What I'm saying is that a horse that wins a race is also placed.
If the bookmaker pays a place for the first three then there are three placed horses in the race. Some bookies accept place [only] bets. So you can do a place double so even if both selections win all you get is the place odds. As I said, I'm being a bit pedantic, but a winning horse always returns place odds as well as win odds. (The place odds and the number of places are determined by the number of runners and the type of race).
To reinforce my point, if you look at the racing results you will find that the "Tote" returns both a win dividend and a place dividend for winning horses. Here's the result of the 3:25 at Epsom today:
http://www.sportingli...g-e-b-f-maiden-stakes
There were eight runners and the Tote pays a place for the first three in an eight horse race. You will see the win dividend and three place dividends thus showing that the winner is also considered to have been "placed".