Cheltenham Tips: How to beat the bookies during the Festival

The Cheltenham Festival. Whether you’re a seasoned gambler, a part-time punter or a betting beginner, The Greatest Show on Turf is an event which is likely to capture your attention

While it’s tempting to dive in head first, there are a number of key things to consider before wagering your hard-earned money on one of Cheltenham Festival’s many races, and Oddschecker are here to enable you to make the very best selections possible.

1) Know the sport

Perhaps the most obvious thing of all: know the sport! While there are plenty of experts out there who devote their lives to studying racing, it still helps massively if you have a grasp of what is going on.

Does your fancied horse come into this in good form? Who is the trainer and who is the jockey? Have they encountered any issues in the lead-up to the Festival?

Being aware of such basic yet crucial information will be invaluable when deciding which horses to back, and which to steer clear of…

2) Listen to the experts

While it’s always important to have an idea of what exactly is going on, it’s hard to go wrong with following the advice of an expert. But with so many around, claiming to be Nostradamus of the NAP, who is the best tipster to follow?

Andy Holding, who has earned the nickname ‘The Pundit’s Pundit’ due to the high esteem his peers hold him in, will provide Oddschecker users detailed, daily betting tips throughout the Cheltenham Festival.

Andy was turned a +30.03 profit for last year’s Festival, and he’ll be hoping for a similar success this time around.

A combination of following both expert advice and personal judgement is generally the best way to go about picking a Cheltenham winner.

"The odds are stacked in the punter's favour."

@Holding_Andy tells us why betting at #CheltenhamFestival can give great value. pic.twitter.com/XAWuH8SzCr

— Oddschecker (@Oddschecker) March 4, 2020

3) Don’t always back the favourite

It may perhaps be tempting to simply back the favourite in any given race, but this strategy has a number of significant drawbacks.

Only nine favourites won out of the 28 races in last year’s Cheltenham Festival, and while there are some horses which will no doubt justify their short price, it’s often smarter to shop around in the market for bigger value elsewhere.

With so many high-quality horses on display during the Festival, there are always cases to be made against the favourites, so it’s important to be shrewd when deciding which ones to back.

4) Don't just stick to one bookmaker - shop around

The Cheltenham Festival is where bookies go all out to secure punters’ business.

Brand loyalty is certainly prevalent amongst gamblers, but using Oddschecker to scour the market enables you to find the very best price on any and every Festival runner.

Furthermore, bookies will often provide their new customers with generous sign-up offers, the best of which can be found here, which can be taken advantage of during the four days of action.

Little beats the thrill of backing a winner, so don’t let that sweet taste of victory turn sour by discovering another firm offered a much better price. Shop around and be smart.

Where's the best value?
What kind of horses relish the challenge?
Why's it so special?

We asked our panel of experts @holding_andy, @tony_calvin and @SenseiChanning for some pearls of wisdom on the #CheltenhamFestival pic.twitter.com/GtrXJBZ9TI

— Oddschecker (@Oddschecker) March 9, 2020

5) Bet each-way

Of course, it’s not just the winning horse which can net punters a piece of pie – the each-way market is also a hugely popular one amongst racing bettors.

Alongside backing a horse to win, you can also back it to finish within a certain number of places – the terms differing from bookie-to-bookie. Use Oddschecker to secure the very best place terms.

Should your chosen horse finish among the places, a smaller return is yielded, but the initial stake is often returned at the very least, making it a more popular bet for those looking at the bigger-price horses to finish in the upper echelons.

6) Bet with your head, not with your heart 

It’s easy to get attached to horses, particularly if they’ve previously won you money, but punting during the Festival is all about nous.

You might really want a horse to win, but if the signs suggest the value lies elsewhere in the market, the shrewd move is to keep your powder dry to unleash on a more fancied runner.

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