The payouts on this sequence were as follows:

6th Race -- $21.20
7th Race -- $24.60 ($2 DD paid $233.40 -- Equiv. Parlay $260.76)
8th Race -- $36.20 ($1 P3 paid $4543.10 -- Equiv Parlay $4719.76)
9th Race -- $16.60 (50 cent P4 paid $7900.05 -- Equiv Parlay $9793.49)

Assuming I did my math right, The parlay always paid better than the horizontal exotic equivalent and the discrepancy got worse the longer the horizontal was. Now, maybe I did my math wrong here. I freely admit I could have done it wrong. Or maybe there is some reason the parlay pays better than the horizontal. I had always thought that the horizontal should pay better because less take out. I recognize there are different pools and different people playing so there will never be a match...but I thought the law of averages would have dictated a different comparison.

Have I done my math right? Is this normal or was today's payouts unusual? If this is what one should normally expect, it would seem a little odd to be betting the horizontals when the parlays are a better value. Apologies if i am making some rookie errors here.