Cheltenham betting

Cheltenham Free Bet Offers for Day One of the Festival are coming thick and Fast. It is always great to go looking for Free Bets to try and enhance your Horse Racing betting, because what is better than betting with free money? You have nothing to lose, but everything to gain. Here we bring you the best of the Cheltenham Free Bet Offers around at the moment, as it is time to put they hype and speculation aside and put your money where your mouth is. This is expected to be a punters delight at the 2011 Cheltenham Festival, and it will make your week even happier if you land yourself some free bets as well! Here is a guide to some of the best Cheltenham Free Bet Offers.

Boylesports – 2nd Place Refunds
Boylesports really jumped the gun with their Cheltenham Free Bet Offer and it is a great one. Punters can get a stake refund on all losing bets, if the horse they have backed comes in second in any of Day One’s First Four races. This is great coverage, especially as the much touted Cue Card opens proceedings in the Supreme Novices Hurdle. Also covered by this race is the big Stan James Champions Hurdle Challenge Trophy, featuring Menorah. The other two races sandwiched in between are the Arkle Challenge and the Spinal Research Handicap Chase. Great promotion, refunds for a second place finish.

Ladbrokes – Free £10 Bet!
A totally free £10 bet is on offer from Ladbrokes, but you will need to get in quickly. The sponsors of this week’s World Hurdle are opening their Cheltenham Free Bet Offers with this tremendous promotion. When you place a bet of £20 or more on the Supreme Novices Hurdle, which gets underway at 1.30pm on Tuesday, Ladbrokes will give you a completely FREE £10 bet to use on the final race of day one, which is the Centenary Novices Handicap Chase. This is an offer well worth taking advantage of, especially as Cue Card is expected to romp home first in the Supreme Novices Hurdle, so it could well be profit and a free bet! This is time sensitive with the first race getting underway today, so get in quick!

Bet365 – 4/1 or better Free Bets
You always expected Bet365 to come up with some Cheltenham Free Bet Offers and there you can indeed find free bets! What Bet365 offer their customers is a free bet if you land a winner at odds of 4/1 or greater in any race which is televised live on Channel 4, then the online bookmaker will give you a free bet. The value of that free bet will be to the same value as your original winning stake, and better still, if you win again with your Bet365 Free Bet at odds of 4/1 or greater, then you can get yourself yet another free bet, and so on. Brilliant promotion and with Imperial Commander floating around that mark for the Gold Cup, there is great value in this. Don’t forget the £200 welcome bonus offer from Bet365 either!

SportingBet – Faller Refunds
Popular online bookmaker Sportingbet are warming up for the Cheltenham Festival by offering Faller Refunds. Just place a bet on the day of any race, and you will get this insurance. Should the worst happen, then you will get your lost stake back as a free bet. SportingBet, sponsors of the World Hurdle are offering unlimited faller refunds on Day One’s big race, the Stan James Champion Hurdle. The no limit refunds will also apply to the Queen Mother Champions Chase, the World Hurdle and the Gold Cup. Nice coverage on the Cheltenham Festival.

More information:
Online Betting Offers

With the 2011 Cheltenham Festival ready to get underway, it is still worth looking at some Antepost betting at Cheltenham for the week. There is a wealth of top races to come, with the action starting on Tuesday with the Supreme Novices Hurdle, and the big race action culminating in the hype surrounding the Gold Cup. It is always worth planning ahead with your horse racing betting, as it is with any sports betting, as Ante post Cheltenham betting will still allow you to pick up some good value odds ahead of time. You can look forward to the Gold Cup on Friday at 3.20pm, and take early prices on Imperial Commander (7/2 at SportingBet) to go out and defend the crown which he won last year. The Gold Cup has been attracting Antepost Cheltenham betting even since the running of last year’s renewal, and with prices expected to shorten come the starting tape, the sooner you get in the better usually. Long Run (5/1 at Sportingbet) has been attracting a load of ante post Gold Cup betting over the recent months, with the youngster impressing so much at the King George, he has been backed so heavily as to pull him in to second favourite, ahead of Denman (7/1 at Sportingbet) and Kauto Star (13/2 at William Hill). The latter are still strong in the betting, as they draw the romantic Antepost Cheltenham betting for the Gold Cup, but both have to prove that they still have the legs to be Cheltenham Champions again, with age not on their side.

Still, ante post betting for Cheltenham can look ahead to the week, with the likes of the Gold Cup, the much anticipated running of the World Hurdle on Thursday, and the big day in the Queen Mother Champion Chase coming on Wednesday. With action packed cards for all four days of the Cheltenham Festival, earlier prices often pay off. With popular online bookmarks such as Bet365 offering Non Runner No Bet coverage, which means that if you take an early price and the horse you have backed does not make it to the starting line, you will get your stake back. Add to this the coverage which you can get with Best Guaranteed Odds at online bookmakers, it means that you don’t have to worry about taking an early market price with your Ante post Cheltenham betting, only to see the price lengthen come the start of the race. With the Best Odds Guarantee, bookmakers pay out on the bigger starting price, no matter what your ante post Cheltenham betting price was that you took. This is all great coverage form online bookmaking, and with the feast of stats and form available online with your bookmakers, and even micro sites dedicated to the 2011 Cheltenham Festival, your ante post betting really can pay dividends. The early bird catches the worm as the old saying goes, and with this festival anticipated as being one which will favour the punters, there is plenty of profit in the waiting for you.

Check out Bet365 for your ante post Cheltenham betting, because not only do the highly recommended online bookmaker offer Best Odds Guaranteed and the Non Runner No Bet coverage as well for your horse racing betting, they also provide something a little extra. If you back a winner at odds of  4/1 or greater in any race which is televised live on Channel 4, then Bet365 will give you a FREE BET to the value of your initial winning stake, to use on the next live Channel 4 race. The beauty of this promo, is that if you win again with your free bet at odds of 4/1 or greater, then you get another free bet and so on. This makes Bet365 one of the best places to head to for your ante post betting for Cheltenham, and with their welcome bonus offer of £200 for new customers opening an account, Bet365 have your Cheltenham betting well and truly covered. Remember, there’s nothing wrong with getting your Antepost Cheltenham 2012 betting odds done right after the big races have ran!

Great Manchester United v Arsenal football betting promotion over at Victor Chandler for this weekend’s big FA Cup match. Just place a bet on the Quarter Final tie at Old Trafford, and Victor Chandler will refund all losing stakes as a FREE Bet to use on Day One of the Cheltenham Festival. That is all round a pretty strong offer from one of the most popular online bookmakers around. This gives some great, and unique, coverage on your football betting for Manchester United v Arsenal. The Gunners are coming off the back of a bitter Champions League disappointment against Barcelona in the Nou Camp, and with their major malfunction in the Carling Cup final, their chances of picking up silverware have been cut in half this season. But Manchester United are no pushovers at Old Trafford, even though they have been looking more vulnerable recently, suffering three defeats in five league matches. Which of the big guns will prevail and push on to the semi finals. Whoever wins here will be favourites to lift the title. So get your FA Cup betting down at Victor Chandler on the big match, and your losing stake will be refunded as a free bet for the Cheltenham Festival. The big Festival of the Horse Racing calendar gets underway next week, and this great promotion can give you something to use there on day one. So bet with confidence at Victor Chandler, where you can also get £25 in free bets when you open a new account with them!

This promotion covers all bets on the match except Asian Handicaps, Draw No Bets or Live (In Running) and is for 90 minutes only.

Manchester United are 20/21 favourites to win the match at VC Bet, with Arsenal out at 3/1 and a draw priced at 13/5.

Many of us won’t need reminding that the highlight of the National Hunt season is taking place in March, with Cheltenham providing us with four days of high quality horse racing that represent one of the busiest periods of the UK betting calendar.

Starting on Tuesday 16th March and finishing on Friday 19th March, this four-day period will see the bookmakers really go to town with their free bet offerings. With so many people wanting to bet on the Cheltenham Festival these days, you will see many bookies increase their new customer bonus, while existing customers can also expect to see a few emails in their inbox which offer them a free matched bet.

It doesn’t matter if you’re not the world’s biggest horse racing enthusiast as the bookmakers don’t always specifically require you to place qualifying or free bets on a particular market. Therefore, if you’re predominantly someone who bets on soccer, tennis or cricket, then you can often simply take advantage of the firms wanting to appeal to the many potential customers who will be betting on some or all of the twenty-six races that are being run at Cheltenham.

It’s particularly worth keeping your eyes peeled for what William Hill, Ladbrokes and Coral are prepared to offer new and existing customers. The ‘Big Three’ in terms of UK high street presence aren’t renowned for being overly generous with their free bet offering, although horse racing is a hugely important sport for these firms and we might expect to see them double their current £25 free bet offers or even quadruple them. Therefore, this might be the perfect time to open an account with these bookmakers if you haven’t already done so.

As far as betting on the Cheltenham Festival is concerned, the races are very competitive and it’s hard work to make a profit. If you are looking to place some horse racing wagers and increase your balance, you need to be disciplined and only pick a handful of races in which to place a bet. There are many ‘bankers’ that get tipped ahead of the Festival, although previous years have shown us that very few of these good things actually finish first in their race!

The highlight event of the week is the Gold Cup, which takes place on Friday 19th March. There’s the exciting prospect of Kauto Star and Denman going head-to-head once again, with Paddy Power offering a best price 11/8 that the former wins this race for the third time, although it was Denman who won the event in 2008. Ladbrokes offer 9/4 that no other runner lives with the high cruising speed of the Paul Nicholls horse.

Dunguib runs in the first race of the Festival and will be heavily backed to get the punters off to a flyer. Paddy Power and Coral both offer 5/6 that there plenty of hats thrown into the air as the horse passes the post in first place, and this appears to be one of the few occasions where an odds-on favourite merits the price.

Paddy’s Cheltenham Column – Day 4 (Friday 13th March) – Gold Cup

It’s fair to say we got absolutely gelded over the first two days at Cheltenham with punters making hay whilst the sun shined. But it’s all to play for in the final day today as yesterday was definitely one for the bookies. Perhaps like me the punters were being distracted by all the fine fillies on display for Ladies Day.

Leading with the biggest race of all – the Gold Cup – it’s going to be "hats orf" to Her Majesty if The Queen’s horse Barbers Shop comes home. In fact we’re seeing so much money for Nicky Henderson’s charge that a win for Barbers Shop could well decide whether it’s the punters or the bookies that finish on top at this year’s Festival.

Such is the fervour for Barbers Shop he’s already come in from 16/1 to 12/1 and I’ve no doubt the plunge will increase on him today. There’s certainly great potential in the horse and what a story it would be for Her Majesty to win the Gold Cup. However if Barbers Shop doesn’t win today, and the race may well be a year too early for him, then unless he puts in a stinker of a performance I’d say get on Barbers for the Gold Cup 2010 as soon as today’s race is over!

Our other big loser in the race is the wonderful Kauto Star. You’ve got to love Kauto, and plenty of you out there are on him, but no horse has ever reclaimed the Gold Cup. I’d love to see him do it but it’s a mighty big ask. And nobody is fancying Denman to defend his title this time round, not even his trainer, so you can put a line through the big tank for this year.

For believers in the fates of Friday 13th, horse number 13 Neptune Collonges could well prove lucky for you and should go close but if he’s 5/1 I don’t understand how Exotic Dancer can be 9/1.  Exotic would surely have beaten him or at least been very close when Neptune fell in the Lexus. I also quite like the look of Alberta’s Run if the ground continues to come for him and wouldn’t put you off having a few each way quid on him.

Elsewhere the Triumph Hurdle looks to be an interesting race and I’ve been hearing good things from Nicky Henderson and David Pipe about Master Of Arts. You don’t get a much better pair of judges than that so who am I to disagree?

I’ve also got my eyes on the favourite in the Vincent O’Brien, Dave’s Dream. Not just because we’re paying five places in the race but owner Nicky Henderson is looking to scoop 75 grand off me as a bonus for Dave’s Dream winning last week’s Paddy Power Imperial Cup at Sandown and again here at Cheltenham. Nicky, you’ll find me taking respite in the Guinness Village if your boy comes home!

Does the bank manager, in the traditional sense of the term, still exist? I’m asking because, in these days of direct debits and internet banking, I rarely go into my high street branch nowadays. If he does, and I have one, I would just like to apologise in advance for extending my overdraft this week without his permission but ask him to understand that the Cheltenham Festival only comes around once a year and, thank goodness, only lasts four days. After a promising start, I’m afraid my fortunes have nose-dived in the same manner as a cormorant might drop in on a sardine so forgive me if I appear to be chasing my money here. However, there’s nothing fishy over Aachen‘s chances in the Vincent O’Brien County Hurdle, the second race on the card on the final day of The Festival. A prolific winner on the Flat for Andre Fabre in France, the five-year-old has made a successful transition to hurdles, with his six-length defeat of Big Eared Fran at Taunton working out particularly well. The runner-up won a Grade 3 handicap at Sandown on Saturday and is the 5-1 favourite for the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle (William Hill and Victor Chandler) later in the afternoon. That will be off a mark of 133 so the less-exposed Aachen‘s introductory rating of 142 appears by no means harsh and I’ll be attempting to get out of trouble with either totesport or Paddy Power, who are both going 9-1 about the Rainbow Quest gelding whose trainer Venetia Williams landed a big-price handicap double on day three. The Gold Cup is, of course, the feature on the final day and I’m sticking with the sentiments outlined last week that Exotic Dancer (still available at 10-1) could be the value in the race against Paul Nicholls‘ trio of classy chasers. Cape Tribulation (a general 7-2) should also be the one to beat in the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle. Let’s hope some of my bank manager’s money is still in my pocket by the time that comes around!

A further four Irish winners at Cheltenham today has made a bad situation worse for the bookmakers.  Top Irish bookie Paddy Power claims to have been "absolutely gelded" by the run of results at Cheltenham today.

Punters had to pinch themselves to make sure they were not dreaming as several Festival hotpots romped home at the Prestbury Park today including the Willie Mullins Irish favourite Cooldine and outright Festival banker, Master Minded.

Paddy Power said "Suffice to say Willie Mullins is off our Christmas card list. This afternoon Cooldine finished off what Quevega started yesterday.  We’ve been well and truly gelded by the Carlow man. Punters 2, bookies 0!"

CHELTENHAM 3 DAY SPECIALS

Paying 5 Places in;

·         Pertemps Final (2.05pm)

·         Festival Plate Handicap Chase (4pm) 

·         Kim Muir Handicap Chase (4.40pm)

ANTEPOST BETTING

Thursday – Ladbrokes World Hurdle

11-10 Kasbah Bliss; 7-2 Punchestowns; 13-2 Big Buck’s ; 12 Fair Along;  25 Mobaasher; 25 Blazing Bailey, Powerstation, 33 Mighty Man; Tazbar; 40 Bar

¼ odds 1, 2, 3

Friday – Totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup

15-8 Kauto Star; 5 Neptune Collonges; 6 Denman; 9 Madison Du Berlais, Exotic Dancer; 12 Barbers Shop; 16 Albertas Run; 20 Air Force One; 25 Star De Mohaison; 50 Bar ¼ odds 1, 2, 3

Bet at  Paddy Power

The overturn of Binocular by stablemate Punjabi in the Champion Hurdle wasn’t anticipated in this column but maybe we can forgive AP McCoy, who must have expended most of his energy in getting our 7-1 advice Wichita Lineman home in the William Hill Trophy Handicap Chase 40 minutes earlier. With 20-1 tip Nenuphar Collonges also grabbing a place, it turned out to be a profitable race for us and added to Arkle Trophy winner Forpadydeplasterer (highlighted at 10-1) made a successful first day. Of course, there’s still plenty of time for the layers to regain ground but let’s hope it’s not via Diamond Harry in the Ballymore Properties Novices’ Hurdle. Nick Williams thinks the world of his unbeaten 6-year-old and, though he didn’t impress everyone with the manner of his latest victory here in January, that was on very heavy ground. I believe Diamond Harry is simply the best horse in this race and will be backing him again at what is a very generous 9-2 with bet365 and Victor Chandler. The RSA Chase is a difficult puzzle to solve – will Cooldine (9-2 with Coral) prove as effective over this longer trip, or has Ruby Walsh made a mistake in getting off the proven 11-2 shot What A Friend? For what it’s worth I’d be prepared to take both on with Killyglen. Howard Johnson doesn’t enter his horses at The Festival unless he thinks they’ve got a realistic chance of going home with some prize money and I’ve been taken with this son of Presenting in his two wins over the larger obstacles. This is always a gruelling test for novices but Killyglen has plenty in his favour and boylesports and Paddy Power‘s 14-1 is mighty tempting. Day two’s final advice is for a little each-way interest on Balzaccio in the Fred Winter Juvenile Novices’ Handicap Hurdle. An eye-catching 20-1 with boylesports, given the strength of his team it’s interesting that Alan King rates his 4-year-old as the best-handicapped horse he has entered at Cheltenham this week. Reported to have come on in leaps and bounds after a short break, Balzaccio could just have a little more scope than better-fancied rivals.

One unbelievably lucky Paddy Power punter will be raising a toast to the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival after her €6 each-way bet returned a staggering €131,120.  The Cork punter predicted the first four winners in the opening quartet of races at this year’s Cheltenham Festival.

Her bet got off to a winning start when Irish raider Go Native easily beat the hot favourite Cousin Vinny in the Supreme Novice Hurdle at odds of 12/1.  Forpadydeplasterer duly obliged in the second race at odds of 9/1.

Champion jockey A.P. McCoy came to the rescue in the third just getting up to win the William Hill Handicap Chase on Wichita Lineman at odds of 6/1.  And in a nail biting climax to the wager complete outsider Punjabi just held off the red-hot favourite Binocular in the Champion Hurdle at odds of 25/1 triggering the €131,120 for the shrewd Cork lady.

Paddy Power said "Getting one winner at the Festival is good going but getting the opening four in a row is the stuff of legend.  I’m backing whatever she is tomorrow!"

The burning question then, on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival - will the rest of the Champion Hurdle line-up need field glasses to see which way Binocular went? Bookmakers certainly think so with the Nicky Henderson-trained five-year-old a best 15-8 with Victor Chandler and Paddy Power to go one better than he did in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at last year’s Festival. Binocular hasn’t looked back since then, scoring at Aintree on his final start of last season and recording two wins this winter, being particularly impressive on his latest start at Ascot when trouncing Celestial Halo (again), defending champion Katchit and Crack Away Jack. They only cloud on the horizon (or should that be clouds?) as far as I’m concerned is the forecast for heavy rain on Monday night, which might blunt some of Binocular‘s famed acceleration. But he is undoubtedly the one to beat and my advice would be if you don’t want to back him at relatively restrictive odds, just enjoy the race as a spectacle. Cousin Vinny will be another short-priced favourite in the opening Supreme Novices’ Hurdle but this could be a market leader worth opposing. The subject of a real gamble in the last few weeks, last year’s Festival Bumper is now on the drift following reports that he hasn’t travelled well over from Ireland. Put that alongside the relative inexperience of his big-race pilot and the fact that he’ll have to step up significantly on what he’s achieved so far over timber to win this and you can figure out why a general 3-1 makes little appeal. Instead, how about a little interest in stablemate Kempes? A very smart performer on the flat, he is improving fast over hurdles and goes on any ground – Coral‘s 12-1 is just too big for an unexposed Willie Mullins‘ novice. I mentioned overnight rain earlier and a deluge would certainly enhance the prospects of Nenuphar Collonges in the William Hill Trophy Handicap Chase. Currently priced up at a general 20-1, layers seem to have ignored how well the eight-year-old has run in defeat in a couple of high-class staying handicaps since scoring under a big weight on his reappearance at Bangor. A winner over hurdles at last year’s Festival. Alan King‘s charge has stamina in abundance and, along with Jonjo O’Neill‘s potentially well-handicapped novice Wichita Lineman (7-1 with Sportingbet and Paddy Power) is arguably the pick of the weights in this. No round up of day one would be complete without mentioning the Arkle Challenge Trophy and, as we gave a good word for Calgary Bay (now a widely-availabe 6-1) last week, let me also pass on a whisper for Thomas Cooper‘s Forpadydeplasterer. Chasing was always going to be his game and, though narrrowly beaten on his last three starts, his sound jumping will be a big plus in what is sure to be a strongly-run race, as his ability to stay further. At a general 10-1, he looks a solid each-way investment.