2024 Cheltenham Festival betting odds
The 2024 Cheltenham Festival is nearly here. There is now the chance to bet on all twenty-eight races that take place over the four days, with customers enjoying the chance to place wagers on big events such as the Champion Hurdle, Arkle Chase, Queen Mother Champion Chase, Stayers’ Hurdle, Ryanair Chase and Gold Cup.
Here at Racing-Odds.com, we are determined to showcase the best Cheltenham odds from the top Cheltenham Festival betting sites. You can compare the various prices when it comes to the selections that you want to back and always make sure that you are securing the best possible value.
Day One – Tuesday 12 March
Get ready for the Cheltenham roar! That is the sound that accompanies the start of the 2024 meeting, with the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle always the curtain-raiser. Punters will hope to get their Festival off to a winning start and perhaps FACILE VEGA is the horse that can achieve this.
The Willie Mullins-trained runner underwhelmed at the Dublin Racing Festival, although favourite backers will be getting stuck in and the same applies to JONBON when it comes to the Arkle Chase. It seems as though the horse is likely to end up being the SP favourite and punters will be looking to make hay in the opening two races.
However, it’s the Champion Hurdle where we could see a real star performance. CONSTITUTION HILL is the massive favourite to claim victory in this two-mile hurdle race and the Nicky Henderson-trained charge could be a machine as he proved in last year’s Supreme.
Day Two – Wednesday 13 March
It’s always the Queen Mother Champion Chase that takes pride of place on Day Two of the 2024 Cheltenham Festival, with this being Race Four on the Cheltenham racecard and we will see EDWARDSTONE clash with Energumene, with the former given preference based on the fact that he was such an impressive winner of the Arkle last year.
There are two other Grade 1 races on Wednesday and that includes the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle which kicks things off on Day Two of Cheltenham, with IMPAIRE ET PASSE looking like a talented five-year-old who could produce an eye-catching performance over two miles and five furlongs.
Hermes Allen and Gaelic Warrior both come into the race off the back of some great runs and this could be one of the best races of the meeting, while the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase features Gerri Colombe who has long been favourite to claim a victory over three miles and half a furlong.
However, it might be THYME HILL who is able to produce another fine Cheltenham performance and the nine-year-old has always run well at the track, with the Philip Hobbs-trained runner potentially able to outclass his rivals.
Day Three – Thursday 14 March
We reach the halfway stage of the 2024 Cheltenham Festival when we reach Day Three of the meeting, with punters once again looking through the racecard and inspecting each race before deciding which way to bet.
The action starts with a marvellous Grade 1 encounter and the Turners Novices’ Chase could be an entertaining affair. Many punters have been getting stuck into MIGHTY POTTER and we could see the Gordon Elliott-trained charge go off at odds-on after a string of fine performances.
We then have a treat of a race in the Ryanair Chase which is the third encounter on Thursday, with SHISHKIN having blown up in the Queen Mother Champion Chase twelve months ago although the Nicky Henderson-trained runner has previously excelled at the Cheltenham Festival when winning the Arkle Chase.
Blue Lord and Conflated come next in the betting, although JANIDIL could be the best each-way value and the horse is available at a very backable price.
The showcase race on Thursday is the Stayers’ Hurdle and MARIE’S ROCK can potentially get the better of her rivals with the mares’ allowance. She might not be certain to line up in this long-distance encounter although there’s the chance to see off Blazing Khal and Teahupoo.
Day Four – Friday 15 March
After three days of high-quality racing comes the final day of the 2024 Cheltenham Festival and it’s going to be seven brilliant races that includes the Cheltenham Gold Cup. However, before we get to the fourth and highlight race of the entire Festival, we can look forward to the JCB Triumph Hurdle which opens the card on the final day.
It’s always a thrill to see the talented four-year-olds from the UK and Ireland compete in this race and there is a fierce betting market which includes BLOOD DESTINY and Lossiemouth. We give the former a better chance of winning, with the Willie Mullins-trained runner well-fancied to be suited to the two mile one furlong trip.
However, Lossiemouth does have the mares’ allowance and she has scooped two wins of her own this season, while Gala Marceau also runs for Mullins and should be respected. FILEY BAY is set to go off favourite for the second race on the card and could take all the beating in the County Hurdle, while CORBETTS CROSS is the one they have to beat in the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle.
Then we have the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the most eagerly-awaited race of the entire meeting. The big question is whether GALOPIN DES CHAMPS can live up to top billing and perhaps nothing will get close to a horse who looks ready-made to cause a splash at the Festival.
A Plus Tard is the reigning champion and Henry de Bromhead will hope that the 2022 winner can rediscover some of his form this time around, while Bravemansgame could be the best each-way shout for a race where the bookmakers are sure to create extra places and price boosts along the way.
Willie Mullins also has Stattler in the race ready to make a big impression and there can be little denying that last year’s Grand National winner Noble Yeats should be able to tame the various Cheltenham obstacles after his heroics around Aintree.
Cheltenham Festival FAQ
The Cheltenham Festival always takes place in the second week of March. The dates for each Cheltenham Festival meeting are confirmed well in advance, with the Festival starting on a Tuesday and running consecutively that week all the way through to Friday. Cheltenham also generally coincides with St Patrick’s Day and there is definitely an Irish flavour to this horse racing meeting.
There are seven horses races during each of the four days of the Cheltenham Festival and that means twenty-eight races in total. These include the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, the Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase, Stayers’ Hurdle and Cheltenham Gold Cup. There are a number of Group 1 races along with a succession of handicap races and there are a wide range of betting opportunities as a result.
On every day of the Cheltenham Festival meeting, the first race takes place at 1.30pm UK time, with the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle getting us under way on Day One of Cheltenham. The races then take place at roughly 35-minute intervals throughout the day, with this providing customers with the chance to look ahead to the next race and plan which horses they are going to back on the Cheltenham racecard.
The Cheltenham Gold Cup is the most famous horse race at the Cheltenham Festival and this always occurs on Day Four of the meeting, with the Gold Cup being the fourth place on a seven-race card which means it takes place in the middle of the race day. This race generally goes off at 3.30pm UK time which means that it attracts a large audience of spectators on the Friday wanting to watch the race.
It’s generally the case that you won’t make money backing the favourites every time at the Cheltenham Festival. While a handful of horses heading the market often win at Cheltenham, many short-priced runners are beaten and you have to take into account that every race has a high-class field of horses. Sometimes it only takes one horse to beat a race favourite and triumph at the Festival.
The going at the Cheltenham Festival depends on the weather conditions leading up to the meeting, although we traditionally find that the ground is good to soft on the first day of the meeting. Sometimes heavy rain will mean that the going is soft or even soft to heavy, although Cheltenham racecourse is a fairly good drying track and you’ll find that good to soft tends to be the case. It’s worth bearing this mind when you bet on the various horses.
There are a number of handicap horse races at the Cheltenham Festival, with this meaning that each runner is carrying a certain amount of weight depending on their official rating. The Ultima Handicap Chase and Juvenile Handicap Hurdle take place on Day One, while the Ballymore Novices’ and the Coral Cup are handicap Cheltenham races on Day Two, while others include the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup and Martin Pipe Conditional Hurdle.
There are twenty-eight races at the Cheltenham Festival meeting and you can go through the racecard each day and pick out the horses that you expect to win. You should look at each horse’s form for the season and also pick out trainer comments which can be quite telling in terms of each horse’s chances of winning. Some punters also look at the betting market and see if there’s been money for any of the horses.
There are several bookmakers who have a Bet and Watch service when it comes to horse racing. That means you can log into your betting account, place a bet on the Cheltenham Festival race you want to watch and then access free live streaming. You can watch a Cheltenham race through your mobile device and sometimes there are live in-running odds available during the early stages of a race.
There are a number of ways to score free Cheltenham Festival bets. Sometimes there is the chance to get a free bet when you open a bookmaker account during Cheltenham week and that means you can get a deposit bonus when you have placed your first bet on the racing. Sometimes a bookie will give you a free bet on the next race if you have backed a winner, while there are sometimes money-back specials.
There are lots of ways to try and back winners at the Cheltenham Festival and you might even fancy placing a Cheltenham accumulator. It’s possible to either select horses that are running on different days of the meeting or alternatively place a daily Cheltenham acca on the action, with the odds of each selection combining so that you can get a bumper return on the selections if they all end up winning.
The majority of bookies have Cheltenham antepost betting available and this means a chance to bet on a Cheltenham race well in advance of it taking place. Sometimes you can back a horse antepost at a big price and those odds are considerably larger than you would find on the day of the race. However, antepost racing betting is also more risky as you have no guarantees that the horse will line up for that race.
The Cheltenham Gold Cup is the biggest horse race at the Cheltenham Festival, although there is also the chance to bet on other huge Group 1 races. This includes the Champion Hurdle, the Queen Mother Champion Chase and the Stayer’s Hurdle that take centre stage on the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of the meeting. There are other big races like the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, Arkle Chase and Ryanair Chase.
The vast majority of bookmakers offer Best Odds Guaranteed at the Cheltenham Festival. That means you can bet on a horse to win by taking an early price and then getting paid out at the Starting Price should this end up being bigger. The BOG Cheltenham prices are always worth taking and means that you always get the value on Cheltenham.
You can bet each-way on all of the Cheltenham Festival races and it’s a simple case of splitting your stake between win-only and place. The place terms for each Cheltenham race depend on the bookmaker and the number of runners in a race. For a big Cheltenham handicap race, you might find that you can get five or even six places, although that won’t be the case for a smaller field.