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The 2023 Cheltenham Festival will be held in just weeks. This year’s meeting promises to be another big week for bookmakers, especially Gold Cup Day at Prestbury park.
This week is special because of its uniqueness and the potential for a great renewal of the Festival.
28 Races – 14 Grade Ones – 4 Championship contests
The Cheltenham Festival has 28 races. Cheltenham online betting is already available. This includes the opening contest, the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, where Facile Vega is 5/2 favorite to win.
On Friday, the Cheltenham Gold Cup will be held. bettors on Gold Cup Antepost will find the Willie Mullins-trained Galopin Des Champs at 6/4. After his success at Dublin Racing Festival, the Irish Gold Cup winner is bidding for an impressive double in 3m2 1/2f.
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Each jockey, trainer, and owner will want to win at least one race during the four-day Cheltenham Festival. They can pick any of the Championship races, which include the Champion Hurdle (Queen Mother Champion Chase), Stayers’ Hurdle, and Cheltenham Gold Cup. Rachel Blackmore, who was riding A+ Tard, won the latter last year.
Paddy Power will offer Non Runner Money back in all 28 races of the meeting. This means that if your horse doesn’t line up in a race, your stake will be returned.
Competitive Handicaps
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The four major races are the most popular, but there are many handicaps available that can be used by bookmakers. These races have produced some notable winners in recent years. Chambard won The Kim Muir Challenge Cup Amateur Jumpers’ Handicap Chase in 2022 at 40/1. Jeff Kidder, however, won the Boodles Juvenile Hurdle at huge odds at 80/1 a year earlier.
Festival handicap races often have the highest number of entries. This ensures that they remain competitive and not like many leading novice races, where trainers have many options for their horses.
Bookmakers also offer extra place terms in certain handicap races as an incentive. Paddy Power is offering five places in the Ultima Handicap Chase, as opposed to the four you get in 16-runner handicap fields.
Terrestrial Coverage
ITV Racing will be covering the majority of the 28 races at this year’s Cheltenham Festival. They will broadcast the first five races every day. They will also broadcast a daily episode on ‘The Opening Show’ every morning, which previews the action for that day.
Racing TV will also be broadcasting the meeting this year. They will show all 28 races, even those that are not on ITV Racing.
The 2023 Cheltenham Festival begins on March 14th and ends on March 17. This year, more than 250,000 people are expected to visit the racecourse over four days.
