UK Horse Racing Tips

One of the highlights of the National Hunt calendar, the Cheltenham festival is once again just around the corner, starting on 10th March. This prestigious four day festival appeal to both casual punters and serious racing fans alike. The Cheltenham atmosphere is said to be one of a kind with the crowd letting out a ‘Cheltenham Roar’ at the start of the first race.

The Cheltenham festival, first held in 1860, consists of a grand total of 27 competitive races, a number of which (Supreme Novices Hurdle, Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase and so on) are grade one events. As the festival approaches there are plenty of rises and fall in the betting market so let’s take a look at the betting market. The Gold Guide to Cheltenham is a good starting point.

The 22 fence, 3 miles 2½ furlong Cheltenham Gold Cup is seen as the jewel in the crown of the festival. It’s one of the most valuable chases in UK races won by Bobs Worth in 2013 and Lord Windermere, ridden by Davy Russell and trained by Jim Culloty, in 2014. This year Silviniaco Conti is seen as clear favorite at 3-1 (and 12-1 to win the Gold Cup in 2016). With a field of this size there are plenty of contenders in the 8-12-1 range too. Many Clouds, Holywell, Carlingford Lough and last year’s winner Lord Windermere to name but a few.

Other highlights of the festival include the Champion Hurdle on day one (with Faugheen 5/4 favourite), the Queen Mother Champion Chase on day two (current favourite Sprinter Sacre) and World Hurdle on Day three. 19 time champion jockey Tony McCoy has tipped Jezki at 9/2 to pip Faugheen to the post, so this could be one to watch and worth a punt.

“The horse I’m most looking forward to riding at the Festival is Jezki. I think he has got the best chance of winning,” McCoy said.

“I know Faugheen is the one that they are all talking about, but there’s no form like Champion Hurdle form.

Whatever you choose to bet on, best of luck and enjoy the festival.

Picking the Gold Cup winner this year is possibly going to be harder than ever as a case could be made for about three-quarters of the likely final line-up for the highlight of the Cheltenham Festival.

So one thing which is always worth looking at when you are doing a Cheltenham Gold Cup preview is the history of the race and whether there are any trends you can glean from past results.

Here are a few little pointers which could help you with your selection:

AGE

Of the last 15 winners of the Gold Cup, 14 have been aged between seven and nine, and that includes Best Mate and Kauto Star, who have won the race more than once. Long Run in 2011 is the only six-year-old to have won since 1963, which could put a question mark over Djakadam’s chances.
Meanwhile, only two 10-year-olds have won since Desert Orchid in 1989, so you may want to think twice about the prospects of Bobs Worth, Boston Bob and The Giant Bolster.

RSA CHASE

The novices’ equivalent of the Gold Cup has often been a stepping stone towards success in the Blue Riband itself. Indeed, the last two Gold Cup winners – Bobs Worth and Lord Windermere – won the RSA Chase the year before. Denman and Looks Like Trouble are also relatively recent winners of the RSA Chase and the Gold Cup, while Long Run finished third. O’faolains Bay was last year’s RSA Chase winner, but he is injured. However, Smad Place, Sam Winner, Carlingford Lough and Many Clouds all ran in the RSA 12 months ago.

FESTIVAL FORM

It’s not just the RSA Chase which is a useful guide to future Gold Cup winners. Best Mate, Kicking King, War Of Attrition, Kauto Star and Imperial Commander all ran at the Festival, to varying degrees of
success, before going on to win the Gold Cup. That could certainly bode well for Holywell, who has been a winner at the Festival for the past two years.

ODDS

Seven of the last 12 winners of the Gold Cup have been sent off favourite. Paul Nicholls’ Silviniaco Conti is the ante-post favourite for this year’s race. And, even if the winner is not the favourite, it is usually fancied as Lord Windermere last year was the first horse at a double figure price to win the Gold Cup since See More Business in 1999. Most of the field is currently priced at 10/1 or bigger, though, so it could be worth waiting until the day of the race to make your decision.

EXPERIENCE

The last novice to win the Gold Cup was Captain Christy back in 1974. This year, Coneygree could attempt to emulate that achievement following his impressive win in the Denman Chase last time. That was only his third run over fences, but connections are leaning towards a tilt at the Gold Cup in preference to the RSA Chase. History, though, suggests he has it all to do.

BRITISH OR IRISH?

Only three of the last 17 winners of the Gold Cup have been trained in Ireland and Willie Mullins has yet to break his duck in the race. There will be a strong Irish contingent tackling the race this time and it is going to be a fascinating battle with the British horses.

In summary, it’s probably best to say good luck on picking the winner of the Gold Cup this year! However, if you do use the trends as some sort of guide, then the two to currently focus on would be Silviniaco Conti and Many Clouds.

A jewel in the crown of the racing jump calendar, the Punchestown National Hunt Festival, is Ireland’s most highly anticipated annual horse racing event. Drawing large crowds to County Kildare, the best of the best will complete here at the home of national hunting racing, with a total of 12 grade 1 races taking place. Punchestown is often viewed as an opportunity for big names from the top UK festivals, with several Cheltenham and Ascot winners travelling here to compete in recent years. As a consequence, interest in the festival most definitely extends well beyond Ireland. There are bound to be many opportunities for betting on The Punchestown Irish National Hunt Festival 2015 and we can’t wait to get stuck in.

Top horses, jockeys and trainers converge to bring us a memorable Five day festival, this year from Tuesday 28th April to Saturday 2nd May 2015. There are a whole host of races to look forward to with highlights including the Champion Chase and Herald Champion Novice Hurdle on the festival’s opening day, the 3 miles 1 furlong Punchestown Gold Cup on the second. Later in the week we have Grade 1 races Ladbrokes World Series Hurdle and the Ryanair Novice Chase, Punchestown Champion Hurdle on Friday, before packed crowds attend the festival’s family day on Saturday. All in all this Irish National Hunt Festival provides a fantastic few days of racing.

As for tips, we’ll eventually be casting a close eye on the Gold Cup, as this in many ways is the festivals feature race, with the cream of the crop of both UK and Irish racing converging. Due to the parallels between Cheltenham and Punchetown in terms of organisation and scheduling, there is always the remote chance of ‘doing the double’ (Cheltenham and Punchestown Gold Cup). It’s early days yet, and with no betting odds available at this stage, we’ll be returning to Punchestown at a later date. Stay tuned for top tips for this big week of betting!

For all of you festival followers out there, it’s not long now until Cheltenham is once again upon us. The Cheltenham Festival has grown from a two to a four day affair over the years and now consists of just shy of 30 races to offer plenty of betting opportunities for both casual and serious race fans alike. Around four million pounds in prize money is on offer, a million of which is for the Gold Cup alone. Attendance reaches close to a quarter of a million, which is a figure no other British four day festival can boast.

The Cheltenham Festival features a whole host of noteworthy races, ranging from the very first race, the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, to The Queen Mother Champions Chase. Then we have the Foxhunter Chase run over the Gold Cup course and of course the prestigious Cheltenham Gold Cup itself, won last year by Lord Windermere (just announced as an entry for April’s Grand National), ridden by jockey Davy Russell.

When I first cast my eye over the early Cheltenahm betting last month I highlighted both Road to Riches and Many Clouds at 8-1 in the Gold Cup as potential decent priced contenders. They have drifted ever so slightly (Road to Riches in now 9-1 with Titan Bet and Many Clouds at 10-1 with Paddypower). Silviniaco Conti is still firm favourite at 3-1. I’ll be highlighting any significant shifts in Cheltenham Betting Odds over the coming days and weeks.

Not many well known tipsters have laid their cards down so far, but it’s understandable as we’re a month away. Still, Ed Chamberlin of Sporting Life has plumped for Boston Bob (16/1) and we can’t expect more tipsters, well known ones as well as the blogspot bunch (who are often more reliable actually) to chip in with their suggestions imminently. We’ll be sure to highlight them here.

A staggering 150 million pounds is bet on the Cheltenham Festival each  and ever year. Are you going to be one of this year’s winners?