Pick and Pray is a horse racing tournament format to where players select from races 1-9 at a certain track. They're given a mythical $2 win and $2 place wager with max payout being $42 for win and $22 for place. Loll selections are made prior to the 1st race going off and cannot be changed. Whoever ends up with the most dollar amount at the end of the final race wins.

Experts who play these tournaments claim the correct strategy is to always pick a "bomb" in the final race. The theory is that;

A. If you're in the lead by a decent amount it protects you by "blocking" others from catching up.
B. If you're not in the lead and not doing well, you'll always be in contention by picking a "bomb" and being alive to a long shot in the final race.

So common sense is that since the picks are locked in and it's irrelevant where you pick the bomb. However, it's not a random sequence because we do indeed know that Race 9 is and will be the final race of the tournament.

Couldn't you even be at more of a disadvantage by using this method because you're forcing yourself to pick the longest shot in a certain race?

Thank you