A Trixie uses 3 selections and contains 4 bets, 3 doubles and 1 treble, so a £1 Trixie costs £4 and needs at least 2 winners for any return. A Patent uses the same 3 selections but adds a single on each, making 7 bets that cost £7 at £1 a bet, and one winner is enough for some return. This single adjustment changes both the minimum needed for a return and the cost.
Singles, doubles and trebles
A standard Trixie uses 3 selections, call them A, B and C. It makes 4 bets on these 3 picks: the doubles A and B, A and C, and B and C, plus the treble A, B and C. Those are the entire 4 bets, with no singles.
A Patent uses the same 3 selections and makes 7 bets. It adds a single on each of the 3 selections: one bet for A to win alone, one for B and one for C. The Patent still includes the 3 doubles and 1 treble from the Trixie, so it is essentially a Trixie plus three singles, with the same 3 selections split into 7 bets overall.
What it costs
The extra singles in the Patent come at a price. A Trixie at a £1 unit stake costs £4, while a £1 unit Patent costs £7, because the Patent adds three singles on top of the Trixie's 4 bets. The extra coverage therefore costs an extra £3 per unit.
Each-way versions double the number of bets and the cost. An each-way Trixie is 8 bets and costs £8 at a £1 unit stake, while an each-way Patent is 14 bets and costs £14. Every bet gains a win part and a place part, so the gap between the two bets widens from £3 to £6 per unit.
What has to win
That structural difference has a real-world consequence. A Trixie only returns something if at least 2 of the 3 selections win. With two winners, the double that joins them pays; with all three, every double and the treble pay.
A Patent can return something if just 1 of the 3 selections wins, although that return depends on the odds of the winner, because the single on that selection pays even if the other two lose and the doubles and treble fail. In that way, a Patent is more of a safety net than a Trixie, at a higher cost for the same unit stake.
So that is the choice. A Trixie is a £4 wager at a £1 unit stake that needs at least 2 winners, and it suits a bettor who prefers a cheaper bet with a higher threshold for success. A Patent is a £7 wager that can return something from just 1 winner, and it suits a bettor willing to pay £3 more for that cover.
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