What is a Trixie bet?
A Trixie is a bet on three selections in different races made of 4 bets: the 3 doubles and the treble. There are no singles, so you need at least two winners for a return.
| Bet | Number | Pays when |
|---|---|---|
| Doubles | 3 | Both selections in the pair win |
| Treble | 1 | All three win |
| Total | 4 |
With selections A, B and C, the doubles are AB, AC and BC. A £1 Trixie costs £4, or £8 each way; at 50p a bet it is £2, or £4 each way.
How many winners do you need in a Trixie bet?
Two. One winner pays nothing, because every bet in a Trixie needs at least two selections. Here is a £1 Trixie (£4 staked) on the sample prices:
| Result | Bets that pay | Return | Profit or loss |
|---|---|---|---|
| One winner | 0 | £0.00 | -£4.00 |
| Two winners at evens | 1 | £4.00 | £0.00 |
| 2/1 and 3/1 win, 4/1 loses | 1 | £12.00 | £8.00 |
| 2/1, 3/1 and 4/1 all win | 4 | £107.00 | £103.00 |
The working for three winners: in decimal odds the prices are 3.0, 4.0 and 5.0, so the doubles return £12, £15 and £20 and the treble returns 3 x 4 x 5 = £60, a total of £107. Two winners at evens are the break-even point: the double returns 2 x 2 = £4, exactly the stake.
Is a Trixie a good bet?
It is a middle way between a treble and a Patent. A treble on the same three horses costs one unit and needs all three to win; a Trixie costs four and pays with two; a Patent costs seven and pays with one. More cover means more stake, and with short-priced selections two winners can return less than you put in. The disadvantages are the ones the table shows: one winner returns nothing, and the bookmaker's margin is built into every line. None of these bets makes a selection more likely to win, so compare the outcomes in the calculator and pick the spread that fits your budget, not the one that promises the most.
Each way Trixies
Each way, a Trixie is 8 bets: 4 win lines and 4 place lines. A winner counts in both; a horse that only places counts in the place lines at the place fraction of its odds. Take a £1 each way Trixie (£8 staked) where the 5/1 wins and the 4/1 and 6/1 both place. No win line pays, because only one horse won, but all four place lines do. At 1/4 the odds the place prices are 2.25, 2.0 and 2.5, and the four place lines return £26.38 (rounded). At 1/5 the odds the same result returns £19.88. The terms make that much difference, so set them exactly as your slip shows.
Using the calculator
Pick Per bet to type the unit stake (what most betting slips ask for), or Total to type what you want to spend and let the calculator split it. An each way bet is two bets per line, so it costs double.
Mark each selection as Won, Placed (each way only), Lost or Void. A void (non-runner) is settled at odds of 1.0, so the bet carries on as a smaller bet. Open Rule 4 / dead heat on a row to apply a deduction or a dead heat to that selection.