Of all the forms of exotic betting in Australia, perhaps the one most rapidly gaining enormous popularity is the trifecta.
We get letters from people all across the nation asking for ideas on how to win by playing trifectas.
It's easy to understand why punters are so keen on this form of betting. Trifectas are difficult to get, so they often provide handsome rewards for those with the ability to land them.
The appeal then is in the likely reward, and not in the actual form of betting. No-one in their right mind really wants to be faced with the problem of selecting the horses that will fill the first three placings in a given race.
It's a difficult task to find the winner, or even one placegetter, without having to find the first three and get them in the correct order!
But punters like the challenge because success means a big payoff and this is repayment for the hard work involved in making trifecta selections, and repayment, too, for the outlay of money required to achieve a winning trifecta result.
The trifecta plan here calls for a $6 investment on each race where three bona-fide contenders can be found. We stress that there will not be three contenders in every race you look at.
Our trifecta method is restricted to races run over 1200 metres. There is a logic in this restriction, because form in these type of races is usually very good.
We are looking for three types of contender, and we'll call them Types 1, 2, and 3.
Type 1: This horse is one that is highly regarded by the newspaper tipsters. The rationale in this is that the newspaper 'consensus' horse usually has the class, consistency, and ability to run first, second or third in the race. Although often berated, newspaper tipsters do have the ability to sum up a race and you'll find that the majority of the horses that are 'most fancied' in a tipsters' poll will usually run well.
Type 2: This is what we call our'class' selection. It is based on stakes earned. In coming to your sele~tion for this type you discard the horse that has already qualified in Type 1. With the Type 2 horse, we also look for the fact that he has had a recent run and done well in that race. Refer to the rules we have published to get the full idea of a Type 2 qualifier.
Type 3: This horse has had the most recent race on a metropolitan track and has shown he has ability at the distance of today's race and in the class of this race. When looking for this Type 3 contender, you do not consider the 2 horses you may have found as Type 1 and 2 contenders.
So these are the aims of our search for the trifecta - three solid, in-form, well-fancied horses.
The plan is used in accordance with the following rules:
The fact that you are investing only $6 per race means that you are risking little to reap big rewards.
On each Saturday program, there are usually three or four 1200 m races, so your outlay for one meeting will be a maximum $24, assuming you get 3 contenders in each race.
The beauty of trifectas is that one of them could bring you a payout of many hundreds of dollars, even thousands if you are lucky enough to 'spot' a longshot in your three types of contenders.
This plan can be used at any tracks, city or country, and we are confident it will provide you with a succession of good trifecta dividends.
As an adjunct to the idea, you could use the three contenders in our method as the basis for a much larger trifecta bet.
You may like to couple up four, five or even six horses in a race. You could use our three as the main contenders, then add other horses as you see fit.
Let's say you wanted to have our three contenders as your "choice bets, and then throw in three others for the placings. "
You could have Key-Box trifectas, using our three horses in the following way:
Type 1 horse to win, with Type 2 and 3, plus 3 others to run 2nd and 3rd. Cost: $10 using 50 cent units. You then repeat the bet using Type 2 to win from Type 1 and 3, and the 3 others, and then bet on Type 3 winning the race from Type 1 and 2, and the 3 others.
Total outlay: $30. If any one of the 3 Types wins the race, and any of your other five runs second and third, you have the trifecta, and the possibility of a very good dividend indeed.
By Statsman
PRACTICAL PUNTING - AUGUST 1985