Well, it's not really MY present. But in case you haven't heard...
Gameday and VIP are offering a Christmas present to horse bettors. On Dec 24 they are paying an extra 20% on winning bets at 3 tracks. The extra 20% applies to all bets except place and show bets:
http://info.vip.com/en/sports/horses...ookspecial.htm
The 3 tracks are Fairgrounds, Calder, and Philadelphia Park. The WPS takeout at those tracks is 17%, 18%, 17%. The exacta and DD takeout is 20.5%, 20%, 20%.
You might guess that collecting 120% of the normal payoff is more than enough to offset a 17% track take. It's almost enough. After the extra 20%, a 17% track take becomes a 0.4% track take. An 18% track take becomes a 1.6% track take.
It's not often you get to bet into an effective track take that is so small. There is another thread about what it takes to make a living at betting horses. One thing that would help anyone is taking advantage of opps like this one.
If I weren't already persona non gratis at these sites, my strategy would be to load up my accounts and look for as many bets as I could find at those 3 tracks. You don't have to feel THAT strongly about a play when you are only up against a 0.4% track take! Max win bet is $500, but you can also bet the exotics (effective track take on the exotics is about 4.5%, after the 20% payoff bonus). Maximum amount you can win on any one race is $20K.
Before you play tris and Pick 3-4's, you better check the payoff caps for those bets. (Win bets have no max; exactas and DD's are capped at 500-1.)
http://info.vip.com/en/horses/horses_limits.htm
These 2 sportsbooks are not at the level of Pinnacle or TheGreek, but they are A-rated sites at Sportsbookreview.com. You can be in and out in 2 days, and they are extremely unlikely to mess with you. They value that SBR rating too highly to pull any crap. That said, I would advise against using both books to circumvent the bet caps.
Merry Christmas.
--Dunbar