Horse Racing Full Cover Bets & How They Work (April 2024)

Betting on horse races is hugely popular across the globe and has been practised since time immemorial. The long odds offered in horse racing bets can attract all sorts of bettors. However, if you have ever bet on a horse race, you will know that anything can happen in a race. In mere minutes you can suddenly win massive prizes from your stake, or you can lose it. Whilst there is no end-all strategy that will always guarantee a win, you have the option of choosing what type of bet you want to make.

What are Full Cover Bets

For many punters, betting on horse races is a simple endeavour in which you have to pick the winner of the race and stake your money. The odds will be long enough and if you are willing to risk your money on a particular horse, there is no more to the bet. However, if you dedicate a little more time and look at more races then you should definitely consider full cover bets.

Basically, these are combinations of individual bets in which you cover numerous possibilities and therefore can still make some profit if one or more of your bets fail to win. Full cover betting is not the same as making a parlay bet. With parlays, you will need all your selections to come through to win.

When you place a full cover bet, you will make a handful of bets. Instead of putting a stake on one bet, you will be placing multiple stakes of equal value on several bets. The amount you win will depend on how many of your selections come through. This way, you have more insurance than a parlay bet and a greater potential prize than a combination bet.

Full Cover Bets Broken Down

Full cover bets can be broken down into numerous single bets. The smallest full cover bets require 3 selections, which means you need to pick the three winners of three different races. You can then either place a Trixie bet or a Patent bet. The Trixie comprises 4 different bets, each of which will require a stake of equal value. The Patent has 7 different bets, which also have to have stake of equal value.

Trixie bets comprise 3 doubles bets and 1 treble bet. Patent bets comprise 3 singles, 3 doubles, and 1 treble bet. In greater detail, here is an example:

• Horse A at odds 3.5
• Horse B at odds 5
• Horse C at odds 4

In a Trixie bet, you will stake equal value on the following bets:

Doubles: AB, AC, BC

Treble: ABC

In a Patent bet, you will place stakes of equal value on the following bets:

Singles: A, B, C

Doubles: AB, AC, BC

Treble: ABC

Full Cover Bets vs Parlays

Taking the two full cover options from above, you may be interested to see how these work in comparison with parlay bets. You have chosen horses A, B, and C to win their respective races, and now need to place a stake. Let's say you have a budget of $7 for all three different types of bets. With the parlay, this is a straight $7 on one combination bet. In the Trixie bet, you'll wager $1.75 on four separate bets. For the Patent you'll wager $1 on each of the seven bets.

All three horses win

• $490 from the parlay bet
• $212.63 from the Trixie bet
• $134 from the Patent bet

Only 2 horses win

• $0 from the parlay bet
• $35 to 24.50 from the Trixie bet
• $29 to 21.50 from the Patent bet

Only  1 horse wins

• $0 from the parlay bet
• $0 from the Trixie bet
• $5 to 3.50 from the Patent bet

Parlays pay better than the two full cover options if all the horses win their races. But should only 1 fail then it will not bring any returns. With the full cover betting options, there is still a chance of salvaging some money should one of the horses fails to win a race.

The Mathematics Behind the Bets

The example above gave you a taste of how full cover bets work (in comparison with parlays). The difference between the Patent and Trixie bets is that the Patent offers greater insurance whereas the Trixie can offer a larger payout if all selections come through. Full cover bets are definitely worth considering with horse races simply because they are notoriously more difficult to predict than other sports in which there are only 2 contestants. It works best with longer odds, and horse racing can provide that.

Three Selections (Trixie)

Now let's look at an example of a horse racing Trixie bet against a basketball Trixie bet. For the basketball bet, the odds on three individual teams winning their matches are:

• Team A at odds 1.9
• Team B at odds 1.5
• Team C at odds 1.6

These three teams are the favourites to win in their respective games, and this is reflected in the shorter odds they have been given.

• Horse A at odds 3
• Horse B at odds 3.5
• Horse C at odds 3.2

The same can be said about these horses in their respective races. Amongst the multiple contestants in the race, the bets are offered with odds that are relatively short for horse racing, and we can assume in the example that they are the favourites. When placing a Trixie bet you will need to make 7 separate bets, and so a “$10 Trixie Bet” actually costs you $40. Let's say you put $40 on both Trixie bets, here is what you can expect in all possible outcomes:

All teams/horses win

• $128.50 for the basketball bets
• $649 for the horse race bets

2 out of 3 teams/horses win

• $30.40 to $24 from the basketball bet
• $112 to $96 from the horse race bet

If only 1 selection wins then neither Trixie bets pay out anything. What you should take out of this is the massive gulf in difference between the potential winnings. With the basketball bets, if only 1 selection does not come through then already you will be at a loss as the maximum you can hope for is $30.40 from a $40 bet.

Three Selections (Patent)

The same applies for Patent bets, where large odds will not only have a larger maximum return but also the insurance will be greater. If you place a $10 Patent bet, which comes at a price of $70, on these three selections, you will receive:

All teams/horses win

• $178.50 from the basketball bet
• $746 from the horse race bets

2 out of 3 teams/horses win

• $65.40 to 55 from the basketball bets
• $179 to $158 from the horse race bets

Only 1 team/horse wins

• $19 to $15 from the basketball bets
• $35 to $30 from the horse race bets

Notice how if 1 basketball team loses their game, you will already be at a loss. With the horses, you will still pick up ample returns and if only 1 horse loses then you will cut your losses to half your stake or just under.

Four Selections

If you pick 4 race winners, then you will have the chance to place an even bigger full cover bet. You can either make a Yankee bet or a Lucky 15. The Yankee bet consists of 11 separate bets: 6 doubles, 4 trebles, and 1 four-fold bet. The Lucky 15 bet consists of 15 separate bets: 4 singles, 6 doubles, 4 trebles, and 1 four-fold bet.

If the horses are named A through D, the Yankee bet would have the following parts

Doubles: AB, AC, AD, BC, BD, CD

Trebles: ABC, ABD, ACD, BCD

Four-fold: ABCD

The Lucky 15 bets can be broken down into the following

Singles: A, B, C, D

Doubles: AB, AC, AD, BC, BD, CD

Trebles: ABC, ABD, ACD, BCD

Four-fold: ABCD

Now to put the two bets to the test, here is a set of 4 winner bets on the favourite in each race.

• Horse A at odds 3
• Horse B at odds 4
• Horse C at odds 3.5
• Horse D at odds 3.8

Assuming that you have a budget of $33, this will mean you can put a $3 Yankee bet or a $2.20 Lucky 15 bet. Here is the full list of what you can expect to win in each scenario.

All horses win

• $1,250.10 from the Yankee bet
• $948.20 from the Lucky 15 bet

3 out of 4 horses win

• $287.10 to $225.30 from the Yankee bet
• $235.40 to $187.88 from the Lucky 15 bet

2 out of 4 horses win

• $45.60 to $31.50 from the Yankee bet
• $50.60 to $37.40 from the Lucky 15 bet

Only 1 horse wins

• $0 from the Yankee bet
• $40 to $30 from the Lucky 15 bet

The maximum winnings are tremendous, and even if only 3 selections come through you will still pocket a large return. If you only win half of your predictions, you will still be in a small profit.

More Full Cover Options

Full cover betting does not stop there, as you can make even larger betting combinations that use 5, 6, and even 7 selections. Just going on the examples that use 3 and 4 selections, you can expect a steep jump in the potential returns for every extra selection in your bet. The bets do become more complicated, but there are plenty of calculators online where you can calculate all the possible returns.

Five Selections

When you pick out 5 race winners, you will be able to make either a Canadian or a Lucky 31 bet. The Canadian bet consists of 26 separate bets: 10 doubles, 10 trebles, 4 four-fold bets and 1 five-fold bet. A Lucky 31 comprises 5 singles, 10 doubles, 10 trebles, 5 four-fold bets and 1 five-fold bet.
Naming the horses A through E, the Lucky 31 is broken down to

Singles: A, B, C, D, E

Doubles: AB, AC, AD, AE, BC, BD, BE, CD, CE, DE

Trebles: ABC, ABD, ABE, ACD, ACE, ADE, BCD, BCE, BDE, CDE

Four-fold: ABCD, ABCE, ACDE, BCDE

Five-fold: ABCDE

The Canadian bet is the same excluding the singles.

Six Selections

You can make a Heinz or Lucky 63 bet if you pick 6 race winners. The Heinz consists of 57 bets: 15 doubles, 20 trebles, 15 four-fold bets, 5 five-fold bets and 1 six-fold bet. The Lucky 63 consists of 63 bets including all 57 from the Heinz and an additional 6 singles.

If the horses are named A through F, the Lucky 63 can be broken down into the following bets:

Singles: A, B, C, D, E, F

Doubles: AB, AC, AD, AE, AF, BC, BD, BE, BF, CD, CE, CF, DE, DF, EF

Trebles: ABC, ABD, ABE, ABF, ACD, ACE, ACF, ADE, ADF, AEF, BCD, BCE, BCF, BDE, BDF, BEF, CDE, CDF, CEF, DEF

Four-fold: ABCD, ABCE, ABCF, ABDE, ABDF, ABEF, ACDE, ACDF, ACEF, ADEF, BCDE, BCEF, BCDEF, BDEF, CDEF

Five-fold: ABCDE, ABCDF, ABCEF, ABDEF, ACDEF, BCDEF

Six-fold: ABCDEF

Seven Selections

With seven picks you can make a Super Heinz or a Lucky 127 bet. The Lucky 127 features 7 singles, 21 doubles, 35 trebles, 35 four-fold bets, 21 five-fold bets, 7 six-fold bets and 1 seven-fold bet. The Super Heinz bets have all the same bets excluding the 7 singles, so it comprises a total of 120 bets.

Naming the horses A through G, a Lucky 127 bet can be broken down into

Singles: A, B, C, D, E, F, G

Doubles: AB, AC, AD, AE, AF, AG, BC, BD, BE, BF, BG, CD, CE, CF, CG, DE, DF, DG, EF, EG, FG

Trebles: ABC, ABD, ABE, ABF, ABG, ACD, ACE, ACF, ACG, ADE, ADF, ADG, AEF, AEG, AFG, BCD, BCE, BCF, BCG, BDE, BDF, BDG, BEF, BEG, BFG, CDE, CDF, CDG, CEF, CEG, CFG, DEF, DEG, DFG, EFG

Four-folds: ABCD, ABCE, ABCF, ABCG, ABDE, ABDF, ABDG, ABEF, ABEG, ABFG, ACDE, ACDF, ACDG, ACEF, ACEG, ACFG, ADEF, ADEG, ADFG, AEFG, BCDE, BCDF, BCDG, BCEF, BCEG, BCFG, BDEF, BDEG, BDFG, BEFG, CDEF, CDEG, CDFG, CEFG, DEFG

Five-folds: ABCDE, ABCDF, ABCDG, ABCEF, ABCEG, ABCFG, ABDEF, ABDEG, ABDFG, ABEFG, ACDEF, ACDEG, ACDFG, ACEFG, ADEFG, BCDEF, BCDEG, BCDFG, BCEFG, BDEFG, CDEFG

Six-folds: ABCDEF, ABCDEG, ABCDFG, ABCEFG, ABCDEFG, ACDEFG, BCDEFG

Seven-fold: ABCDEFG

Conclusion

The bets do become far more complex when more selections are added but do not let this alarm you. When you place your bet, your slip should indicate how much you can potentially win. If you are curious, then you can find plenty of online calculators where you can find out exactly how much you would win in any given scenario. These only require you to write in the odds for each individual horse. You can then check the potential winnings if all horses win or what would happen otherwise. With most of these calculators, you can pick out certain bets and mark them as “lost”. The potential winnings are then recalculated and you can see how much you stand to win.

All in all, full cover bets offer punters great rewards with plenty of coverage. It is far riskier to place a parlay bet as one race can spoil the entire bet. Whilst there is no way of knowing whether you will win or not, full cover bets give you a shot at winning sizeable returns without as much risk as parlay bets. Feel free to explore the betting markets and pick out all the favourites – your possible returns will still be massive.