When it comes to explaining, what is a combination tricast bet, you’ll first need to understand what a tricast bet is. A tricast bet is a popular bet that is normally associated with horse racing in which you must pick three horses to finish first, second, and third in that order.
An Example Tricast Bet
Let’s use the 2020 Cheltenham Gold Cup as an example. If you’d placed a £1 tricast on 1st Al Boum Photo / 2nd Santini / 3rd Lostintranslation – you would have got a return of £150.97 and a profit of £149.97
An Example Combination Tricast Bet
A combination tricast is when you pick three horses to finish first, second, and third in any order. This is six bets, so it will cost you 6x your stake. Using the 2020 Cheltenham Gold Cup as an example, you would have placed six bets as follows.
Bet 1: 1st Al Boum Photo / 2nd Santini / 3rd Lostintranslation
Bet 2: 1st Al Boum Photo / 2nd Lostintranslation / 3rd Santini
Bet 3: 1st Santini / 2nd Al Boum Photo / 3rd Lostintranslation
Bet 4: 1st Santini / 2nd Lostintranslation / 3rd Al Boum Photo
Bet 5: 1st Lostintranslation / 2nd Santini / 3rd Al Boum Photo
Bet 6: 1st Lostintranslation / 2nd Al Boum Photo / 3rd Santini
The above combination tricast would have cost you £6 and would have also given you a return of £150.97. But as you staked £5 more, your profit would have been £5 less at £144.97.
The advantage of placing a combination tricast bet was you would have been very happy as the three horses you picked jumped the last fence. They looked sure to fill the first three places but, as the exact finishing order was uncertain, you would have known you had it covered all ways.
Of course, if you were convinced that the horses would finish in the order they did, you could have placed a £6 tricast. This would have given you a return of 6 x £150.97 = £905.82.
How Are Tricast Dividends Formulated?
Dividends for tricasts are formulated using a complex algorithm that takes into consideration the SP odds of the horses and the number of runners in the race. The number of tricast bets placed on your selections should have no bearing on the final dividend. Not knowing what you’ll win is simply part of the excitement of the tricast bet for some punters.
Where Can I Place Combination Tricast Bets?
Most bookmakers offer tricast betting on horse racing, though not all races are tricast races. If you’re betting online, if the race you’re looking at is a tricast race, you’ll normally be able to see a tricast option. If you’re betting in a betting shop or over the phone, ask if you’re not sure.
What / Who Is The Best Bookmaker To Place Combination Tricast Bets With?
I like to place my tricasts and combination tricast bets with Bet365, as they are one of the few bookmakers that offer you odds on your tricast bets when you place them. These odds also tend to be BOG (Best odds guaranteed), meaning you’ll get paid out at the odds of the official dividend if it is bigger.
One thing to note when placing a combination tricast with Bet365 is you’ll need to enter all six bets of your combination tricast separately if you want odds on them. If you place your combination tricast bet as one bet, Bet365 tends to settle the bet according to the official dividend.
Is There An Alternative Bet To Combination Tricasts?
The alternative bet to combination tricasts is the Trifecta bet which is operated by the Tote (which is run by the bookmaker Betfred). The Trifecta is a pool bet. This means that all trifecta bets are placed in a pool. The Tote then deducts its administration fee before dividing the remaining pool of money between the number of winning tickets.
When placing a combination trifecta, all six of your combination trifecta bets will be placed in the Tote Trifecta pool.
This means that Trifecta dividends tend to be more volatile than Trifecta dividends. This is great if not many punters have chosen the same selections as you, as the dividend can be much higher than the trifecta dividend. But it can also be much lower if punters have come to the same conclusion as you.
Let’s use the 2020 Cheltenham Gold Cup as an example. The tricast paid £150.97 but, despite the first three horses including the first and second favourites, the Trifecta paid £224.30 – a whopping £73.33 more than the trifecta dividend.
How Do You Pick Winning Combination Tricasts?
Picking winning combination tricasts isn’t easy, but most punters that pick them will have a specific way of working a race out. The best way is to go through a race and try and cross off the horses you think have no chance of winning. This is good practice when trying to pick the winner of any horse race. But it’s especially useful if it leaves you with just three horses that you think all have a decent chance of winning. This is a great time to combine three such horses in a combination tricast.
Do Professional Tipsters Pick Tricasts?
Not many professional horse racing tipsters provide tricasts as typical daily bets. The main reason for this is it’s a highly volatile type of bet that is hard to predict. The dividends can be great if you land one, but you may go a long time between winning combination tricast bets.
Most punters want their tipsters to have a more pragmatic approach to picking winners. This includes a decent strike rate, a regular long-term return on investment, steady profits, and good management of the betting bank.
We hope that’s answered your question, what is a combination tricast bet?
