UK Horse Racing Tips

Few racing events pique the interest of the general public like the Cheltenham Festival. It’s second only to the Grand National in terms of reputation and popularity and has prize money to match. With four days of non stop top drawer racing action it’s no wonder that this national hunt event is so highly anticipated. So what will the 2021 Festival bring I wonder? Can Honeysuckle add the cherry on the cake of an astounding 10 from 10 record by winning the Champion Hurdle? Can Al Boum Photo achieve its place in the record books alongside Arkle and Best Mate to become the third three time winner of the Gold Cup? We’re just days away from finding out, so lets get into the swing of things with a fun Betway Racing Cheltenham Festival quiz featuring a few familiar footballing faces.

Down the years, several men, including the inimitable Donald ‘Ginger’ McCain, trainer of Red Rum and Amberleigh House, and Trevor Hemmings, owner of Hedgehunter, Ballabriggs and Many Clouds, have been known as ‘Mr. Grand National’. However, the first man to lay claim to that title was Fred Rimell who, between 1956 and 1976, saddled four winners of the world famous steeplechase. In so doing, he set a record which, while equalled by McCain in 2004, has never been beaten.

As a trainer, Rimell had few peers, but few that argue that his first Grand National winner, ESB in 1956, was due more to luck than judgement. In a bizarre incident, Devon Loch, with the race at his mercy, inexplicably fly-jumped and slithered to the ground just yards from the winning post, leaving ESB to gallop by and win by 10 lengths. Winning jockey Dave Dick later admitted, ‘Devon Loch had me cold.’

Five years later, in 1961, Rimmel won his second Grand National as a trainer, in more conventional fashion, with Niklaus Silver, who remains one of just three grey horses to have won the Aintree marathon. Ridden by Bobby Beasley, the 10-year-old beat the previous year’s winner, and favourite, Merryman II by 7 lengths.

Win number three, which proved to be the easiest of all, came courtesy of Gay Trip, ridden by Pat Taaffe, in 1970. Having previously run in the King George VI Chase at Kempton and the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the 8-year-old outclassed the opposition, winning by 20 lengths. Last, but by mo means least, came the Welsh National winner, Rag Trade who, in 1976, completed a notable double when denying dual winner Red Rum his third win the Grand National, for the second year running.

At the time of writing, Al Boum Photo, trained by Willie Mullins, is a top-priced 4/1 favourite to become the first horse since Best Mate, in 2004, to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup three years running. A beaten third when falling at the second-last fence in the RSA Insurance Novices’ Chase at the 2018 Cheltenham Festival, the Buck’s Boum gelding has been lightly raced in recent seasons. He has, nonetheless, won five of his six starts, finishing second to stable companion Kemboy in the Punchestown Gold Cup, in the wake of his first victory in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2019, on the other occasion.

Prior to 2019, the Cheltenham Gold Cup had not been a happy hunting ground for Willie Mullins. Between 2000 and 2016, perennial Champion National Hunt Trainer suffered the frustration of saddling the runner-up in the ‘Blue Riband’ event no fewer than six times, including four years running between 2013 and 2016. Indeed, in 2014, On His Own suffered an agonising short-head defeat, having been carried right by the eventual winner, Lord Windermere, in the closing stages. At the ensuing enquiry, the stewards acknowledged that minor interference had taken place – and suspended Davy Russell, jockey of Lord Windermere, for careless riding – but the result stood.

However, in 2019, Al Boum Photo finally broke Mullins’ lengthening hoodoo when staying on strongly to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup by 2½ lengths. In 2020, he justified favouritism, albeit narrowly, when staying on, all out, to beat Santini by a neck, with Lostintranslation a further 1¼ lengths behind in third place. Still only a nine-year-old, Al Boum Photo won what has become his traditional warm-up race for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the Savills Chase at Tramore, with consummate ease on his seasonal reappearance on New Year’s Day in 2021. He remains on course for his bid to join a small, select band of horses to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup more than twice.

In slot games there are wins and there are losses, after following all the right steps to slot gaming – play this game. There’s a determining factor that pulls whether a player will win or not and it’s called LUCK. Some players are luckier than others, while some win the little number of jackpots from their wager, some players hit it big. It’s a new year, yes, but don’t you think it’ll be nice to take a look back to the lucky ones of 2020? Does the highest jackpot slot win of 2020 feature here? Keep reading to find out.

1.  €14.2 million

The Egyptian Themed Slot Mega Moolah brought the biggest hit home last year (2020). The winner whose name is withheld for safety purposes won a whopping jackpot of €14,239,532,84 on this Microgaming online slot. Like, it’s the biggest to ever be won in an online casino in Sweden.

” Somewhere deep down I probably believed in the dream all along, but when I won the Jackpot, I thought it was a joke,” he said. The winner won’t stop describing how he didn’t believe it at first, and how it might take a while to wake up to how much he won.

2. €10.7 million

Mega Moolah paying out a jackpot in online slot making the winner an instant millionaire is worth studying. Microgaming seems to give out a lot of wins last year, or maybe it was just the player’s lucky day. The winner won €10,735,716.84 at an online slot around April 2020. Making it the second-highest euro win at an online slot in 2020.

3. €7.7 million

It’s Mega Moolah again, this time around the winner won a whopping of €7,784,425.63. The winner became a 7 digit owner through Microgaming’s online slot.

4. € 4.2 million

At wildz online slot, this lucky player made away with the sum of €4.2 million, a jackpot slot. This Yggdrasil game followed through its progressive slot. Empire Fortune is known to be big on jackpot slots payout and is recorded to have paid billions to users all over. A look-alike game like this is Joker millions, both are recorded to have paid out up to €39.5 million.

5. € 364,407

This time, the win goes to someone who truly needed and deserved it. An unemployed woman from Pennsylvania. This woman won on BetRivers Online slot with €364,407.52.

Imagine winning that whoop with just €2 bet. Yes, we were surprised too. The winner, who is a mother of three played the game on her mobile phone when she hit the jackpot slot. Lynn said her husband didn’t believe her until she showed him. Christmas was great for Lynn we believe.

Finally, these are top 5 slot wins of 2020, there’s a reason these made it here. It’s all luck. What’s more amazing is that it’s not about the wager or high Rolling, Lynn wagered only €2. For online slot games, there’s always a lucky day, maybe not. Often, there’s a lucky day.