Cheltenham Gold Cup Betting

Cheltenham Gold Cup betting is one activity that has predominantly proved a remarkably rewarding occupation for punters rather than the bookmakers in recent years. There is no excuse for not getting into the action if you enjoy the sight of the world’s best staying steeplechasers at speed.

The Gold Cup is the highlight of the Cheltenham Festival meeting that takes place in March each year at Prestbury Park. Prestbury Park, located a mile and a half north of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, is renowned for its immensely testing chase fences and unique undulations which include an uphill, stamina sapping finish.

The entire meeting is a magnet not just for horse racing enthusiasts but for sports gamblers from all walks of life. It was recently estimated that a sum in the region of £550 million is wagered during the course of the meeting and a good percentage of that will be accounted for by Cheltenham Gold Cup betting.

The Gold Cup is Cheltenham's ultimate test of a horse’s stamina, speed and jumping ability with twenty fences to be cleared. It is a Grade 1 chase run over a distance of nearly three and a half miles which is open to horses aged five years and over, offering a prize fund of approximately £500,000. It is the most valuable race of its kind in Britain. There are no weight penalties imposed for previous successes, just a seven pound allowance for mares and a one pound allowance for five year olds.

The substantial prize money and prestige associated with the meeting make it the equivalent of Mecca for jump racing enthusiasts across the globe.

It is not just Cheltenham Gold Cup betting that invokes pilgrimages from across the United Kingdom and an airline schedule changing invasion of the Irish. The Champion Hurdle betting is another major feature of the meeting.

The Festival is held over a four day period, from Wednesday to Saturday, in the middle of March each year. It provides a schedule of approximately 25 races that showcase the best National Hunt racing talent from across Britain and France. The Cheltenham Gold Cup is always run on the final day.

Reasons to get involved in Cheltenham Gold Cup betting

Cheltenham Gold Cup betting has consistently filled the pockets of punters with more frequency than the vast majority of lower rated, relatively long distance National Hunt races. Whilst the Cheltenham fences can always scupper the hopes of sketchy jumpers or otherwise gifted individuals inclined to make the odd mistake, talentless pretenders need not apply.

Unlike with Grand National betting, the Gold Cup is never going to be a cavalry charge that could result in a pile up caused by sheer volume of traffic that could take out the entire top half of the betting board. It has to be a genuinely talented horse to win and talent is unlikely to appear, utterly unprecedented, at Prestbury Park.

It is no surprise that the favourites in the Cheltenham Gold Cup betting predominantly prevail. Chasers capable of successfully negotiating the notorious Cheltenham obstacles and staying the particularly testing three mile, three furlong distance do not suddenly appear from nowhere to overcome more experienced, much higher rated rivals. There are generally no unknown quantities to deal with in a race like the Gold Cup.

The trainers lucky enough to have established, truly top class three mile plus chasers will usually structure a campaign to target their stable stars at the race. A standard preparation would usually include a three mile chase in November, perhaps the Grade 1 Champion Chase at Down Royal or the similarly classified Betfair Chase at Haydock towards the end of the month followed by the King George on Boxing Day.

Depending on the robustness of the horse and the avarice of its connections, there may be another race early in the year to use as an assessment of the individual horse’s chances to claim the Blue Riband of jump racing. There is even an unashamedly named Festival Trials Day at Cheltenham in late January which includes a Grade 2 three mile chase, enabling punters to assess participants' ability to cope with the exceptional challenges presented by Prestbury Park's chase course.

You will probably not see the very best chasers in action though, as the more cautious trainers may be averse to the risk of incurring a minor injury or prematurely depleting the reserves of their most precious charges in pursuit of comparatively minor spoils. Punters will consequently have a reasonable but not unmanageable amount of form to assess before making their Cheltenham Gold Cup betting decisions.

If the appeal of following rather short priced horses in the quest for Cheltenham betting returns does not excite you, there is always the prospect of a relatively long priced wager on a good horse in the ante post market. Ante post markets seem to be on offer not too long after the latest Gold Cup has been decided. Gold Cup betting is almost a year round activity for those prepared to think ahead.

Whilst there is always the risk that your selection may encounter a setback in the run-up to the Festival and may not ultimately appear in the Gold Cup line up, for some the attraction of demonstrably larger odds outweighs the risks.

Whatever strategy you choose to employ, Cheltenham Gold Cup betting is a must for punters looking to make some wonga from one of the world’s most prestigious horse races.