“The Festival” as the marketeers now like to call it, takes place at Cheltenham Racecourse in Gloucestershire, England across four days with the 2021 event currently set to take place on Tuesday, March 16 – Friday, March 19.
Our comprehensive Cheltenham betting guide includes Cheltenham free bets, betting tips, special betting offers, best odds & race results.
One of the best ways to bet on the Cheltenham Festival is to use one of the many ‘Free Bet’ offers available, that new customers can get when first signing up to a new online bookmaker.
Cheltenham free bets and concessions are often provided as loyalty bonuses for existing customers too. To use a free bet on the Cheltenham Festival, simply:
There are always big talking points ahead of every major racing event.
Here’s what to look out for at Cheltenham 2021:
Here are our Cheltenham betting tips 2021 provided by Freebets.co.uk horse racing experts. Make sure to stay tuned here for more updates on runners and bookmakers prices up to and including all Cheltenham 2021 races.
In order to make your Cheltenham betting experience easy, we provide you with up to the minute bookies odds on all races.
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Every year, online bookmakers are keen to bring you the very best of Cheltenham betting offers, and we are keen to provide the very best Cheltenham betting tips, in order for you to combine the two and maximize your Cheltenham experience with amazing opportunities of gaining free bets through enhanced odds and other offer specials for new customers and registered bettors.
Having a bet plays a major part in the enjoyment of watching the Cheltenham Festival and while winner-finding is never going to be easy here are a few suggestions that should help in trying to make the week a profitable one. Right below, you can start off with our top Cheltenham betting offers for the 2021 festival:
There are plenty of Cheltenham Free Bet Specials for you to look at and get involved with in the build up to the festival which starts in mid-March.
With Cheltenham expected to be dominated by Irish jockeys, there is a market for who will come out on top, which is likely to be led by the two most successful jockeys at the Cheltenham Festival, Ruby Walsh and Barry Geraghty, as well as the general market for overall ‘Top Cheltenham Jockey’.
‘Top Cheltenham Owner’ is another special Cheltenham market, but this is far less fruitful in terms of betting offers. Rather than there being plenty of good value options like in the jockey special, purely because there are more of them around, you have just two major owners to choose from, the legendary JP McManus and Gigginstown House Stud.
It makes sense for another special Cheltenham betting offer to be the Top Cheltenham Trainer, and again there are great options for you to choose from. Nicky Henderson has plenty of past winners and top betting options for this year’s festival like Altior, Buveur d’Air and Mite Bite, while Gordon Elliott won the 2016 Gold Cup with Don Cossack and of course Willie Mullins, the Irish Champion trainer is always one of the favourites.
The final notable special betting market at Cheltenham is the Prestbury Cup, which is the battle between Great Britain and Ireland to see which trainees come out on top.
All of the major bookmakers are offering great odds on every race, horse, jockey and trainer ahead of the 2021 Cheltenham Festival in March. There are also different markets to choose from, including the winner, each way, no runner no bet, top jockey and more. Crucially, because the betting is live, odds can change in the build up depending on the form and fitness or the horse. They could be better or worse the closer you get to the races, so part of getting the best value means timing your punts. There are so many options, though, and you shouldn’t miss out, especially when we have so many Free Bet offers for you take.
Stay tuned on our dedicated pages for each race day, and get the latest updates to bet on Cheltenham Festival as odds and offers on runners and riders will change in the run-up to each race day, and our experts will provide you with tips to pick out a big winner or two.
To help you with your next bets, see Cheltenham racing results.
There are plenty of different ways you can watch the Cheltenham Festival if you are in the UK, and you can do it completely legally too. Sky customers will get round the clock coverage all week from the festival from Sky At The Races, with presenters, punters, experts, tipsters and jockeys all set to feature on the bill to give you the very best possible experience from your couch. If not, then you can get terrestrial coverage on ITV4, where they will have intermittent shows across the four days. For you internet/app streamers out there, the best place to go is Bet365, where they will also have also have all the bases covered, as well as offering you great odds and free bets throughout the week.
There are many different ways you can watch the Cheltenham Festival, particularly in the UK (check out ‘How to Stream’), but these are mainly only open to UK audiences. For those keen to tune in from anywhere else, like Canada, the USA or Australia, you will need to unblock the streaming services, and you can do this via a Virtual Private Network. It may cost you a bit of money but it will allow you to access all the great coverage on offer for the Cheltenham festival. ExpressVPN is a great option because it has a 30-day refund guarantee, but there are plenty of other options, ensuring that no horse racing fans are left feeling disappointed or left out of the pulsating action.
Cheltenham Festival is the biggest event in the Horse Racing calendar. The annual event, along with the Grand National, generates the most interest in terms of media coverage every single year. It has been going since 1860 and lasts four days ever since 2005 when that particular change was made, with thousands of fans and punters flocking there on a yearly basis. Obviously, it goes without saying that there has been some huge and historic moments over the last 160 years, as well as a lot of changes.
The oldest race in current circulation is the Stayers Hurdle, which has been around since 1912. The Gold Cup, which is the biggest race on Day 4 of the festival, began in 1924, but unlike the Stayers Hurdle and Champion Chase, it wasn’t a Championship race straight away. Instead, it was used as the main preparation for the Grand National, which takes place a month later in April.
Though the festival is still incredibly male dominated, history was made in 1987, 21-year-old Gee Amytage became the first female to win a race, running out victorious in the Kim Muir Challenge Cup. Each day of the festival consists of six races, and there have been some really historic races and winners that have catapulted the entire event to world superstardom.
In terms of British sporting events in a year, it is looked out for as much as the Grand Prix at Silverstone or even the FA Cup final. It all took a sharp turn for the better in the 1980s when the famous Dickinson five and Champion Hurdle/Gold Cup double. Desert Orchid, Istabraq and Best Mate all appeared to claim the Festival as their own before the decade was out. Kauto Star became the first ever horse to retain the Gold Cup in 2009 and is a real modern day legend.
In terms of Jockeys, Pat Taaffe, the Irishman, has the greatest record in terms of the Gold Cup. Riders of 32 winners across his illustrious career, Taaffe won the showstopper event four times between 1964 and 1968, as well as five Champion Chases. But he is only fourth on the all time list of winners, behind Sir AP McCoy, who was a 31-time champion at the festival despite never winning the Stayers’ Hurdle, Barry Geraghty, who won 34 crowns including two Gold Cups and five Champion Chases. But nobody comes close to the legendary Ruby Walsh, who will again be looking to add to his 56 champion winners in 2020. Geraghty and Richard Johnson’s tallies combines wls only match the Irishman. Since 2004, he has been Cheltenham’s leading rider 11 times, with four Champion Hurdles, three Champion Chases, five World Hurdles, two Gold Cups, five Supremes, three Arkles, seven Mares’ Hurdles, four Ballymores, two RSAs and JLT. You certainly wouldn’t put it past him adding to his amazing total this year.
Despite the early warning signs of the Covid-19 pandemic, racing went ahead at Cheltenham back in mid-March. The four days of racing at the 2020 Cheltenham Festival were of such high quality that there were renewed calls for the meeting to be extended to five days.
Racing fans and those who like to bet on Cheltenham Festival winners were treated to stunning performances from equine superstars such as Easysland, Epatante and Al Boum Photo.
We also saw excellent performances from stars of the saddle with Paul Townend and Barry Geraghty riding 5 winners apiece. As important as the winners over the week, there were some very promising runs from novice hurdlers and chasers, raising hopes of another cracking Festival in 2021.
After a few Cheltenham Festivals which were only really enjoyed by racing enthusiasts, 2020 really cut through into the wider sporting world.
As with any BIG festival, it’s very easy to forget from one year to the next, the actual winners from the last festival, so here is our handy set of Cheltenham Festival 2020 Results:
13:30 Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle – Shishkin (Nico de Boinville) 6-1
14:10 Arkle Challenge Trophy Steeple Chase – Put The Kettle On (Aidan Coleman) 16-1
14:50 Ultima Handicap Steeple Chase – The Conditional (Brendan Powell) 15-2
15:30 Champion Hurdle Challenge Trophy – Epatante (B J Geraghty) 2-1 Fav
16:10 The Mares’ Hurdle – Honeysuckle (Rachael Blackmore) 9-4
16:50 Close Brothers Novices’ Handicap Chase – Imperial Aura (David Bass) 4-1 Jt Fav
17:30 National Hunt Steeple Chase Challenge Cup – Ravenhill (Mr J J Codd) 12-1
13:30 Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle – Envoi Allen (D N Russell) 4-7 Fav
14:10 RSA Novices’ Steeple Chase – Champ (B J Geraghty) 4-1
14:50 Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle – Dame De Compagnie (B J Geraghty) 5-1 Fav
15:30 Queen Mother Champion Steeple Chase – Politologue (Harry Skelton) 6-1
16:10 Glenfarclas Cross Country Steeple Chase – Easysland (J Plouganou) 3-1
16:50 Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle – Aramax (M P Walsh) 15-2
17:30 Weatherbys Champion Bumper – Ferny Hollow (P Townend) 11-1
13:30 Marsh Novices’ Chase – Samcro (D N Russell) 4-1
14:10 Pertemps Network Final – Sire Du Berlais (B J Geraghty) 10-1
14:50 Ryanair Steeple Chase – Min (P Townend) 2-1
15:30 Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle – Lisnagar Oscar (Adam Wedge) 50-1
16:10 Brown Advisory & Merriebelle Stable Plate – Simply The Betts (G Sheehan) 10-3 Fav
16:50 Tattersalls Mares Novices’ Hurdle – Concertista (D A Jacob) 9-2
17:30 Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Chase – Milan Native (Mr R James) 9-1
13.30 JCB Triumph Hurdle – Burning Victory (P Townend) 12-1
14:10 County Handicap Hurdle – Saint Roi (B J Geraghty) 11-2 Fav
14:50 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle – Monkfish (P Townend) 5-1
15:30 Cheltenham Gold Cup Steeple Chase – Al Boum Photo (P Townend) 10-3 Fav
16:10 St. James’s Place Foxhunter Chase – It Came To Pass (Miss Maxine O’Sullivan) 66-1
16:50 Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Handicap Chase – Chosen Mate (D N Russell) 7-2 Fav
17:30 Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle – Indefatigable (Rex Dingle) 25-1
The Cheltenham Festival is the most popular horse racing event to bet on across the sporting calendar.
For both regular and casual bettors, the sheer volume of Cheltenham betting offers and free bets on show can be quite confusing.
Read on for the full low down on betting on the Cheltenham Festival for beginners.
For those looking for some expert help on what horses to back at the 2020 Cheltenham Festival, it’s useful to check out the many racing experts available, who usually provide their Cheltenham tips for free, and offering up their thoughts and opinions on the big Cheltenham races.
A solid first stop is here, at this page, above at Cheltenham Betting Tips, our very own section for tips and picks for the big Cheltenham Festival races.
Social media and racing columns are also a valuable source of reference, especially for up to date news that could influence your selection choice before any of the big races.
There are so many online bookmakers vying for new customers these days, it can be become very easy to be bogged down by all the various Cheltenham offers that bookmakers use to entice in new members.
Luckily there are various ways of comparing the betting offers available, with our own bookmakers page, a valuable tool to aid those looking to join up to a new bookmaker site.
Freebets.co.uk continuously updates all it’s offers, so whether its a straightforward free bet welcome offer, an enhanced odds offer/price boost for the Cheltenham Festival or any other of the many tempting offers, Freebets.co.uk has all the information needed to make educated and informed decisions that best suits you.
Betting on horse racing in the modern day is often not as simple as making a selection, setting your stake and clicking “Ok”. It can be but there are many other options available to punters.
The main two betting options are the straight Win bet and ‘Each Way’. Win bets are simply that, you place your stake on a chosen horse to win the race and are paid out based on the odds taken or the SP (Starting Price)
Each-way betting is essentially two bets so a £1 each way bet will cost £2 in total. Half your stake goes on your horse to win and the other half on the horse to be placed. The place odds are usually a quarter (sometimes a fifth) of the win odds.
With each way betting you can usually get your stakes back or make a profit if your horse fails to win but finishes in the frame, usually 1st, 2nd or 3rd, but it varies depending on how many runners there are.
Almost all bookmakers will offer a “best price guarantee” for the Cheltenham Festival which always gives you the best odds when betting on Cheltenham races. It ensures the odds you take on the selected horse never drops but should your horse drift in the market and finish with a higher SP (Starting Price) you will get paid out at the bigger odds instead.
So for example, if your selection is 2/1 (3.00) odds, that’s the price you will get and no less. However if the starting price ends up being higher, your selection you will win even more money if your horse prevails, making this a simple but useful enhancement to your betting experience.
Another useful Cheltenham Festival special, offered by many online bookmakers, is the Non-Runner, No Bet (NRNB) money back offer.
This concession gives you security when betting on the Cheltenham Festival early without a risk to their initial stake, by offering the money back in a cash refund if the horse does not run in selected races.
So before making your bets, it is always worth checking what else the bookmaker offers on the race, as it could either boost potential winnings or save your money if a horse does not run.
