Cheltenham Racecourse is located in Prestbury Park, in the breathtaking UK county of Gloucestershire. The Cheltenham Racecourse plays host to some of the greatest jump racing in the United Kingdom and is considered one of the most renowned National Hunt locations in the world.
The Cheltenham event always provides an overabundance of quality, from the moment the Showcase Meeting starts in October until the last racing day in April. This includes a plethora of graded contests taking place throughout the season. You will also be surprised to learn that there’s 14 different events at the highest level during the renowned festival in March, which is widely known as The Greatest Show on Turf.
If you ever get the opportunity to visit Cheltenham Racecourse, you will notice that the venue comes equipped with two different tracks: the New Course and the Old Course. Both of them are left-handed and provide a grueling test of stamina and endurance for any runner that participates at Cheltenham.
The New Course comes with a complicated downhill fence and offers a longer run-in when it comes to steeplechases compared with the Old Course. Furthermore, hurdle races with a distance of more than 2 miles on the New Course come with a slight singularity where most of the hurdles are placed during the early stages of the race, leaving only two hurdles to conquer in the final 7 furlongs.
The Cheltenham Festival is without a doubt the crown jewel when it comes to the National Hunt season. Horse racing fans will experience four days of championship racing, making it a betting enthusiast and a racing lover’s dream. Now that you know a bit more about the Cheltenham Festival, let’s take a look at the racing lineup for the 2020 Cheltenham Festival over the four days of racing action.
The biggest and most anticipated race in the Cheltenham Festival is the Gold Cup. This racing event has the power to make the career of the jockey and the horse who manage to win it.
The purse for the Gold Cup is the UK’s second richest event, with only the Grand National leading the way in terms of money paid to winning participants. During 2019, participants raced for a staggering £625,000 in the Gold Cup event, and the winner managed to take home a whopping £351,000.
Post Position | Horse | Jockey | Morning Line Odds |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Al Boum Photo | Paul Townend | 16–1 |
2 | Anibale Fly | Barry Geraghty | 16–1 |
3 | Bellshill | Ruby Walsh | 10–1 |
4 | Bristol De Mai | Daryl Jacob | 22–1 |
5 | Clan Des Obeaux | Harry Cobden | 4–1 |
6 | Definitely Red | Danny Cook | 40–1 |
7 | Double Shuffle | Jonathan Burke | 100–1 |
8 | Elegant Escape | Tom O'Brien | 20–1 |
9 | Invitation Only | Patrick Mullins | 25–1 |
10 | Kemboy | David Mullins | 10–1 |
11 | Might Bite | Nico de Boinville | 12–1 |
12 | Native River | Richard Johnson | 7–2 |
13 | Presenting Percy | Davy Russell | 7–2 |
14 | Thistlecrack | Tom Scudamore | 14–1 |
15 | Yala Enki | Charlie Deutsch | 100–1 |
16 | Shattered Love | Jack Kennedy | 33–1 |
The Gold Cup is definitely not the only racing event worth watching, nor is it the only racing event that provides a large sum of prize money. Every day of the Cheltenham Festival will feature one marquee racing event that will attract some of the best trainers, jockeys and horses in the world.
During the first day of the festival, you will see some of the best Grade 1 horses make their way to the gates in the Unibet Champion Hurdle, which provides a payout of £425,000.
During the second day of the festival, all eyes will be on the Queen Mother Champion Chase with a purse of £400,000. During the third day of the festival, most of the horse betting action will take place on the Ryanair Chase, where the purse is an attractive £350,000.
Now that you know which races are the most popular from the four-day festival, let’s take a look at the 2020 Cheltenham odds. That way, you will be able to calculate your potential returns and the likelihood of your favorite horse winning the race.
The 2020 Cheltenham post positions have not been released yet. However, once the post positions have been released to the public, we will update this section accordingly.
There’s millions of people across the globe who enjoy placing a wide range of bets on the Cheltenham Festival every year. However, you will be shocked to learn that most of these would-be bettors don’t have a clue on how to read the odds that are displayed next to each horse. Some simply go on luck, while others will place a bet because the jockey’s colors are bright and inviting.
Every single person who places a bet on the Cheltenham Festival needs to know that short odds specify the favorite to win the race, while long odds specify the outsiders that are less-likely to win the race.
Placing a wager on an outsider is extremely risky, but it does yield a far bigger payout if you get lucky and your selected horse wins the race. Most people don’t know how to read or understand odds in horse racing, let alone work out the profit margin and the chances of the horse actually winning the race. Thankfully, we compiled a comprehensive guide to help you understand horse racing odds that will allow you to determine your potential winnings and the chances of a horse winning a race.
Betting odds in horse racing can be displayed in two ways, depending on where you are in the world. If you are situated in the United Kingdom, you will be familiar with fractional odds, while other regions across the globe are more inclined to use decimal odds. Due to the fact that the Cheltenham Festival is hosted in the United Kingdom, we will use fractional odds to explain how you can calculate your potential profits with the odds displayed next to each horse. With fractional odds, you will notice two numbers that are separated by a forward slash, like 9/2, 100/1, 15/8, etc.
When the odds indicate X/1, you will find that it’s quite easy to calculate your potential returns and the likelihood of a certain horse winning the race. It’s also worth mentioning that your initial bet is not included when you use fractional odds, so always add your initial bet at the end of your equation to get the full return value on your bet. For instance, let’s say you make a $10 wager on a horse with odds of 3/1. To calculate your potential return, you will need to use the following equation: 3 + 1 = 4, followed by 4 x $10 = $40. Please note that you will need a different equation when the second number after the forward slash is higher than 1. For instance, let’s say you decide to place a $10 bet on a horse with odds of 13/8. The equation to calculate your potential return is as follows: 13 + 8 = 21 / 8 = 2.625 x $10 = $26.25.
If you wish to calculate the probability of a horse winning a race, you will once again require a different equation. When the odds are X/Y you can use the following equation: X + Y = Z, after which Y / Z x 100 will give you the probability. For instance, let’s say you want to calculate the probability of a horse winning the race at odds of 7/2. You will need to add 7 + 2, giving you 9. You can then divide 2 by 9, which comes to 0.222. Multiply this number by 100, giving you 22. This tells you that the horse has a 22% chance of winning the race.
Each-way betting in horse racing allows you to place a selection of bets on a single betting slip where your selected horse can either place or win for you to make a profit. You will essentially make two equal wagers on the same horse. Half of your bet will be allocated to a win bet, while the other half will be allocated to the place bet.
Let’s say you make a $10 each-way bet on the favorite. This will essentially cost you $20 as you need to allocate $10 to the place bet and an additional $10 to the win bet. Should your selected horse win, you will profit from both bets. However, if your selected horse only manages to place, you will lose $10 of your bet. Once you have a better grasp on how odds work and how to calculate your potential return and chances of winning, you will have a far better experience when the Cheltenham Festival rolls into town.
Online sports betting sites need to set the odds for each of the participating horses in a racing event. To achieve this, odds makers look at an array of aspects surrounding the horse to determine the likelihood of that horse winning the race. Some of these aspects include the age and sex of the horse, the history of the horse’s upbringing, the trainer who trained the horse, the jockey who will be aboard on the day, how the horse handles certain conditions and so on.
Once all these factors have been considered, odd makers will provide the betting odds for each horse, which online sports betting sites will then upload onto the website so bettors can start placing bets.
The Cheltenham Festival usually occurs in March each year. However, that doesn’t stop eager bettors from making a variety of futures bets long before the time. Most online sports betting sites will provide early odds on the event months before it starts.
Professional bettors will usually jump at the opportunity to place futures as it provides better odds and more returns if they make the correct prediction. If you are interested in futures for the 2020 Cheltenham Festival, make sure to shop at a wide range of online sports betting sites before you place your wagers.