I know how you feel, and have wanted to kick myself when I did not box and an exacta came in with a combination that included a low price contender, but the reality is that many times when the favorite comes through, which they often do, you barely get your money back on a $12 box. A good number of legendary players, the late Dick Mitchell and Mark Cramer and others, point out that where you have several legit contenders, and assuming that the public is not absolutely correct........i.e., the favorite is going to win.........that you should only box the combinations that will really pay. Lots of stuff can happen, and you need to remember you get 6 $1 exacta boxes for the price of an underlayed $12 4 horse box. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I don't follow my advice, but I almost never include a 2-1 or less in an exacta box, I just pass or sometimes box 2 or 3 longer price horses and hope the favorite ends up taking a dump... If you feel that you have 4 real contenders and they are all paying more than 3-1, then I personally would box away. It it hits you should get your money back plus enough to make the risk worthwhile.
Find "Money Secrets at the Track" the standard for discussing betting value.
Others I'm sure will weigh in but that's my view.
Good luck, we've all had those days where we just said "damn...."
Chris
