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Cheltenham Festival Betting
Ten Golden Rules of Cheltenham Festival Betting
1. Seriously respect previous Cheltenham Festival form. Between 1995 - 2005 there were 21 dual Festival winners, a further 28 winners had been placed at this meeting in a previous year whereas another 27 horses had been placed at more than one Festival without winning.
2. Look to last time-out winners in all handicap races. Of the 55 handicaps at the last 7 Festivals, 25 were won by horses that were also successful on their previous start (a strike rate of 45%).
3. With regards to the big four championship races (Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase and World Hurdle) disregard horses that failed to make the first three on their previous start. The last 28 winners all managed this feat. Also, all but 3 of those 28 winners were aged between seven and nine.
4. Be wary of backing five-year-olds in the staying hurdle races (2m5f+) for non-novices. Cheltenham puts strong emphasis on stamina over speed and immature hurdlers usually struggle against their elders - especially over longer distances. No five-year-old has ever won the World Hurdle and there has been just one similarly aged winner in the 33-year history of the Pertemps Final. However, this trend was bucked in the Coral Cup last year as SKY'S THE LIMIT became the first five-year old to win it.
5. In the handicap chases look to horses carrying up to and including 11st. Over the last 7 festivals, 28 out of the last 35 winners (80%) carried no more than 11st.
6. Always check the totepools - especially if your selection is a double-figure price. You will not regret it in the long run at the big meetings.
7. Oppose horses aged in double figures. There are many championship or handicap horses aged ten or older and the percentage call is very much to take them on. For example in the last 7 years, only one horse aged ten or over (MOSCOW FLYER in 2005) has won any of the big four championship races - which equates to a stike rate of less than 4%.
8. Seriously look to French-bred chasers in races at up to 2m5f. French-breds are all about speed as there are very few races in France beyond 3 miles and if you had placed £10 on every runner with a (FR) suffix in the chases at up to 2m5f at the last 11 Festivals, you would have shown a profit of over £500. Last year VOY POR USTEDES in the Arkle Challenge Trophy (15/2), FONDMORT in the Ryanair Chase (100/30) and NON SO in the Racing Post Plate (14/1) all confirmed this trend. In fact, another French-bred chaser: KELREV came second to NON SO at a whopping 50/1!
9. In the novice hurdles look to last-time-out winners in the first four in the betting. Over the last 7 Festivals, 19 of the 24 novices hurdles have been won by horses that met those requirements and all five novices hurdle races last year were won by horses who had won their previous race.
10. Don't go too mad too early. This is a 24-race meeting and the final day is the strongest so far as individual race statistics are concerned - so keep plenty back in reserve.
Online betting
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Racecourse betting
The gambling turnover is colossal at Cheltenham, and sets it apart from most other meetings. The on-course Tote, or bookmaker, is operated on a pool system according to the number of bets placed, and this alone takes upwards of £2.5 million a day throughout the Festival. Together with other on-course bookies, those who operate off-course and betting exchanges it is reckoned that about £400 million is gambled over the four days.
In fact, says Edward Gillespie, Cheltenham’s managing director, some spectators come just to watch the more fearless punters in action. “When people come for the first time they say they’ve never physically seen so much money change hands,” he says. “In our daily lives we don’t often see such handfuls of notes.” These punters include the Geneva-based Irish financier and racehorse owner JP McManus, who has been known to wager more than £500,000 on a race.
Leading owner David Johnson recalls taking at least £500,000 out of the [bookies’] “ring” when Well Chief won the Arkle Trophy at the Festival in 2004. “Everyone was on big time,” he says. “We backed him down from 33-1 to 12-1 and then we ran out of money.”
Such bold betting is down to the strength of the market, explains Gillespie. “Put on several thousand pounds at Cheltenham and a bookie doesn’t flinch.” Certainly, if you tried that on the average racecourse on a mid-season Saturday, you’d be lucky if he allowed you £100 each way.
For the average Cheltenham spectator, however, a fiver or tenner each way brings much the same thrill. It is not betting for a life-changing gain but purchasing an interest in the race, a brief share in “ownership”, the right to roar on a particular set of colours, and to celebrate the victory afterwards.
And sometimes, the little man wins too. Regulars won’t forget how Welsh farmer-trainer Sirrell Griffiths won the 1990 Gold Cup with the 100-1 shot Norton’s Coin, having started the day by milking his herd of cows in Carmarthen. Legend too is the Irishman who won enough on Istabraq in the Champion Hurdle of 1998 to pay off his mortgage and then lost his house on Doran’s Pride in the Gold Cup. “It was only a small house anyway,” he is reputed to have said.
There are totepool betting windows situated in every enclosure at Cheltenham racecourse and they are normally open one hour before the first race. There are betting shops in the Best Mate enclosure, Tattersalls, the paddock and for the Festival, in the Guinness Village and the Centaur.
The Tattersalls Grandstand provides a betting hall, betting shops on Levels 1 and 3 and totepool windows in all areas, including table service in the Panoramic Restaurant. The Centaur includes a betting shop.
The unavoidable crush to get to the on-course bookmakers before Friday's Gold Cup