UK Horse Racing Tips

Archive for the ‘Racing Festivals’ Category

At Cheltenham there are very few certainties, Getabird managed to go from the favourite of the opener to looking lame and getting demolished on Day 1 of The Festival. Footpad ran a lot better in the following race, bulldozing through one of the fences to best the rest of the field and win quite a few lengths clear as the favourite.

Where there is a more straightforward choice, the polar opposite of the Gold Cup, is in the Top Trainer title. As we mentioned before Footpad has already picked up Mullins first win of The Festival and with the depth to his stable you can only see him winning more.

With the Cheltenham Festival just around the corner (March 13^th to 16th), punters both professional and casual are getting geared up to enjoy several days of top class racing action, bringing together many of our best known horses, jockeys, and trainers in the process. Millions of people are set to enjoy the Festival both on TV here in the UK, around the world, and also at the course where the Cheltenham Roar will blare out at the start of the Festival’s first race, the Supreme Novice’s Hurdle.

What do you intend to do after Cheltenham though, to get your horse racing fix – aside from counting your winnings of course? Well the good news is that there’s no need to let the action grind to a standstill, because the jewel in the crown of UK national hunt racing is hot on its heels, the Grand National 2018! The Grand National is perhaps the one horse racing event that even people with zero general interest in racing get on board with. Across the country office sweepstakes will be taking place and those with a marginal interest in racing will be coming up with ever more novel ways to pick selection, in a Carry On Film ‘what does the budgie think will win?’ approach. Of course professional gamblers will also be circling, as everyone has a look in during the National, a race that’s had its fair share of unpredictable results over the years.

The Grand National has always held a special place in UK racing, and officially first took place all the way back in 1939, when 5/1 favourite Lottery won at 5-1. Funnily enough though, over the years a reliance on favourites romping home may not have been the best approach. Excluding joint favourites, the last favourite to win was Hedgehunter in 2005 at 7-1. On the flipside for those of a more daring disposition, there have been some nice big priced winners in recent years: The Sue Smith trained Auroras Encore in 2013 at 66-1 and Mon Mome ridden by Liam Treadmill in 2009 at 100-1 are real stand out wins.

Over the years there have been some magical moments in the Grand National. Who could forget West Tip who ran six consecutive Grand Nationals (winning one), or Red Rum winning the race a staggering three times (1973, 1974 and 1977). What will be the stand out moment in the 2018 National I wonder? It takes place on 14^th April at 5:15pm, so in a little over a month we’ll get to find out!

The four day 2018 Cheltenham Festival is now just around the corner, taking place from Tuesday March 13^th – March 16^th 2018. Racing fans across the nation, and in fact the world, are primed for 28 competitive races, at least 14 of which are Grade 1. Some of the most highly anticipated National Hunt events of the racing calendar are taking place such as the Supreme Novices Hurdle, Champions Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase, as well as the jewel in the crown, the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Bookmakers are at the ready to take literally hundreds of millions of pounds over this racing week and horse racing tipsters are already offering up expert picks for the festival. As the first race of this must-watch Festival begins, prepare to hear the on-course Cheltenham Roar, a sure fire indication of the excitement the Festival generates without fail.

So since we’ve established that the Cheltenham Festival is a hotbed of betting activity, we ought to cast an eye on who’s favoured to impressive in some of the most highly anticipated races at Cheltenham. An obvious race to focus on is of course the Gold Cup. It’s the most highly anticipated Group 1 race of them all with prize money of over half a million pounds, and attracts only the very best contenders. Winning this competittive event is never a formality.

Last year, the Jessica Harington trained Sizing John made all at odds of 7-1. He returns again this year to defend his title. Doing so would make this the first time since 2002-04 when Best Mate won three years in a row. So lightning really ‘does’ strike in the same place twice (or thrice) but with betting odd of 6-1 this time round, he clearly has some convincing of the betting public to do. He’s third favourite in fact to win the 2018 Gold Cup, with Native River 2^nd favourite at 5-1 and Might Bite favourite at 3-1 with most bookmakers. Trainer Nicky Henderson recently stated that Might Bite’s work at home has been “vasty superior” to anything he’s produced previously. He was no slouch as it was, and so this surely bodes well for him.

With the prestigious 2018 Cheltenham Festival now only a stone’s throw away the bookmaker odds and red top newspaper chatter has already started focusing on who they think this year’s ‘stand out’s might be (no pun!). Might Bite is heavily favoured at just 3-1 to win this year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup with last year’s victor Sizing John also in the running. Of course there may well still be a few changes to the line ups, as one or two fancied horses have already dropped out from this and other Cheltenham races. That’s always important to factor that in, especially if you opt to place an early bet on this or any other race with a potentially large field.

Betting on big horse racing events like the Cheltenham Festival, Royal Ascot or the Grand National can often be a different skill / art than your typical day to day betting. With the Cheltenham Festival just around the corner it’s worth looking out for the latest Cheltenham betting odds for the 2018 festival.  These events are often highly competitive and in my opinion fewer horses slip under the radar (as can more readily happen in day to day betting, where sometimes people get rather gungho on the betting markets without really knowing a lot about what they’re laying or betting on). Weighing up the pros and cons of what to place your money on can be a trickier affair than usual.

That’s not to say there aren’t significant betting opportunities out there. The Cheltenham Gold Cup and other races at the festival have seen huge priced winners over the years and that’s just with bookmakers odds, rather than the betting exchanges. Norton’s Coin is perhaps the name that would first role off the tongue when thinking of Cheltenham betting opportunities of old. He won the Gold Cup at 100-1, then there’s Hardy Eustace winning the 2004 Champion Hurdle at 33-1, Western Warhorse winning the 2014 Arkle Challenge trophy, the list goes on! Sometimes looking for a big priced bet can be a perfectly valid option. Let’s not forget that Hove bookmaker Ben Keith took a £375,000 win bet on Willie Mullins Douvan in the 2017 Queen Mother Champion Chase, only for it to disappoint at odds of 2-9. A betting nightmare for one odds-on loving punter.

So who will be the stand outs of the 2018 Cheltenham Festival I wonder, and are there any horses in particular you’ve had your eye on. I’m naturally inclined to sometimes look beyond the favourites in the betting when I’m approaching races that have one too many unknowns for my liking, which can be true as I’ve said of the big Festivals. There will of course be long and short odds opportunities to bet on over the four day Festival and we’ll be analysing many potential selections from favourites to outsiders closer to the start of this prestigious event which in 2018 starts on 13^th March and ends on 16^th day of the month.