Festival Betting Strategy

I love the Foxhunters and the Xcountry.Cumon you have to take Min on and just bet the other races  without the Fav.

Each to there own, but the thought of going to Cheltenham and not betting on the champion hurdle, supreme, arkle, triumph, be as well going to work that week!! Agree with cross country pile of crap!!!

my advice... invest more in the placepot ;)

That's why I put the post to create debate..... Been going Cheltenham for 10/12 years used to bet every race .... Truth us that is not the logical thing to do.... Looking to narrow down numbers of races

To be fair with the Arkle I got antepost 10s L'ami Serge & staked covered without Douvan @ 6s&7s with buttons

looking  @ day 1, Mullins / Ricci dominate 4 races....fair shout to get without these .... Wait for handicaps ...could be a slow betting day Day1 when I look back historically Day1 been my least profitable day of the Festival bar lucky throw away few quid on Ebaziyan I wasthe only 1 cheering

Place pot  few years back we used to stay in a Boozer in ChurchTown ..... They're used to be a bunch of lads go every year they always permed the placepot spending 100/200 quid 1 year the chopped it off dividend paid big can't exactly remember what it was but they pulled 12k think it paid £1200+

I agree legend betting every race isn't logical and the kind of punter the bookies want. Cheltenham is my holidays, I go with about 2k for the week, that's for betting, food + drink and whatever else, if I come home with 2k I've had a good Cheltenham. I would imagine a pro punter would be picking and choosing as you say.

Looking at Today maybe Mullins is not so invincible after all.......

Don't change what you normally do 'because it's Cheltenham'

I love sorting out handicaps and history has shown that in the past, with the handicaps loaded towards the last two days, that by Wednesday evening I was well into the red.

Acknowledging this, I will literally only get involved on the day in the 3m Handicap Chase and the Coral Cup (I may have a couple of positions ante-post in the other races on those days).

So then it's a question of going to town on the Thursday and Friday. I do stake bigger because it's Cheltenham though. You can get tremendous odds on horses because of the hype and things like peoples unwillingness to checkout Tote Dividends (Darna won at 33/1 SP in the Plate last year - the longest priced winner of the meeting, which was great if you backed him......even better if you got the near £50.00 dividend on the Tote!).

I also stake bigger, because, well, if it's the Olympics for the horses, then it is for me as a punter too and all that study, emotional and financial investment should be maximised IMO, with big stakes and, if you're good, big returns.

The thrill of watching the class horse you thought would destroy the field, destroy the field makes up for the cramped odds. Not advocating betting real shorties, but a 4-6 fav can look tremendous value when it saunters home.

Very true ..... Most of the problems we create is Stakes control.     4/7 end up having a bigger bet instead of usual £100/120 end up £400/600 when it gets beat leaves the problem.....

All about control/opinions & sometimes having the nerve ......Best Mates las Gold Cup   win had £1200 panicked when they tried to box him up push him against the rails.......he didn't let me down........the buzz of racing that's why we love it

Roger -  I agress a 33/1 shot at the Fez is like a normal 8/1 shot,........Bcoz big fields & more quality of opposition usually 8/9 can win the race

I am usually not a short price man unless in my mind it s a real good thing

The Fez has seen me pick a good few long priced winners some that spring to mind


Last Year Cole Harden had 25s Irish Cavalier got 20s both ante post

Others Ebazayan had buttons @100 on the machine
Upgrade Top Cees Hot Weld Your Special few that spring tomind

I always find the handicaps tough so don't usually back much in them bar the odd 5/10er eway double. I like to stick to the graded races and don't mind backing a shortie or if he looks to short and or don't quite trust at the odds I love looking at the without favs, match up bets so your only looking at a 2 horse race and place only these type of bets have served me well through the last few years and also looking at ones with good past festival form who are out of any sort of good form coming into the race!

I'm happy to back a short priced fav as well but I'm also v happy to lay them.

I sometimes like laying favs in the handicaps but I usually focus on graded races.

At the moment, I do feel that Mullins is so strong that I'm wary of opposing his big guns... In fact I see Faugheen as a 40% rtn on my capital in 5mins or so which is certainly better than the mini cash isa!!

I also feel this year forced into looking at multiples to get more value. Have Douvan, Faugheen, Annie, UDS and thistle in 35/1 multiple but am nervous about this kind of betting!