Tricast Bets at Cheltenham Explained

Last Updated 2 months ago

The tricast is one of the most ambitious bets at the Cheltenham Festival, asking punters to predict the first three horses in a race in the correct order.

The difficulty is considerable, but the potential returns can be substantial, particularly in the wide-open handicaps the Festival is known for.

How a tricast differs from a forecast

A tricast goes a step beyond the forecast, which only requires naming the first two home. Adding a third horse increases the complexity sharply.

It tends to suit races with larger fields, typically the big handicaps such as the Coral Cup, the Pertemps Final and the County Hurdle. In a field of 20 or more, the pools can be large and the dividends reflect the scale of the task.

Building a shortlist and perming selections

A common approach is to build a shortlist rather than pick three horses blind. Analysing the race to identify four or five key contenders, then perming them, covers every possible order in which those horses can finish first, second and third.

Four shortlisted horses produce 24 permutations (4 x 3 x 2). A tricast perm covering all 24 lines at £1 a line costs £24. The outlay is significant, but a single winning line can return far more.

The Tote straight tricast

Bookmakers also offer the Tote straight tricast, a pool bet where the payout depends on the size of the pool and how many others hold the same winning combination.

In a major handicap, a winning Tote tricast can pay five figures from a £1 stake, which is the appeal that keeps punters returning to the market despite the long odds.

Keeping it sensible

The tricast is best treated as a small part of a betting bankroll, a flutter with a dream attached rather than a core strategy. It loses far more often than it lands.

Staking only what can be comfortably afforded keeps the bet in proportion, while the rare winning line is what makes the near misses memorable.

The tricast is the most demanding of the order-based markets covered in the site’s Cheltenham Festival betting guides, building on the forecast bet and the basics of the win and each-way bet.