If there could be one real rival of the Grand National, even if that meant by one jump race or one meeting of races, it could only be the Cheltenham Festival. This event culminates on the final day of the meet of Gold Cup and it is an entire week of racing for all those who are simply in love with the sport and all those who take horse riding and betting seriously. However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy the race if you’re not a race lover. In fact, you’ll enjoy to such a level that you would want to soak in every moment that you experience there.
The best thing about the Cheltenham festival is that it has got everything that it needs to be called a festival. It is more of a racing feast and the Gold Cup is just a part of it. Since its inception, it has expanded to such a level that currently its meeting starts on a Tuesday and lasts till Friday of the same week. This festival is one of the most thrilling parts of competitive racing all over the world, from opening events like Champions Day to Gold Cup Day on a Friday and with Ladies Day and St. Patrick’s Day in the middle of the race days.
Cheltenham Festival Race Cards
The most prestigious and well-known meeting of Cheltenham Racecourse is the Cheltenham Festival which is held in March 2020 and which will feature numerous Grade 1 races including Champion Hurdle, Cheltenham Gold Cup, Stayer’s Hurdle and Queen Mother Champion Chase. Let’s take a quick look at the race cards of the 4 days of the festival.
| Tuesday 10th March | Wednesday 11th March | Thursday 12th March | Friday 13th March |
| Supreme Novice’s Hurdle | Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle | JLT Novices’ Chase | Triumph Hurdle |
| Arkle Challenge Trophy | RSA Chase | Pertemps Final | County Hurdle |
| Festival Handicap Chase | Coral Cup | Ryanair Chase | Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle |
| Champion Hurdle | Queen Mother Champion Chase | Stayer’s Hurdle | Cheltenham Gold Cup |
| David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle | Cross Country Chase | Festival Plate | Foxhunter Chase |
| Novices’ Handicap Chase | Fred Winter Juvenile Hurdle | Dawn Novices’ Hurdle | Grand Annual Chase |
| National Hunt Chase | Champion Bumper | Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir | Martin Pipe Handicap Hurdle |
Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide for UK – Where should you bet? What are Your options
The foremost thing to decide is whether or not you would like to bet in a shop or bet online. Online betting is associated with additional benefits which aren’t common for street betting. Let’s take a look at the few benefits of online betting:
- You can get an introductory and welcome free bet along with bonuses which aren’t available in stores
- Better place terms and you’ll find ¼ odds and added places as standard with several online bookies
- Instant payouts without any requirement to gather winnings in person
- Money-back insurance offers and faller insurance which can add value to bets
- Statistics, forms and news items are available from the best betting sites with just a single click
- Various retention offers, free bet clubs which can offer you a noteworthy amount of your stakes back in the form of free funds
- A wide range of funding options with not only card but also cash options
- There’s no chance of losing your bet slip and you also get a chance to view the bet history
- You can watch race live along with the websites which offer live streaming
When is the right time to bet?
Generally, experts will tell you that betting on horse races exactly on the day of the horse will provide you with maximum security as BOG (Best Odds Guarantees) and NRNB (Non-Runner no bet) can be applied automatically, which you may not get for ante-post betting. You can also finalise entries at this point and hence there’s way less chance of backing a horse which won’t run anyway.
However, this isn’t the case with ante-post betting on Cheltenham Festival. This festival is an extremely prestigious one and due to their prestige, most bet on meetings in the UK. There are therefore leading companies which offer you added bets which are not usually common among other race meets.
With ante-post betting, the main advantage is that you can back the horses at great odds way before the market chooses to settle down. In case you’re advanced enough to notice good runners earlier and you have a wish to back them on the Cheltenham festival, before anyone else can, you can do it in the ante-post way. However, just as every other way of betting, the ante-post betting also has few drawbacks. There is a higher chance of your horse not running and hence when you bet before January, you may lose your stake.
To conclude, in terms of hospitality, Cheltenham racecourse has the power to rival any bigger sporting event in the entire world. Once you visit or participate, you will get impressed by their hospitality package.
