Photo: © Visit Cheltenham

The Spectacular World of Cheltenham Festival Betting

The Cheltenham Festival is an iconic UK sporting event featuring top-flight jockeys, trainers and horses. It boasts 28 races with a total prize pool of over £4.5 million – including iconic races such as Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase and Gold Cup. Each year more than 200,000 people attend this exciting festival where punters wager an estimated half a billion pounds on races.

These impressive statistics prove Cheltenham festival to be a beloved affair in the UK, but there’s more to this event than meets the eye. For centuries, land-based bookmakers have accepted thousands of bets during this horse racing tournament; today though they have been replaced by online bookmakers that punters can access from their smartphones. Yet Cheltenham festival still retains its traditions, being an amazing chance for visitors and punters to draw inspiration from its incredible atmosphere!

This Cheltenham Festival guide will give you a comprehensive understanding of what the Festival is and how it began and provide some helpful advice if you’re interested in placing bets.

A Mecca for Horse Race Betting

The Cheltenham Festival dates back to 1860 when it was called the National Hunt Chase and was originally held at Market Harborough. Since then, the festival has been hosted by various venues, including the Warwick racecourse. After a couple of relocations between Cheltenham And Warwick it was officially moved to Prestbury Park, Cheltenham in 1911, where it has been organised every year except for 2001 when the festival was called off due to the epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease.

Initially the festival ran for just 3 days, until 2005 when the fourth day was added to allow 7 races per day. Still, the widespread popularity of the festival has resulted in many requests for further extension.

The UK viewers are able to watch the Cheltenham Festival races live on ITV. Normally, the first 5 races are televised each day, with only the 16:50 and 17:30 races left. However, many online bookmakers allow customers to watch the livestreams of Cheltenham races via their accounts. Access to live Cheltenham broadcasts usually requires you to place a bet of £0.50 or more on the race you want to watch, but this depends on the bookmaker.

TV and livestreaming are not the only way you can enjoy Cheltenham festival. In fact, for many Britons and even more tourists, Cheltenham festival is an amazing opportunity to go out and travel to one of the most reputable horse racing festivals in Europe.

Several hospitality packages are made available every year for the Cheltenham Festival, which include visits to the Horse and Groom pub and first-class entertainment at The Orchard. If you really want to spend the festival in style, private lodges are available.

Thinking of going to the festival? Tickets for the Cheltenham Festival can be purchased online at thejockeyclub.co.uk. Tickets usually start at an affordable £37 and go up to thousands of pounds if you want luxury packages. A range of ticket packages are available, the cheaper ones usually only including entry and access to certain areas of the racecourse. The more expensive packages can include meals and drinks at various restaurants and bars as well as access to exclusive lounges and private boxes.

Visitors to the festival will be delighted by the abundance of bars, restaurants and food stalls offering everything from sandwiches and pizza, to tapas and oysters. And for those feeling thirsty, 8 pints of Guinness will be served at the festival. Guests can head over to Big Buck’s Champagne Bar – an appropriate drink to celebrate after winning a fortune!

Whichever method you choose to enjoy Cheltenham festival, you’re guaranteed a day full of excitement and a unique atmosphere, while top-notch signup betting offers are sure to enhance your experience on the best betting sites for horse racing during these days.

Guinness Village, the go-to location for all spectators. Photo: © Visit Cheltenham

Your Guide to Cheltenham Festival

Cheltenham Festival 2023 takes place from Tue, Mar 14, 2023 to Fri, Mar 17, 2023. It usually coincides with St Patrick’s Day, making it extremely popular with Irish visitors. The festival takes place at Cheltenham Racecourse in Gloucestershire.

There are a total of 28 races over the four days of racing at the Cheltenham Festival, with seven races taking place each day. Some of the prominent races include Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase, Stayers’ Hurdle and, of course, the Cheltenham Gold Cup, which takes place on the last day of the festival at 15:30.

Champion Hurdle

The Champion Hurdle is a hurdle race open to horses four years and older. The race is held on the Old Course at Cheltenham and covers a distance of approximately 2 miles and 87 yards. It has eight hurdles that must be jumped. It is held on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival and serves as a final round of the Triple Crown of Hurdling.

This race, now known as the Unibet Champion Hurdle, has given rise to many of the most admired hurdlers in sport’s history, such as National Spirit, Lanzarote or Istabraq.

Champion Chase

Champion Chase, or the Queen Mother Champion Chase, is a Grade 1 National Hunt steeplechase open to horses five years old or older. The race takes covers a distance approximately 2 miles and there are 13 fences that must be jumped.

In 1980, the Queen Mother was 80 years old which gave rise to the name of the race. This was in recognition of her support for jump racing. The Queen Mother was an avowed owner of National Hunt horses, especially chasers. It is the National Hunt’s leading minimum-distance chase and the Festival’s feature race held on its second day.

Stayers’ Hurdle

The Stayers’ Hurdle, a Grade 1 National Hunt hurdle course in Great Britain. It’s the season’s most prestigious event for staying hurdlers. The race is open to horses four years old or older. The race is held on the Cheltenham New Course and covers approximately 3 miles with 12 hurdles to jump.

Stayers’ Hurdle takes place each year as the feature race of Day 3. It is an esteemed competition and the National Hunt’s leading long-distance hurdle race.

Cheltenham Gold Cup

The Cheltenham Gold Cup, a Grade 1 National Hunt horse race, is run on the New Course at Cheltenham Racecourse, England. It covers a distance of approximately 3 miles and has 22 fences. Each year, the race is held during the Cheltenham Festival.

This steeplechase is open to horses five years old and older. The list of its winners includes the names of Arkle, Kauto Star, Mill House, and Golden Miller. The Gold Cup, which is Britain’s most valuable non-handicap chase, offers a total prize pool of £450,000+.

Widespread popularity of Cheltenham with thousands of visitors. Photo: © British Horse Racing

Cheltenham Festival Tips to Generate Most Value

The Cheltenham Festival is one of the busiest times of the year even for the best betting sites for horse racing, as punters bet around £500 million across the 4 days of racing. There are a total of 28 races on which you can bet with an average of around £17,850,000 per race. Punters at the festival and across the country monitor the odds closely to make their best bets. The rise of mobile betting in recent years has given bookmakers a new way to connect with customers, and betting is now easier than ever, no matter where you are.

With so much money invested in betting on the Cheltenham races, best betting sites for horse racing compete for customers in the days leading up to and during the festival. One of the ways bookmakers encourage customers to bet with them rather than their competitors is to run special betting offers for the races. These can be free bets, refunds, extra places, better odds guaranteed and more. Players looking for the best value for their bets should take advantage of these advanced offers while they are around, as they can lead to greater profits and minimum losses.

Betting on the Cheltenham Festival begins with selecting the best horse racing betting sites that meet your needs. Placing bets online has become increasingly popular as an innovative activity that connects people to local and global horse racing events, offering them the chance to benefit from their interest and expertise. New bookmakers online take this chance to offer some of their most generous betting offers and exciting features; make sure you pay special attention to these sportsbooks when looking for your Cheltenham festival betting opportunities.

At the core of successful betting are odds and promotions. These determine whether a bet will be worthwhile, making them essential components in any horse racing strategy. Odds provide insight into match outcomes, helping you locate the most advantageous price for your team or event. Generally, odds tend to be higher for top-flight leagues and events like Cheltenham Festival — making them particularly important components when looking for horse race betting opportunities.

Once you’ve selected the sportsbook that most appeals to you, begin the sign-up process. While details required for registration may differ from bookie to bookie, be particularly careful when handling personal data and payment info. Make sure all accounts linked to your profile are registered under your name.

Don’t forget to claim any welcome offers or special offers dedicated to Cheltenham. Spring is when plenty of bookmakers introduce new promos, as the season is generally rich with prestigious sporting events to bet on. Free bets are a commonplace offer, but many bookmakers nowadays tend to make the conditions of these bonuses extra lenient, guaranteeing lenient turnover and validity conditions. Money-back on your initial loss is not uncommon as a welcome bonus either.

There is another type of bonuses that comes up before Cheltenham and other significant horse race betting fixtures. The terms of the bonus are such that when your pick finishes second to the Starting Price favorite, you can get a certain part of your bet as cash. Selected races also allow refund if your horse doesn’t run at the start.

The Cheltenham Festival is generally placed among the top leagues and competitions, so it’s hard to miss it when the tournament is in full swing. Best betting sites for horse racing will often include a link straight to their markets for certain days on their homepages in the run-up to the Cheltenham Festival.

When you’ve found the page with all of the Cheltenham Festival markets and selected the race and horse you wish to bet on, you must add them to your bet slip before placing your wager. The current betting sites strive to be as user-friendly as can be, so a click on the odds next to the horse you want to bet on is generally enough to add it to your bet slip. In the box, enter the amount you want to bet on your horse. If you want to wager each-way, mark the box on the bet sheet that says each-way or EW.

Enter the amount you would like to stake on your horse in the appropriate box. If you would like to bet each-way then tick the box marked each-way or EW. Each-way bets are extremely popular during the Cheltenham Festival. In essence, it’ two bets: one on the horse to win and one on the horse to finish inside a specified number of places as announced at the head of the list of runners in the each-way rules. Upon making a bet make sure to watch the livestream of a race to get a better idea about the line-up for this year.

Withdrawal options are also something to consider in advance — if you are fortunate enough to win money on your Cheltenham Festival bets, you will want to do it as conveniently and rapidly as possible. Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal remain at the top of the list of payment methods in the UK.