How to Bet on Trifectas: Horse Racing Trifecta Guide
A trifecta bet is the ideal first step for anyone planning to place complex wagers in horse racing. Trifecta betting requires you to predict the first, second, and third-place finishers of a race in the correct order. They’re not easy to master, but they can pay big profits if you get them right.
This guide gives you advice on how to bet a trifecta and shows you how to place a trifecta bet at online sportsbooks. Come with us as we dive into the world of trifecta betting!
What Is a Trifecta Bet in Horse Racing?
A trifecta bet is a wager that requires you to correctly select the first, second, and third-place finishers in a race. If you correctly wager on the exact finish order of three horses, you’ll win your bet. Trifectas are most commonly used in horse and greyhound racing. Top sportsbooks like BetOnline offer trifecta bets for as little as $0.50 per selection.
How to Bet a Trifecta
You can bet a horse racing trifecta very quickly with any major sportsbook that offers races. Let’s say you want to bet on a race at Tampa Bay Downs. BetOnline enables you to click the ‘Trifecta’ tab and make your three selections. You can also see the moneyline odds on your picks, which may help you in your decision.
In the screenshot, you go with:
- 1st – Hunny Bunnyness (2)
- 2nd – Casual Cause (3)
- 3rd – Country Economics (5)
All you need to do is add the trifecta to your bet slip, choose your stake, and hit ‘Submit All’ to complete the wager. If these three horses finish in the order you select, it’s a winning bet!
Quick Tip: Use a site like BetOnline that shows you the moneyline odds for each race. Your trifecta may be placed in the pari-mutuel pot that pools all similar wagers together and pays out dividends to winners. But it doesn’t harm to know how good your selections are. Read more about how to bet on horse racing here.
Kentucky Derby Trifecta
Kentucky Derby trifecta bets dominate sportsbooks every spring. Many bettors choose to throw a dollar at a Kentucky Derby trifecta because the payouts can be huge. After all, this is an unusually large 20-horse race and that means no one is guaranteed victory.
REMEMBER: Pari-mutuel betting goes into overdrive during this event and there’s a huge pot to compete for. Rarely do the three favourites in the futures odds come in first, second, and third. Instead, there’s almost always an outsider in the places. This gives even inexperienced trifecta bettors a chance of striking lucky at Churchill Downs.
What Is a Boxed Trifecta?
A boxed trifecta transforms a traditional trifecta bet so now your first, second, and third picks can finish in any order. You effectively make six bets in one go:
- Horse A, Horse B, Horse C
- Horse A, Horse C, Horse B
- Horse B, Horse A, Horse C
- Horse B, Horse C, Horse A
- Horse C, Horse A, Horse B
- Horse C, Horse B, Horse A
If you stake $1 on a boxed trifecta then your total stake will be $6. Of course, you also have six chances of winning.
Boxed Trifecta Example
As you can see here, BetOnline makes it simple by indicating where you need to select each horse. You choose to wager $2 per bet, taking your total stake to $12. You’ll now win a payout so long as Weyhill Road, Royal Mende, and Now And Later all finish in the top three, no matter the order.
Quick Tip: Boxed trifectas are perfect when backing outsiders to finish in the places. A race like the Kentucky Derby usually has a +5000 shot that surprises the horse racing sportsbooks.
How Much Does a Trifecta Pay?
Trifectas are normally based on pari-mutuel betting. This makes calculating your trifecta winnings a little tougher than if you wagered on fixed odds. Your winnings will be calculated by dividing the total amount wagered on the race by the number of winning bets.
Say you bet on a race with $2,000 in the pot. There are 100 bettors who all place trifectas but only two of you select the winning combination. Your winnings are split evenly $1,000 between you!
It’s quite possible that you are the only person with your particular one-two-three combination, which means you could take home the entire pot. Equally, if 99 out of 100 people place the same winning trifecta, then your profit will be miniscule.
Trifecta Betting – Will You Try Your Luck?
Trifectas are a really good way to advance your horse betting skills beyond the traditional single and place bets. They force you to think about various outcomes and how to chase bigger profits by creating combinations no-one else will consider.
Boxing a trifecta is perhaps the best place to get started if you are new to this bet type because you have more outcomes covered. Of course, we always recommend you consider your bankroll when betting on horse racing, and never bet more than you can comfortably afford.
Wondering if trifectas are right for you? There are plenty of different bet structures out there. If you want to know more then we suggest you read our guide on quinellas, exactas, or superfectas.
Trifecta Horse Racing FAQs
Trifecta betting is an exotic bet for horse and greyhound racing, where you select the top three finishes for the race. Bettors will need to pick each position accurately, or the bet won’t pay out.
There’s a healthy dose of luck in trifecta betting, but you can mix trifectas into your betting strategy to give yourself a chance of a big win. Amidst single “safer” bets, select the strongest three horses and make a small wager on a trifecta. Aside from this, do your research and understand the form of each contestant!
Trifectas, superfectas, and exactas are all related bets, with varying degrees of risk. Trifectas ask you to pick the exact finish of the top three horses, and superfectas ask the same, but with the top four horses. Exactas are a bit simpler, instead only requiring the top two horses. But remember — all these bet types demand the correct finishing position for each horse, so be mindful.
