The much-anticipated 2020 Cheltenham Festival is now less than two months away.
One of the most prestigious shindigs on the British horse racing calendar, the festival will commence on March 10 and go on for four days, offering fans 28 events with seven per day. Fans and punters could surely get their fill of action from the packed affair but, where the latter is concerned, there’s hardly a need to wait until race day to make bets.
All of the top sportsbooks are already offering odds on all of Cheltenham’s upcoming races while fans could also claim free bets and enhanced odds at https://www.freebets.co.uk/cheltenham-festival-free-bets/.
As mentioned above, there are 28 races inbound. We have picked a few of those to expand on so if you’re keen on odds, then you’re in luck.
The first one is the Ryanair Chase. The Grade 1 2m4f competition sees A Plus Tard ranked the overall current favorite but it’s understood that he could possibly drop back half a mile and compete in the Champion Chase the day prior. For now, the Henry De Bromhead-trained six-year-old is 5/1 to win the Ryanair Chase with Bet365. The bookmakers have Min as their own favorite at 4/1, however.
Defi Du Soleil is 7/2 with said bookies but is also tipped to run the Champion Chase, having dominated over two miles so far this season.
Paddy Power is offering odds of 8/1 and 10/1 on stablemates Footpad and Douvan although they aren’t touted to win this chase given their fragility. Notably, the pair still command respect thanks to their class and form in the festival.
Defi Du Soliel is favored for the Champion Chase at 7/2 with Ladbrokes, who have Altior at 10/3. Odds are still shortening on the latter although his trainer, Nicky Henderson, claimed he didn’t look himself recently.
“The trouble is he had to miss the other race [Desert Orchid Chase] due to an abscess on his wither,” Henderson explained, via Racing TV. “It was horrible and very nasty, and he was very tender on it. He was in a lot of discomfort and we had to give him some heavy-duty antibiotics to get rid of that, and everyone knows what antibiotics can do to you – they knock you down a little bit.”
William Hill has 3/1 going on the 10-year-old, though.
Meanwhile, Chacun Pour Soi is 4/1 with several bookmakers, including Marathon Bet, Coral, Boyle Sports and Unibet.
Betvictor has 4/1 set on Al Boum Photo for the Gold Cup, the last and biggest race taking place at the festival. The 2019 Gold Cup winner showed fantastic form to begin the new year, pulling off an impressive win in the Savills New Year’s Day Chase at Tramore. His stablemate, Kemboy, currently just in behind at 6/1, came fourth in the Savills Chase at Leopardstown ahead of the turn of the year following a lengthy absence due to an ownership issue. Unibet has 5/1 odds going on that front.
Lostintranslation, another horse considered to have a good shot at winning this race, is 7/1 with most of the bookies in the UK.
There are plenty of other races and horses to bet on, but odds on favorites are likely to shorten as the festival draws nearer. You could go ahead and lodge some early bets but, if you’d rather wait, that’s fine too.