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Check out our comprehensive guide to betting on the Cheltenham Festival ahead of the biggest week in the jump racing calendar.
The Cheltenham Festival is the biggest week in the racing calendar, a time when jumps racing pushes the sport right to the very heart of mainstream sporting coverage in the UK and Ireland.
Cheltenham betting is a fun way to add excitement to the great entertainment in the Cotswolds and might even help turn a profit from what is billed as the ‘greatest show on turf’.
What is antepost betting?
Antepost betting refers to bets made well in advance of the Festival. Betting on the major races at Cheltenham is available all year round. When you bet on a horse race in an antepost market, if your horse doesn’t run in the race, the bet is settled as a loser. When it comes to the Cheltenham Festival, Betway is now offering non-runner money back on ALL 28 races for 2025.
What is a win bet?
A win bet on any race is placed on the selection to win the race. The horse you back must win the race to get a return.
How do each-way bets work?
Essentially, an each-way bet is two bets on the same horse – one to win and one to be placed (top three, four or five, depending on the number of horses in the race).
Your stake is doubled in order to make up the two parts of this bet, so a £5 each-way bet costs £10. If the horse wins, you are paid the win and the place, the second part at a percentage of the starting price, often ¼ of the odds. If your horse is ‘placed’ you are paid on that part of the bet only.
What is a Cheltenham acca?
With 28 races to pick from over four days, many punters will be hoping to land a Cheltenham Festival accumulator, or acca for short. This is where you select the winners of multiple races. To win, all of your selections need to win their races.
Cheltenham betting odds explained
Betting odds are used by bookmakers as a way of presenting the likelihood of a specific outcome in all Cheltenham races. The favourite is deemed to have the best chance of winning and is therefore the shortest odds. The odds lengthen from there, with each horse having their chances assessed numerically.
Most UK-based betting is done either fractionally (2/1) or via decimal odds (3.0) – in both instances a £10 win bet would return £30 if successful.
To find out how much your winning bets might return, take a look at the Betway Betting Calculator.
How to read a Cheltenham racecard
Here are some handy terms to help you read the racecard and understand the information being conveyed.
The previous form of each horse is displayed by a sequence of numbers/letters, running from left to right, with the oldest races on the left and the most recent on the right.
– The numbers 1-9 indicate the position the horse finished in the race
– The number 0 indicates that the horse finished outside the first 9
– The symbol – separates racing seasons. Numbers before the – are for last season
– The symbol / indicates a longer gap, for example if the horse missed an entire racing season
– P or PU indicates that the horse was pulled up by the jockey and did not complete the race
– F indicates the horse fell
– R indicates a horse refused
– BD indicates the horse was brought down by another runner
– U or UR indicates that the horse unseated its jockey
– C indicates a horse has won on that course before
– D indicates a horse has won over that distance before
– CD indicates a horse has won over course and distance
– BF stands for beaten favourite and indicates a horse was favourite for a race, but did not win
To the right of each horse’s name you will see their age, the weight they are carrying in the race and their official rating (a means of assessing ability) as well as the trainer and jockey.
Cheltenham betting strategies
Here are some handy tips for betting on the Cheltenham Festival
– Find out everything about the Festival in our handy Cheltenham guide.
– There are seven races each day, making 28 in all, so ensure that you stake your bets accordingly to stay within budget.
– Consider doing an acca, Lucky15 or other multiple bet to give you an interest over the four days.
– Read the formbook and familiarise yourself with which horses have Cheltenham form.
– Check out the trainers and jockeys in good form and those with past experience of winning at Cheltenham.
– Look out for the expert tips across all four days, including from Richard Hoiles, the voice of ITV Racing.
