Forecast and Tricast Bets in Greyhound Racing

Beyond Picking the Winner

Most greyhound bets are win bets or each way bets — pick a dog, hope it crosses the line first, collect or lose. Forecast and tricast bets operate on a different premise. They ask you to predict not just the winner but the order of finish for the first two or three dogs in a race. The difficulty is higher. The payouts, when they land, are substantially larger.

These bet types are often grouped under the heading of “exotic” wagers, a label that makes them sound more complicated than they are. The mechanics are simple enough. The challenge lies in the prediction itself: identifying which dogs will finish first and second (forecast), or first, second, and third (tricast), and in what order. In a six-dog greyhound race, the number of possible finishing combinations is large enough that even strong form analysis will produce a low strike rate. But the returns on successful forecasts and tricasts can be significant — multiples of what a simple win bet would pay.

For punters at Kinsley, where the compressed grading and low favourite strike rate make many races genuinely competitive, forecast and tricast bets offer an opportunity to extract value from closely contested fields. The key is knowing which type of forecast or tricast to use, and which races are suited to these bets.

The Straight Forecast

A straight forecast requires you to name the first and second-place finishers in the correct order. You select Dog A to win and Dog B to finish second. If Dog A wins and Dog B finishes second, you collect. Any other combination — Dog B winning and Dog A second, or either dog finishing outside the first two — loses the bet.

The payout on a straight forecast is determined by the computer straight forecast (CSF) dividend, which is calculated after the race based on the starting prices of the first two finishers. Unlike a win bet, where you know the odds at the time of placing the wager, the exact forecast payout is not known until the race is settled. The CSF reflects the difficulty of the prediction: if both the winner and the runner-up were outsiders, the dividend will be large. If both were short-priced favourites, it will be modest.

In a typical six-runner greyhound race, there are thirty possible first-and-second combinations. Your straight forecast covers one of those thirty outcomes. The probability of landing any specific combination is low, which is why forecast dividends are often in the range of twenty to one or higher, and occasionally reach triple figures when the result defies market expectations.

The form work required for a straight forecast is more demanding than for a win bet. You need to assess not only which dog is most likely to win but also which is most likely to finish second. These are different questions. The dog you fancy to win might be a confirmed frontrunner that either leads throughout or fades badly, leaving no obvious runner-up candidate. Alternatively, a race might have a clear favourite for first place but multiple plausible contenders for second, making the forecast difficult to narrow down.

Straight forecasts are best suited to races where you have a strong view on both the winner and the runner-up. If your form analysis identifies a likely winner but the rest of the field is wide open, a straight forecast is a poor choice because you are guessing at the second dog. In that situation, a win bet on its own is the more efficient wager.

The Reverse Forecast

A reverse forecast covers both possible orders of finish for two selected dogs. You choose Dog A and Dog B, and the bet pays out whether the result is A first and B second or B first and A second. It is effectively two straight forecasts combined into a single bet, and the stake reflects that — a ten-pound reverse forecast costs twenty pounds (ten on each permutation).

The reverse forecast is the natural choice when you believe two specific dogs will fill the first two positions but cannot determine which one will beat the other. This situation arises frequently in greyhound racing, where the margin between first and second is often less than a length and the outcome can depend on which dog gets the better break from the traps or the cleaner run through the first bend.

The payout on a reverse forecast is the CSF dividend for whichever permutation lands, paid against the single-unit stake on that permutation. If A wins and B is second, you receive the CSF for that result on your ten-pound unit. The other ten-pound unit on the reverse permutation (B first, A second) loses. Your net return is the CSF payout minus the total twenty-pound outlay.

Reverse forecasts work best in races with two standout dogs that are clearly superior to the rest of the field. If your form analysis says that two greyhounds are head and shoulders above their four opponents, but the two are closely matched, a reverse forecast captures both possible outcomes. The trade-off is the doubled stake, which means the CSF dividend needs to be large enough to offset the extra cost. If the two dogs are both short-priced favourites, the CSF dividend may be modest — sometimes barely covering the stake — and the reverse forecast becomes poor value.

Tricast Mechanics

A tricast requires you to name the first three finishers in the correct order. In a six-runner race, there are one hundred and twenty possible first-second-third combinations. You are backing one of those one hundred and twenty outcomes, which is why tricast dividends can be enormous — payouts of several hundred to one are not uncommon, and four-figure returns on a one-pound stake are possible when the result includes outsiders.

The computer tricast (CT) dividend is calculated after the race, similar to the CSF for forecasts. It is based on the starting prices of the first three finishers and reflects the combined improbability of the exact finishing order. A tricast involving three favourites will pay a fraction of what a tricast involving an outsider winning, a mid-range dog second, and the favourite only third would return.

Combination tricasts reduce the difficulty by covering multiple permutations of your three selected dogs. Instead of specifying the exact order, you select three dogs and the bet covers all six possible arrangements of those three finishing first, second, and third. The cost is six times the unit stake — a one-pound combination tricast costs six pounds — but the probability of landing the bet is six times higher than a straight tricast.

There is also the option of a tricast with a banker — selecting one dog to win and two others to finish second and third in either order. This costs two units (covering the two possible second-third arrangements) and is useful when you have a strong view on the winner but less certainty about which of two dogs will take the minor placing.

Tricasts are high-variance bets. You will lose the majority of them. The appeal is the payout structure: a well-judged tricast in a competitive race can return enough to cover many losing stakes. The discipline lies in controlling the outlay. Combination tricasts and banker tricasts multiply the cost quickly, and punters who cover too many permutations often find that the dividend, when it lands, barely exceeds the cumulative stake. The most productive approach is to use straight tricasts in races where you have a genuine opinion on the exact finishing order, and to reserve combination tricasts for situations where three dogs are clearly superior to the rest of the field.

Picking the Right Races for Forecasts and Tricasts

Not every race is suited to forecast or tricast betting. The ideal forecast race has two clear features: a small number of likely contenders for the first two places, and a large enough gap between those contenders and the rest of the field that the first two finishing positions are likely to be filled by the dogs you expect. At Kinsley, where the compressed grading makes many races competitive across the full field, identifying these races requires careful form work.

Avoid forecast bets in wide-open races where five or six dogs all have a realistic chance of winning. In those contests, the number of possible forecast outcomes is too large to cover efficiently, and the CSF dividend is diluted by the competitiveness of the field. Forecast betting works when you can eliminate most of the field and focus on two or three dogs.

Grade is a useful filter. Races where one or two dogs have recently dropped from a higher grade often produce more predictable first-and-second outcomes, because the dropped dogs are likely to outclass the field. A dog that won at A4 and has dropped to A5 paired with another recent A4 runner in the same race is a natural forecast combination. The rest of the A5 field may struggle to match them.

Trap draw and running style also help narrow the contenders. If your two forecast selections are drawn on opposite sides of the track — one inside, one outside — they are less likely to interfere with each other at the first bend, which improves the probability of both finishing in the frame. Two dogs with the same running style drawn in adjacent traps are more likely to compete for the same space and compromise each other’s chances.

For tricasts, the filter is even tighter. You need three dogs that stand out from the rest. At Kinsley, where the grading is compressed, true three-dog dominance is rarer than at bigger tracks. When it does occur — perhaps through a combination of grade drops, favourable draws, and obvious form advantages — the tricast can be a powerful weapon. When it does not, the sensible approach is to leave the tricast alone and stick to simpler bet types that require less precision. The best forecast and tricast punters are not the ones who bet these markets every race. They are the ones who wait, identify the right conditions, and strike when the race profile matches the bet type.