Msola,

If I really think a favorite will be off the board entirely, I will spend more on the race. This is part of what I meant by "go deeper."

I also may use more horses (but if I can't narrow the exacta down to four I tend to tune out).

When I mentioned "focus", I mean I will try to key a few more on top instead of just box-ing away.

In your hypothetical nine horse field, if you can throw out the favorite, you may encounter a scenario where you can toss a few non-contenders and have a manageable number of decent-priced contenders for the exotics.

I really don't like to go more than four deep in the exactas. On ocassion, I will play tris as what I would call "extended exactas." If I don't like the favorite, but I can narrow it down to two or three contenders, I might use the two or three I like in the first and second spot of the tris and just go "all" in the third spot so I don't get screwed by the 30-1 shot that clunks up in there. So in a way I figure I'm playing a modified exacta since I'm really only handicapping the first two spots on the tri ticket.

Someone else commented that you should pick an exotic bet and really focus on it -- I've played enough tris to know that ANYONE can finish third (pace may be a much bigger component in figuring this out as opposed to figuring out who can win, in my humble opinion). So if the favorite looks really bad, I may just say to hell with the exactas and play the tris with the "all", or, if I'm lucky, just the few I think can make it.

Hope this clears it up a little. Good luck. HP