Cheltenham Festival Special Bets Preview

With the festival just a few weeks away it’s getting really interesting as bookmakers continue to unveil new markets and some exciting special offers to make one of the biggest four days of punting anywhere in the world even more enticing. There have been some very big declarations made as the last big day of festival preps unfolded on February 22nd. It’s worth examining some of the betting markets and some of the ante post offerings to see who’s going to give the best value. 

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Ruby Walsh is, unsurprisingly, likely to be the top selection for the festival jockey title as winningest jockey. Walsh is a very slim 1.5 to finish at the top of the jockey’s table and he has every chance in doing so if he doesn’t pick up any injuries and sees some of his key mounts run to their main ability. 

The closest contender to Walsh’s claims is Barry Geraghty who can be backed at a 4.5 price tag while Tony McCoy is the only other single digit contender with a 9.0 listing being floated by most major bookmakers. 

The top trainer table seems to be pretty much just as sorted out with Willy Mullins - who boasts Walsh as his stable jock - is trading at a very short 1.4 to win more Cheltenham races than any other trainer. Nicky Henderson and Paul Nicholls look likely to give him the most challenge and both of them are trading at margins of around 5.0. 

They appear to be the only actual plausible challengers at all as the odds then take a considerable jump to 34.0 for David Pipe, while Nigel Twiston Davies and Jonjo O’Neill can be backed at 51.0.

Ladbrokes have unveiled a very interesting wager for the 2014 Champion Hurdle and that’s Willy Mullins to have his runners finish 1-2-3 in the race at a hefty payout of 101.0. You just have to ask yourself whether that would actually pay out bigger on the tote for the tricast if it actually came in.