What The Bookies Don’t Want You To Know At Cheltenham

1. – Take Advantage Of Special Offers

This may sound contradictory to the title but the bookies want you to become their regular as a punter. They want you to place all your bets in one place. At the Festival there are so many offering different bonuses, you must shop around.

Some of the best offers to take advantage of are:

• Money back if your horse loses (risk free betting is our favourite offer!)
• Extra places – get 4, 5 or even 6 places paid Each Way instead of just 3
• Money back if the favourite beats your horse

Each of these can provide an easy cash, free bet or bonus boost to your Cheltenham bankroll, allowing to you bet less but win more.

2 – Don’t Read Too Much Into Trainer Quotes

Trainers may see their horses each day but that often means that they don’t see the bigger picture. Some trainers are constantly positive in the face of stiff tasks, unerringly positive about every horse in their yard – even if it’s finished last on its four starts…

While it’s not a bad idea to at least take note of what we are told as punters from the yards themselves, don’t take it as gospel as animals have a habit of making fools of the best of us.

With so many trainers having blogs and putting out comments, don’t let them sway you off a strong opinion!

3 - Watch The Markets Closely

While a drifter (horse which increases in price) in the market doesn’t always lose, it is a solid sign that someone doesn’t think it is likely to win. A close watch of the betting can foretell a forthcoming news story.

This works the other way, as our daily market movers show. A horse’s price tumbling is worth a second look, especially at the Festival with handicaps where bigger bets can be placed than the rest of the year – so it takes more money to move the price. Late money at the Cheltenham track (sometimes reported on ITV) is the most telling.

4 - Follow The Trends

The “trends” will be widely banded about by experts before Cheltenham – for example, 14 of the last 16 winners of the Cheltenham Gold Cup had run over fences at Cheltenham before.

Stamina and experience trends are especially notable. Cheltenham has a steep uphill finish and some races tend to be won by horses with extra petrol in the tank to get them up that difficult finish.

Listen to the experts (and check out our racecards) to help narrow down your shortlist for the big races by removing unsuitable horses.

5 - Consider Second And Third String Horses

We see this all the time both flat and jumps, the hot favourite turned over by a lesser fancied stablemate.

The trainer and jockey (even Ruby Walsh!) won’t get it right all of the time and when even the least fancied of three still cost £300,000 after bolting up in a point to point, there is value to be had by challenging the favourite.