 - The top 3 betting choices all hit the board
Leg 3 - The top 3 betting choices all hit the board AND the 1 horse was a late scratch which means, as the Double Will Pay favorite, you essentially had four top choices hit the board.

Focus Group paid 4.30/1 on the Win end and 7.40/1 in the Grand Slam

A few takeaways:

You can create some value using the Grand Slam even under the "worst" scenarios.

You rarely want to just "hit" the Grand Slam, this is a bet that you want to have multiple times - Think of the approach that Fantini suggested and apply to your bankroll, but don't try to have it for $1 increment.

Using multiple horses in the payoff leg really dilutes your potential return - at least when you use multiple horses in Leg 1,2,3 you actually have a chance for multiple horses to hit the board and you aren't guaranteeing loss.

I'd suggest watching the results over a few days before jumping to conclusions based on yesterday's results alone.

One final comment, the Grand Slam starts in race 9 on Saturday. This means the payoff leg is the Ballston Spa, not the Travers. Bummer.

Say you play 2x2x2x1 and all your horses hit the board in the first 3 legs. You hit it 8 times right?

In that example, yes.

8 x increment bet.

Thursday August 23rd

$50 Grand Slam

6) 1 8
7) 6
8) 6
9) 5 8

$200

Try one today. Last two days have been very, very chalky

Saratoga, Race 7, $5.00 GSL 4 / 1,8 / 3 / 10 $10.00

Friday August 24th

$50 Grand Slam

7) 1 7
8) 2
9) 7
10) 4 6

$200