Cheltenham Festival Betting Sites & Event Review: Fans, Markets and more

On this Cheltenham betting page we’ll be going over some of the most important aspects of the world-renowned Festival. We will include details relating to bonus offers, odds prices and also some interesting facts and figures about how the festival started and how it has grown to become such an important part of British horse racing culture.

Cheltenham Betting Offers & Promotions

Similar to the Grand National, the Cheltenham festival attracts punters from all walks of life; horse racing experts, would-be bettors and casual punters who place just one or two bets a year gather together for the four-day long spectacle. This means that bookies go out of their way to try and outdo the competition and offer the best promotions on the market. This is why in addition to the standard best odds guaranteed promise, you’ll be able to find even more bet insurance deals and enhanced price offers than you would at different times in the season.

Cheltenham Odds Prices

While there are a number of not so experienced punters who come out to place the odd bet or two for the big festival, this is one of the racing meets that also attracts a whole host of horse racing experts. Betting sites, therefore, must ensure that their odds prices are at least on par with – or ideally better than- the competition if they are to avoid losing out. Similar to the Grand National, bookies tend to slightly alter their profit margin, meaning that you can expect to find average odds prices around 82-90%.

Some Interesting Facts

It is a well-known fact that the appeal of the Cheltenham Festival stretches far beyond the realms of sheer horse racing and betting. It is a social, family-friendly event with an almost carnival-like atmosphere that attracts people from all walks of life. The festival is also scheduled to coincide with St Patrick’s Day; this inevitably means that there tends to be a large Irish contingent in attendance, which, of course, gives way to fun, laughter and plenty of Guinness!

Racecourse Information:
First held:	1860	Festival location: Cheltenham Racecourse Mr Ruby Walsh, top Cheltenham jockey
Duration:	4 days
Number of races:	28
Grades:	Grade 1 – ungraded
Surface:	Turf
Track:	Left-handed

If you’re into interesting facts and figures, the sheer size and popularity of the Cheltenham Festival makes it a perfect pick for fun trivia. Did you know that the economic footprint of the Cheltenham Festival is an estimated £100,000,000 every year to the city of Gloucestershire and that a record £4,305,000 was the total amount of prize money on offer for the 2017 festival? Furthermore, the 2015 festival saw 265,000 pints of Guinness, 120,000 bottle of wine and 45,000 bread rolls consumed across the four days with over 6,000 members of staff employed to deal with the demand.

Historical Info

Originally the Cheltenham festival was not held at the Cheltenham Racecourse. In its earlier years, it was held at various different locations, including the Warwick Racecourse and at Market Harborough and eventually found its permanent home at Prestbury Park, Cheltenham, in 1911 where it is still held to this day.

The face of the festival has changed rather dramatically since it was first run, with a number of new races being added and slight amendments to the itinerary having come into effect over the last few decades. Prior to 2005 the festival had only lasted for three days instead of four; 5 new races were added for the 2006 festival, which meant that each day featured six races, including one championship race. The festival now hosts a total of 26 races over the four day with the Supreme Novice’s Hurdle, the Champion Hurdle, the Triumph Hurdle and the Spa Novice’s Hurdle among the Grade 1 showcases. The main showcase, the Cheltenham Gold Cup is held on the last day of the festival and is widely regarded as the most prestigious of all the Jump races.