Yankee bet explained: 11 bets on four selections

What are the 11 bets in a Yankee?

A Yankee covers every multiple from four selections: six doubles, four trebles and one fourfold. The bet contains no singles.

With selections A, B, C and D, the doubles are AB, AC, AD, BC, BD and CD, the trebles are ABC, ABD, ACD and BCD, and the fourfold is ABCD. Each is a separate bet at the same unit stake, so the Yankee is simply 11 multiples placed on one slip. The selections must run in different races.

How much does a Yankee cost at £1 win and £1 each way?

A £1 win Yankee costs £11. A £1 each way Yankee costs £22, because each of the 11 bets carries a win part and a place part.

The place parts form a separate place Yankee, settled at each race's each way fraction. That matters because a horse that wins also counts as placed, so a winner contributes to both halves of the bet, while a horse that only places contributes to the place half alone.

A 50p each way Yankee therefore costs £11, not £5.50, and a 10p each way Yankee costs £2.20. When comparing a Yankee with singles, always compare the total outlay. Four £1 each way singles cost £8, while a £1 each way Yankee on the same horses costs £22 and only pays if at least two of them run well on the same day.

Why does one winner in a Yankee return nothing?

Every bet in a Yankee is a multiple, so each needs at least two winning selections. With one winner, every double, treble and the fourfold loses.

This is the most common surprise for newcomers. A 10/1 winner in a Yankee with three losers returns nothing on the win side. On an each way Yankee, the place side can still pay if at least two selections were placed, because the place doubles only need two placed horses.

That design makes the Yankee a bet on correlation between your opinions rather than on any single horse. If you expect one standout and three speculative picks, the Yankee gives the standout no protection on its own. People who want cover for that case either add singles, which turns the bet into a Lucky 15, or place a separate single alongside a smaller Yankee.

What does a Yankee return with two, three and four winners?

Two winners pay one double; three winners pay three doubles and one treble; four winners pay all six doubles, four trebles and the fourfold.

Take a £1 win Yankee at 2/1, 3/1, 4/1 and 5/1, or 3.0, 4.0, 5.0 and 6.0 in decimal. Two winners at 2/1 and 3/1 land one double worth £12 against an £11 stake. Three winners at 2/1, 3/1 and 4/1 return £107. All four return £821.

Compare that with the Lucky 15 on the same four horses, which returns £19, £119 and £839 for two, three and four winners at a cost of £15. The singles add a little to every outcome and are the only part of the bet that pays with one winner.

What is a Super Yankee or Canadian?

A Super Yankee, also called a Canadian, is 26 bets on five selections. A £1 win Super Yankee costs £26 and, like the Yankee, contains no singles.

The 26 bets are 10 doubles, 10 trebles, 5 fourfolds and 1 fivefold. Add five singles and the bet becomes a Lucky 31. The same pattern continues to six selections, where the Heinz has 57 multiples and the Lucky 63 adds six singles.

Five selections make the line count climb fast: a £1 each way Super Yankee costs £52. Two winners land one double, three winners land three doubles and a treble, and the bigger multiples only come into play with four or five winners. Before placing one, price the whole bet and ask how often five selections at your chosen prices win together.

How do a Yankee and a Lucky 15 compare on the same four picks?

The Lucky 15 adds four singles to the 11 Yankee bets, costing £15 instead of £11 at £1. The singles give a return from one winner.

Choosing between them is a question of what you expect. If you think one of the four is much more likely to win than the others, the singles in a Lucky 15 cover that case. If you want the multiples only and accept that one winner returns nothing, the Yankee does the same job for less.

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