The Best Races To Bet On Cheltenham Festival

The Cheltenham Festival is widely regarded as the biggest betting event in the UK sporting calendar, with racing fans enjoying four fantastic days of action.

There are a stack of Grade 1 races that span Cheltenham week, which traditionally starts with Champion Hurdle day on the Tuesday and runs through to Gold Cup day on the Friday.

There are seven races for each of the four days of the Cheltenham Festival, making 28 races in total. 

While it can be fun to take advantage of the many Cheltenham offers and bet on every race, there are some races which offer more excitement and betting value in particular. 

Below, we profile the races you should target with your bets this year.

Tuesday – Supreme Novices’ Hurdle

The famous “Cheltenham roar” accompanies the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle which is the opening race of the Festival. 

It’s great to get involved in the action, with the betting market wide open and there are usually a few question marks about every runner, including the horses that feature near the top of the market.

We especially like betting on the Supreme at the Cheltenham Festival due to the fact that UK bookmakers often have lots of promotions focusing on the meeting curtain-raiser. 

It’s not uncommon to see horse racing betting sites offering lots of extra places, which is great if you’re planning to have an each-way wager on a race which is run over a distance of two miles and half a furlong.

The Supreme is a real hammer and tongs affair which is run at a fast pace and it’s great if the horse(s) that you backed are still involved coming up that famous hill at Prestbury Park. 

If you manage to bag a winner, then you can attack the rest of the Tuesday card with confidence.

Wednesday – Queen Mother Champion Chase

There is no better sight at the Cheltenham Festival than the best UK and Irish two-mile chasers flying over the big obstacles and we’ve seen some brilliant winners over the years. 

Horses such as Moscow Flyer, Sprinter Sacre, and Master Minded have wowed the crowd with some scintillating performances and this is also a great betting race when it comes to the Cheltenham odds.

It’s not always the case that the favourite wins, as we found out in recent years when the likes of Douvan, Un De Sceaux, Defi Du Seuil & Chacun Pour Soi were all sent off at short odds but failed to deliver.

Ultimately, there is always a risk of falling or making a mistake for each runner, while it can often be the case that a big-priced horse is strategically run to pick up the pieces and secure a place in the final reckoning.

Thursday – Ryanair Chase

Although the Ryanair Chase was only introduced to the Cheltenham Festival in 2005 when the meeting was extended to four days, this has quickly developed into a firm favourite with racing punters.  

Viewers love the thrill of this encounter which falls somewhere between the Queen Mother Champion Chase and Gold Cup in terms of distance.

This is a Grade 1 encounter and the extra element of the puzzle is working out which horses are going to run in this race or alternatively be pitched at an alternative race at the Festival.

Friday – Gold Cup

This is the biggest race at the Cheltenham Festival and there’s huge betting interest when it comes to this encounter over three miles, two-and-a-half furlongs. 

As the distance outlines, this is a race where a successful horse not only has to show a heap of stamina but must also negotiate 22 obstacles along the way.

The leading betting sites will roll out some fantastic Gold Cup promos and there might be the chance to enjoy extra places when it comes to each-way betting. 

You can also expect to get odds boosts about several of the runners, with this being a historic encounter and nothing beats backing the winner of this race.