Desi,

Win betting, in my opinion is overall the best option. unless your horse is double figures, then e/w or straight out place is acceptable. This is due to the greatly superior odds one can attain for win betting to the supposedly proposed 1/4 odds available the place, this is very rarely the case. e.g paying $3.00 win $1.30 the place. Value is extremely hard to evaluate, if you can do it, your a pro. But i feel you don't have to be an expert to bet smart. If you looks at enough races, betting changes etc, you'll start to get a grasp of roughly how much your horse should be paying.

I have not yet fully ventured into Multiple betting yet, but am keen to. I do video form, and analyse (ussually) every horse in the race, i feel my knowledge of a particular race could be used more productively using trifectas, exactas etc. As Mav and Hawkeye have stated, you can't be stinngy and leave viable selections out because they cost to much.