UK Horse Racing Tips

It’s been a dizzying few months of top quality horse racing of late, as is always the case at this time of year. In mid March we had the ever exciting Cheltenham Festival. This year we saw the performance of female jockeys go to another level, with Rachael Blackmore,  Bryony Frost and Lizzie Kelly heralding in a golden era for women in the sport (with two grade one wins between them during the 2019 Cheltenham Festival!). The event saw some big odds winners too, so was definitely one for the speculative bettor.

Then of course we had the Grand National last weekend (6th April). This prestigious race watched around the world by hundreds of millions, (and this year drawing almost ten million viewers to ITV alone) saw Gordon Elliot’s Tiger Roll rack up back to back wins in the Grand National – the first horse to do so since Red Rum in 1974. It was quite something to see Davy Russell and co soaking in an win they themselves couldn’t seem to quite comprehend. Bookmakers are set to pay out an estimated £200 – £250 million as result of the victory, with Tiger Roll being one of the shortest priced winners for decades at 4-1.

In other sports news, gambling regulators have clamped down on a roulette-like virtual cycling games available in some betting shops, which was seen as a way of working around fixed odd betting terminal rules. The game offered by one betting shop chain, involved a cyclist racing around a velodrome, who then stops on one of 36 segmented areas (much like a roulette wheel). Customer could bet up to £500, whereas maximum bets on  FOBT games was recently reduced to £2. Many casual punters are unhappy with such a dramatic restriction down to £2, and instead are switching to more open online betting environments, where websites welcome customers with generous bonuses and offers, as you see at the likes of Thumbsupbonus. High street betting shorts are increasingly outmoded in comparison, when numerous games such as bingo, poker and sports betting are only a mouse click away!

A final bit of racing news from Late February led me to wondering if bookmakers should start offering betting odds on who is going to win the latest racecourse brawl! A mass brawl, which was captured on film, broke out at Haydock Park between some 50 members of the public at the Saturday afternoon race meeting. Similar incidents happened at Ascot, Goodwood and Hexham in 2018. Haydock have declared a “zero tolerance position” in response tp the incident, though personally I’d say the chance of a repeat is around even money!  Place your bets now please!

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