The wonderful thing about horse racing is that you can make it as easy, or as complex as you'd like to make it. In its simplest form, horse racing payouts are dictated by $2 win bets. If you make a $2 win bet on a horse that goes off at 2-to-1, you would profit $4 and collect $6 with your returned investment. If you make a $2 win bet on a horse that goes off at 5-to-1, you would profit $10 and collect $12.
If you do a multi-race wager (i.e. a Pick 3, Pick 4, etc.), you will know what your potential payout is if your ticket is still alive heading into the last race of the sequence. The track will display “Will Pay” amounts for each horse and for each bet type. You will know exactly what you stand to profit if the last leg of your multi-race wager hits.