How the reverse forecast calculator works
A forecast picks the first two home in a race and a tricast the first three. Choose the bet in the first box. For a combination forecast or combination tricast, a second box asks how many selections you are combining (3 to 8). Then type the stake per line and the declared dividend, which is quoted to a £1 stake.
The reverse forecast calculator shows the number of lines, the total stake, the return and the profit. A reverse forecast is two straight forecasts (A then B, and B then A), so it costs two stakes. Only one order can happen, so only one line can win: the return is the dividend times the stake per line.
A £1 reverse forecast costs £2. If the dividend is £23.45, it returns £23.45, a profit of £21.45.
Forecast and tricast lines and costs
| Bet | Selections | Lines | Cost at 50p | Cost at £1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Straight forecast | 2 | 1 | £0.50 | £1 |
| Reverse forecast | 2 | 2 | £1 | £2 |
| Combination forecast | 3 | 6 | £3 | £6 |
| Combination forecast | 4 | 12 | £6 | £12 |
| Combination forecast | 5 | 20 | £10 | £20 |
| Straight tricast | 3 | 1 | £0.50 | £1 |
| Combination tricast | 3 | 6 | £3 | £6 |
| Combination tricast | 4 | 24 | £12 | £24 |
| Combination tricast | 5 | 60 | £30 | £60 |
A combination forecast on n selections has n x (n - 1) lines, and a combination tricast n x (n - 1) x (n - 2). The cost climbs fast: six selections are 30 forecast lines but 120 tricast lines.
Worked example: a 50p combination tricast on four horses is 24 lines, £12 in total. Three of them fill the first three places and the tricast dividend is £180.20, so the one winning line returns £90.10, a profit of £78.10.
Where the dividend comes from
Bookmakers don't offer fixed odds on a forecast. They settle it at the Computer Straight Forecast (CSF) dividend, and a tricast at the official computer tricast dividend, both declared after the race. The CSF is produced by a formula that works from the starting prices, which is why you only know the return once the result is in. Sky Bet's rules, for example, void forecasts in races with fewer than three runners, and settle a tricast as a straight forecast on the first two selections if no tricast dividend is declared. Tricasts are usually limited to bigger fields (the standard rule is eight or more declared runners with at least six running), so check your bookmaker's rules before you bet.
Tote exacta and trifecta
The Tote runs its own pools instead: the exacta (first and second in order, the Tote's version of the CSF) and the trifecta (first three in order). Under the Tote's published rules, 25% is deducted from each pool and the rest is shared among winning tickets, with the dividend rounded down to the next 10p per £1 and never below £1.10 outside dead heats. Type a Tote dividend into the calculator the same way. The US trifecta works like the Tote version: see how to bet a trifecta, and for other Tote pools, our Placepot guide.