Known for hosting several festivals of culture (which includes the Cheltenham Festival), Cheltenham is a large spa town on the edge of Cotswold. The festival sees numerous punters placing bets on the Arkle Chase, Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and Champion Hurdle in search of winners.
The majority of the Cheltenham Betting Industry comprises of horse racing events and bets. Perhaps it is because Cheltenham is home to the world’s biggest horse racing festival. Therefore, to look at how far the Cheltenham betting sector has progressed, we need to understand their largest horse racing festival.
What is the Cheltenham Festival?
Many racing bettors recognise that the Cheltenham Festival is the unsurpassed and largest global horse racing festival. It is a yearly four-day event, really anticipated by those who love jump racing with horses. Countdown to the festival begins immediately after the curtains from the preceding year’s celebrations go down.
The Cheltenham 2021 Festival
Cheltenham 2020 was a huge success, and we can expect nothing less from the one scheduled to hold in 2021. The 2021 Cheltenham Festival begins on Tuesday, 16th March, and ends on Friday 19th with the Gold Cup Day.
Each day has its unique feature race that contributes to making the festival entertaining, though the last day seems to be the luckiest for some punters. Within the four days, there will be 28 races held, with about half of the total consideration to be at the world-class Grade 1 level. Some of these Grade 1s include:
- Triumph Hurdle
- Arkle Challenge Trophy
- Supreme Novice’s Hurdle
- Mares’ Hurdle
- Spa Novices’ Hurdle
Below is a breakdown of the races scheduled for those four days.
Day 1 – Champion Hurdle
The Champion Hurdle is a National Hunt race open to horses aged 4 years or above. It is the final event of the Triple Crown of Hurdling, and is held annually on the Cheltenham Festival’s opening day.
The race runs over a distance of about 3,298 meters on the Old Course at Cheltenham. As part of a sponsorship deal with online gambling platform Unibet, the race is currently known as the Unibet Champion Hurdle.
Day 2 – Champion Chase
Commonly referred to as the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase, this race is open to horses between the ages of 5 years and above. It is the signature race of the Cheltenham Festival’s second day. Also, the race runs over a distance of about 3,199 meters on the Old Course at Cheltenham.
Day 3 – Stayers’ Hurdle
Perhaps, the biggest news of the Stayers’ Hurdle in the 2020 Cheltenham Festival is Lisnagar’s 50-1 victory. Performed on the New Course at Cheltenham at over a distance of about 4,785 meters, the race is the prevalent long-distance hurdle event in the National Hunt.
The Grade 1 National Hunt hurdle race is only open to horses aged four years or older.
Day 4 – Gold Cup
One cannot argue that it is the most valuable non-handicap chase in Britain after, in 2019, the total prize fund was £625,000. The race runs on the New Course at Cheltenham over a distance of about 5,294 meters.
Betting Odds During the Festival
The odds available for the Cheltenham festival typically get featured 12 or more months in advance. Want to find out the best odds and guide for all the races at Cheltenham? Check out the freebets.com Cheltenham betting page. Here, players will find the best prices on any of Cheltenham’s biggest races they feel they can predict through their odds comparison.
There are also ante-post offers that give bettors the chance to lock in good-value bets early. Ante-post betting offers lucrative payouts, even though it is a risky type of bet. The payouts are even larger if one uses the right odds comparison platform to obtain the best figures available.
