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Cheltenham Friday tips

Tips for Cheltenham Friday can be found here.

7 races will take place on Cheltenham Friday – the final day of the current 4 day Cheltenham Festival calendar. In 2020, Cheltenham Friday falls on 13th March. The Cheltenham Gold Cup, which is the feature race of Cheltenham Friday, starts at 15:30. All these races will take place on the New Course.

• 13:30 Triumph Hurdle (8 Hurdles, 2 miles 1 furlong) – For Novice hurdlers. This is the leading National Hunt race, for juveniles only. Barry Geraghty’s 5 wins make him the race’s leading jockey. Nicky Henderson’s 7 wins make him the race’s leading trainer (including Pentland Hills in 2019). 4 horses who have won the Triumph Hurdle, have later gone on to win the Champion Hurdle, including Katchit (2007 Triumph Hurdle winner, 2008 Champion Hurdle winner).
• 14:10 County Hurdle (8 Hurdles, 2 miles 1 furlong)
• 14:50 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle (12 Hurdles, 3 miles) – Novice hurdlers, at least 4 years old, take part. Tony McCoy is the leading jockey in this race with 3 wins – Black Jack Ketchum in 2006, Wichita Lineman in 2007, and At Fishers Cross in 2013. Minella Indo won in 2019 (j: Rachael Blackmore, t: Henry de Bromhead).

Cheltenham Thursday tips

Tips for Cheltenham Thursday can be found here.

7 races will be run on Cheltenham Thursday, the penultimate day in the current 4 day Cheltenham calendar. In 2020, Cheltenham Thursday falls on 12th March. The feature race of Cheltenham Thursday, the Stayers’ Hurdle, starts at 15:30. All races below will be run on the New Course.

• 13:30 Marsh Novices’ Chase (17 Fences, 2 miles 4 furlongs) – Novice chasers, at least 5 years old, take part. Ruby Walsh is the leading jockey in this race with 3 wins – Vantour in 2015, Black Hercules in 2016, and Yorkhill in 2017. Willie Mullins was the trainer of all these horses, as well as the 2012 winner Sir Des Champs – his 4 wins make him the leading trainer in this race. 2019 saw Defi du Seuil win, jockeyed by Barry Geraghty.
• 14:10 Pertemps Network Final Handicap Hurdle (12 Hurdles, 3 miles)
• 14:50 Ryanair Chase (17 Fences, 2 miles 5 furlongs) – Horses aged 5 years or older take part. Ruby Walsh is the race’s leading jockey with 4 wins, including on the Willie Mullins trained pair Vantour in 2016 and Un De Sceaux in 2017. In 2019, Frodon won (jockey: Bryony Frost).

Cheltenham Wednesday tips

Tips for Cheltenham Wednesday can be found here.

Racecard

7 races take place on Cheltenham Wednesday (the 2nd day of 4 of the Cheltenham Festival) under the current schedule. In 2020, the 2nd day falls on 11th March. The feature race of Cheltenham Wednesday, the Champion Chase, starts at 15:30. All of the races below will be run on the Old Course, with the exception of the Cross Country Chase which will be run on the Cross Country Course.

• 13:30 Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle (10 Hurdles, 2 miles 5 furlongs) – This race features novice hurdlers, aged at least four years. Jockey Ruby Walsh has had 4 wins since 2008 in this race (Fiveforthree, Mikael d’Haguenet, Faugheen, and Yorkhill), making him the race’s leading jockey. Willie Mullins was the trainer on all these 4 occasions, making him the race’s leading trainer. In 2019, City Island (jockey: Mark Walsh) won.
• 14:10 RSA Chase (19 Fences, 3 miles 1/2 furlong) – You will see novice chasers in this race, aged at least 5 years old. It is not unusual for winners of this race to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup the following year – e.g. Denman, Bobs Worth, and Lord Windermere.

7 races are scheduled on the opening day of the 4 day Cheltenham Festival. In 2020, Cheltenham Tuesday (Day 1 of 4) falls on 10th March. The feature race of Cheltenham Tuesday, the Champion Hurdle, starts at 15:30.

Cheltenham Tuesday tips

Tips for Cheltenham Tuesday can be found here.

Racecard

1. 13:30 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle (8 Hurdles, 2 miles 1/2 furlong) – Horses must be at least 4 years old. Takes place on the Old Course. You will hear the traditional Cheltenham Roar, from the assembled crowd, at the start of this race as it is the first event of the festival. Jockey Ruby Walsh has won this race a record 6 times since 2006 – including Klassical Dream in 2019. Each of his wins was on a different horse.
2. 14:10 Arkle Chase (13 Fences, 2 miles) – Horses must be at least 5 years old. This race is run on the Old Course. The famous Ruby Walsh-Willie Mullins jockey-trainer combination had 2 consecutive wins in 2015 and 2016 with Un de Sceaux and Douvan, and they also won in 2018 with Footpad. Willie Mullins was the winning trainer in 2019, with jockey Paul Townend riding Duc des Genievres.
3. 14:50 Ultima Handicap Chase (20 Fences, 3 miles 1 furlong)
4. 15:30 CHAMPION HURDLE (8 HURDLES, 2 MILES 1/2 FURLONG) – This is the most well regarded National Hunt hurdles race of the year.

• Accumulators Explained: If you place a double or a treble, you have placed 2 or 3 bets respectively. ALL your bets need to win, for you to make a profit (and get your stake back). If all your bets don’t win, you lose your stake and don’t get any profit. If your first bet wins, BOTH the winnings and the stake are combined to become the stake for the second bet etc. 4 bets can be called a fourfold. 5 bets can be called a fivefold. 6 bets can be called a sixfold. Although, all the above work in the same way (all the bets have to win, for you to make a return and get your original stake back), technically only 4 bets and above are called accumulators (although some people still decide to call doubles and trebles accumulators). Accumulators suffer from overround multiplication issue.
• Let’s say you have £60 to bet in total, on 4 bets at odds of 3/1, 4/1, 5/1, and 6/1.
  If you bet £15 on each of this outcomes separately, you stand to make the following profit on each bet (and get your £15 stake back):
  • 3/1 : £45
    4/1: £60
    5/1: £75
    6/1: £90
    If all the selections won you would get £270 in profit (and get your £60 of stakes back).

The most standard bet you could make is a win bet. You will only make a profit if your selection wins. So, if you make a £5 bet at 7/1 at your favourite bookmaker you will make a £35 profit if your selection wins (and get your £5 stake back, if you win). Another common bet, is an Each-Way Bet. If you place an each-way bet on a single event, you are effectively making two separate bets. One bet is on a win only basis, and one is on a place basis.

• A place bet, allows you to make a profit if your selection finishes not just first, but also in a certain number of other places (e.g. 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc. depending on what the bookmaker is offering). Usually, you will receive a proportion of the win odds.
• So, if you have £5 to bet with in total on an Each-Way Bet, you could place a £2.50 each-way bet – this means £2.50 goes on the Win part, and £2.50 goes on the each-way part. Let’s say you bet on an outcome offering 7/1 odds if its wins, and 1/3 the win odds (in this case 7/3) if it places in the top 2.

In Handicap horse racing, the better horses are given a disadvantage. Conversely, the worse horses are given an advantage. This is done by making the horses carry different weights. A handicapper decides the weight (this weight is known as the impost) each horse should carry. The total weight of the jockey, saddle, and weights (lead) will equal the impost. The weights are carried in lead pads (saddle pads). In Great Britain, there is a central system, operated by the BHA who assign weights. Weights can change (e.g. be increased if a horse wins a race). The most famous handicap race in the world is of course the Grand National. Another example is Australia’s Melbourne Cup.

So, if the horses have been handicapped, how do you go about picking a winner?

• You could look at the horses form (e.g. past performances, giving more weight to recent performances).
• You could look at the ability of the jockey.
• Also look at the condition of the ground. If it has been raining recently, the ground may be soft. If there has been a lot of sunny/dry weather the ground may be hard. How do the horses in the race perform under the expected condition of the ground?

Full Cover Bets in horse racing betting, are bets consisting of all possible doubles, trebles, and fourfold and above accumulators (if appropriate) across a given number of selections. As long as at least two of your horses win, you will get something back (although this does not necessarily mean you will profit overall).

• Trixie – Choose three horses you think will win (from three different horse races). Your bet consists of four separate bets (three doubles, and one treble). If you wish to include the 3 singles too (Trixie, plus 3 singles), the bet is called a Patent.
• Yankee – This time you pick four horses to win, from four different races. Your bet consists of six doubles, four trebles, and one fourfold accumulator. That’s 11 separate bets. If you wish to include the 4 singles too (Yankee, plus 4 singles), the bet is called a Lucky 15 (as 15 separate bets are placed).
• Canadian – Make five selections from five different races to win. 26 separate bets are placed (10 doubles, 10 trebles, 5 fourfold accumulators, and one fivefold accumulator). If you wish to include the 5 singles too (Canadian, plus 5 singles), the bet is called a Lucky 31.