Trifecta Bet Explained
A trifecta bet requires you to predict the winner of a race, the runner-up and the horse that will finish third. It is difficult to land a winning trifecta, but you will be rewarded with a large payout if you pull it off. You also have the option of placing a boxed trifecta to boost your chances of success. Read on to learn more about how to place a trifecta bet, what it entails and how the payout is calculated.
What is a Trifecta Bet?
A trifecta bet is a prediction on the first three horses to finish a race. You need to specify the exact order in which they will finish.
The trifecta is a popular option among punters, as it provides an alluring opportunity to earn a large profit from a relatively modest stake.
All the money that is wagered on the trifecta on a particular race will go into a pot. The money is then divided up among the punters that guessed correctly. The portion of the pot you receive depends upon the amount you bet on the trifecta. The punter that placed the largest bet takes the largest slice.
The trifecta bet dividends will be revealed as a dollar amount after the race. It tells you the payout you will receive for every $1 you bet on the trifecta if your prediction was correct.
Trifecta Bet Examples
Let’s say you wanted to place a bet on the 2021 Melbourne Cup. You might have been following Verry Elleegant’s progression during the season and decided that she had enough quality to beat Incentivize, the heavy favourite.
If you had bet on Verry Elleegant to win the race, you would have earned a $16.50 payout for every $1 you wagered by backing her to win on the local TAB (S-TAB), as she secured a famous victory.
The TAB is the agency that manages the pot of money wagered on each betting option on a race. It takes a cut and then divides the rest up among punters with winning tickets. TopSport pays a dividend 5% higher than the Victorian TAB.
A $16.50 payout for every $1 wagered is very impressive. However, you would have earned a larger payout by betting on the exacta. That requires you to predict the winner of the race and the runner-up, in that exact order. A successful exacta on Verry Elleegant-Incentivize paid $72.70 for every $1 wagered.
Yet punters that placed a successful trifecta bet on the race earned a significantly larger payout. If you had bet on Verry Elleegant to win, Incentivize to finish second and Spanish Mission to finish third, you would have earned $436.20 for every $1 placed on the trifecta. That highlights just how powerful a trifecta bet can be.
You will never know precisely how much you stand to earn from a winning trifecta bet, as it is decided on a pari-mutuel basis using the TAB system described above. However, if you add unfancied horses in your trifecta, you are likely to secure a large payout if it wins. The fewer punters with winning tickets, the greater your slice of the pot will be. If you are the only punter that guesses correctly, the pot is all yours.
The record trifecta bet dividend on the Melbourne Cup came in 1993, when it paid $61,867.90. That year, an unheralded contender called Vintage Crop, who had a starting price of 14/1, finished ahead of outsiders Te Aku Nick and Mercator to win the race. The Melbourne Cup trifecta returned $26,045.00 in 2015, as $101 roughie Prince of Penzance saluted. The following year, it paid out a more modest $1,541.30, as the first three finishers were more popular among punters.
Trifecta bet payouts tend to be large on big races like the Melbourne Cup, which features a large field of contenders. The payouts may be smaller on standard races with a small group of runners.
For example, in a race we chose at random – the sixth race of the day at Caulfield on 12th January 2022 – just six runners took part after there were four scratchings. The winner, Savannah Cloud, had a starting price of 3.90. The runner-up, Gentleman Roy, was the 1.65 favourite in the starting prices, and third-placed Dundirtcheap was priced at 6.00.
In that race, the trifecta bet dividend from S-TAB was $12.80. That is still a relatively large payout for a $1 stake, but it shows you that the number of runners in a race – and the performance of the favourites – can impact the trifecta dividend.
How to Bet a Trifecta
Visit TopSport and head to the “Racing” section to place a trifecta bet. Find a race you want to bet on and click on it. You can then follow these simple steps to place your trifecta bet:
- Click on the “Trifecta” box at the top of the racecard.
- You will then see three boxes next to each of the runners.
- Decide which horse you think will win the race and click the first box next to its name. This will be the box in the column that reads “1st”. Mark the middle box next to the horse that you think will finish second and the final box on the right next to the horse that you think will finish third.
- A bar will appear at the bottom of the screen. In the first box, which reads “Unit Stake”, you can type in the amount you want to bet on the trifecta. Then click “Add To Betslip”.
- The trifecta bet you have selected will now appear on the betslip to the right of the screen. It will confirm the horses that you have selected to finish first, second and third, and the stake you have chosen. If you choose a $10 stake, your potential return will be 1000% of the trifecta bet dividend. If you choose $20, it will be 2000%, and so on, but the potential return will be TBD, as it depends upon the amount wagered on the trifecta and the number of punters that guessed correctly.
- Click to confirm the trifecta bet. The winnings will be credited to your account balance if your prediction is correct.
You must be a registered customer to place a trifecta bet. If you do not yet have a TopSport account, fill in the registration form and make your first deposit to place your trifecta bet.
Boxed Trifecta
A boxed trifecta allows you to group several horses together and place a series of trifectas on them. For example, let’s say you select three horses – number 1, number 5 and number 9 – in a certain race for your boxed trifecta bet. You would then place six combinations on them:
- Horse 1 to win, Horse 5 to finish second and Horse 9 to finish third
- 1 to win, 9 to finish second and 5 to finish third
- 5 to win, 1 to finish second and 9 to finish third
- 5 to win, 9 to finish second and 1 to finish third
- 9 to win, 1 to finish second and 5 to finish third
- 9 to win, 5 to finish second and 1 to finish third
It is six different bets, so a $5 boxed trifecta bet would cost you $30. If one of your trifecta bets pays off, you will earn a payout. You will be in profit if the trifecta dividend is more than $6, which is generally the case.
You can add as many selections as you like to the box. For example, you could add four horses to a box and place 24 trifecta combinations within that group. The more horses you add, the better your chances of landing a winning combination.
However, if you add too many horses to the box and place a very large number of trifectas on a race, the ultimate cost of your bet could exceed the payout you receive if one trifecta proves to be correct. It is a balancing act.
Trifecta Bet FAQs
How are trifecta bets calculated?
All the money wagered on the trifecta on a particular race goes into a pot. This pot is then divided among the bettors that made a correct prediction on the winner, the runner-up and the third-place horse. A divided for every $1 placed on the trifecta bet on each race will be revealed afterwards, and it tells you how much you will receive if your trifecta bet was successful.
Where can I place a horse racing trifecta bet?
You can place a horse racing trifecta bet at TopSport on lots of different races from across Australia and around the world each day. Just select a race you want to bet on and click on the “Trifecta” option at the top of the page. You will then be able to mark the horse you think will win, the horse that will finish second and the horse that will finish third, before choosing your stake and confirming the bet.
Australian and international horse racing betting markets available at TopSport.
