The excitement is building by the day as the 2023 Cheltenham Festival is now very much on the horizon – the tape goes up on the first race at 1:30pm on Tuesday 14th March.
However, if you are new to horse racing betting and not totally sure how to bet on Cheltenham – don’t worry. As here at SportsLens we’re here to help with the perfect 2023 Cheltenham Festival betting guide for beginners.
Best Cheltenham Sign Up Offers
What Date Is The 2023 Cheltenham Festival?
📅Date: Tues – Fri (14th-17th March 2023)
🏇Racecourse: Cheltenham
📺 TV: ITV / Racing TV
📅 Race Times: First Race 1:30pm | Last Race 5:30pm
See the full 2023 Cheltenham Festival running order, race times and schedule.
How to Bet on Cheltenham 2023: Select a Cheltenham Betting Site
To get going, you just need an online bookmaker in your corner.
One is enough to start with as these will allow you to place your 2023 Cheltenham Festival bets. You can see a list of the best one below and all their free bets on offer.
However, once you get to grips with opening up an account, then having a few bookmaker accounts will certainly help to get the best Cheltenham odds and offers.
These bookmakers will also be falling over themselves for your business, so most will reward you with a free bet and on-going existing customer offers just for signing up.
To help, we’ve compiled a list of the best Cheltenham betting sites and offers below – plus, we’ll give you the top tips on how to bet on the Cheltenham races.
How to sign up to a Cheltenham Festival Betting Site
- Select your favoured bookmaker from the list above, click on the link and head to the join tab
- Enter a few simple personal details (all secured safely) and create a unique username and password.
- Deposit your desired amount via many different payment options – and you are good to go!
What Are the Best 2023 Cheltenham Festival Betting Sign-up Offers and Free Bets?
All the Cheltenham bookmakers featured on this page (at the bottom) will have horse racing odds and some nice free bets to claim. Including these ones, we’ve hand-picked below.
- Xtremewin: New bookmaker with horse racing supported and £30 free bet, plus BOG
- PixieBet: Bet £10 and Get £30 free bet with this new horse racing bookie
- BetUK: Trusted patriotic bookmaker with a £30 free bet and existing customer offers
- Rhinobet: £20 Free Cheltenham Festival bet with best odds guaranteed prices
- Boylesports: Top Irish bookmaker with £20 free bet, BOG and free bets on 2nd’s to SP Fav
How to Bet on Cheltenham 2023
With the Cheltenham Festival the biggest horse racing event on the globe, most bookmakers will make it simple for you to navigate their dedicated Cheltenham Festival sections.
Most will have it already showcased on their homepages – making it super-easy for you to put find all the 2023 Cheltenham Festival races.
There are 28 Cheltenham races across four days (7 on each day), so many bookmakers will have the four races sectioned together (Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four) – you can see a full running order of the Cheltenham races below.
Once you’ve found a Cheltenham race to bet on, just click on the race name and you’ll be taken to a page with that specific race. This will then show the runners (horse names), jockeys, trainers, form and race info (time, trip, name etc).
And, most importantly, the Cheltenham betting odds against each horse, like in the image above. While you can see how to add a horse to a bet slip and place an actual bet in more detail below.
Popular Cheltenham Betting Markets – The Main Horse Racing Bets Explained
There are many ways to bet on horse racing. Of course, the most popular is to just pick a horse and bet on it to win – this is called a ‘single’. However, once you get more familiar with horse racing betting, there are many other ways to enjoy placing a bet at the Cheltenham Festival.
Let’s explain a few other possible bets.
Single:
Bet on a horse to win a race – it’s as simple as that.
Each-way bet:
Another popular bet that consists of two bets – a win bet and a place bet. You stake will, therefore, be doubled so a £5 each-way bet will cost you £10. You will then have £5 on the horse to win (the same as a single bet) and £5 on the horse to be placed. Being placed means the horse will need to finish in the first 2,3 or 4 places – depending on the number of runners and type of race.
Accumulator bet:
This bet allows you to bet on 2 or more horses in different races at Cheltenham. This is a multiple bet that will see winnings from bet carried over to the next selection – and so on. The more horses you put in an accumulator the more you’ll need to win. If one horse loses on a ‘win accumulator’, then the bet has lost. Winnings can quickly multiple and if you are looking for a big win at Cheltenham (for smaller stakes) this is the bet for you.
Trixie bet:
A Trixie is made with three selections and is four bets, which are three doubles and one treble. The bet must have two or more winners to have a return. A £1 Trixie bet will cost £4 (to cover the four bets).
Yankee bet:
Like a Trixie, but with 4 selections. A Yankee is made up of 11 bets on four horses in different races. The 11 bets are made up of six doubles, four trebles and one four-fold accumulator. A £1 Yankee bet will cost £11.
Lucky 15 bet:
A Lucky 15 like a Yankee but has 4 singles included. It consists of the 11 Yankee bets, but 4 more singles – so you only need one winner to get a return. The more winners from your four picks (in different) races mean higher returns. A £1 Lucky 15 bet will cost £15.
Placepot bet:
Bet on a horse (or horses) to be placed in the first six races of each day at the Cheltenham Festival. Being placed will mean the horse has to finish 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th in a race – and this depends on how many runners and the type of race. You will need a horse to place in all of the first six races to get a share of the dividend.
Cheltenham Betting Odds – How Do They Work and What Can You Win?
The horse racing odds are no different than if you were betting on football or another sport. If you are new to betting odds, then can often seem daunting, so let’s explain a few.
- 10/1 betting odds, means if you bet £1 you will win £10 (plus your £1 stake)
- Evs betting odds, means if you bet £1 you will win £1 (plus your £1 stake)
If gets more complicated with odds like 10/3, 6/4 or 10/11 – but you can use our betting calculator here to help.
Finding the Dedicated Cheltenham Betting Page
What’s great about the Cheltenham Festival is that it’s a massive event. Therefore, most bookmaker sites will make it very easy to show you how to bet on the Cheltenham races.
Many will also have dedicated Cheltenham Festival sections or micro sites – with all the Cheltenham races in one place, plus big race previews and expert tips from leading professionals to help you along the way.
These bookmakers will have a separate ‘Cheltenham Festival’ tab in the top or side navigation bars – if not, then simply head over to their ‘horse racing’ section in the nav menus – find these and click away!
How to place a bet on Cheltenham races
Here’s how to add a horse (bet) to your betslip
- Click on the odds next to the horse you want to bet on (odds will be shown in either decimal of fractions)
- This will then add this horse (and the current price) to what’s called a ‘betslip’
- Betslips are normally pop-up that will appear to the right side of the betting page (see below)
- In the below example, we’ve click on the horse called ‘HONEYSUCKLE’ which created that selection in a betslip and have entered a stake of £10 in the box next to the horse name. You will also see the odds of 7/4 under the horse name, plus potential winnings calculated for you (£27.50)
- Once you are happy with your selection (horse) and stake – just click the ‘Place Bets’ button – this will then give you a confirmation message to say your bet has been placed. While, you can also check all outstanding bets placed in your personal account section.
How to Collect your Winnings After Placing a Bet on Cheltenham
Then, after the race has run – if you’re a lucky punter and have backed a winner (or two), then getting hold of your winnings could not be any easier.
Gone are the days of having to hot-foot back down to the high street bookie and queue up to collect your winnings.
Online winnings are calculated for you and then added to your bookmaker account balance – plus, you can also head over to your ‘account page’ for a full breakdown of bets, winnings, deposits and much more – meaning you can keep on top of all your Cheltenham bets in one place.
Even better, is that winnings are generally added back to your account automatically within 5-10 mins of the race finishing (but this can vary slightly between bookies)
What About Withdrawing Your Cheltenham winnings?
Again, this is extremely easy with an online bookmaker.
Head over to your dedicated account section (normally found at the top right of the site) and there will be a ‘banking section’ here.
Click here and you’ll have options to withdraw your cash straight back to the payment method you used to deposit in the first place.
The time that money will take to hit your actual bank account can vary between bookmakers, but I will always be shown next to the withdrawal method.
What Are the Main Cheltenham Festival Races?
There are 28 Cheltenham Festival races over the four day (7 on each), but each day there is one Championship contest.
The Champion Hurdle (Tues), Champion Chase (Weds), Stayers’ Hurdle (Thurs) and Gold Cup (Fri) are the four big races, while the Ryanair Chase (Thurs) also carries championship status.
These five races are often the most bet on Cheltenham races over the Festival and the ones that carry the most prize money.
Which 2023 Cheltenham Races Are Live on ITV Racing?
The ITV Racing team will be at the 2023 Cheltenham Festival and will be on hand to show the first five races each day LIVE.
These races will all be shown on their main ITV channel, except for Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle on Wednesday – which will be on ITV4.
2023 Cheltenham Festival Race Schedule and Times
Tuesday, March 14th: Cheltenham Day One: Champion Day
- 1.30: Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle ITV1
- 2.10: Sporting Life Arkle Challenge Trophy Novices’ Chase ITV1
- 2.50: Ultima Handicap Chase ITV1
- 3.30: Unibet Champion Hurdle Challenge Trophy ITV1
- 4.10: Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle ITV1
- 4.50: Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle RTV
- 5.30: NH Challenge Cup Novices’ Chase RTV
Wednesday, March 15th: Cheltenham Day Two: Ladies Day
- 1.30: Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle ITV4
- 2.10: Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase ITV1
- 2.50: Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle ITV1
- 3.30: Queen Mother Champion Chase ITV1
- 4.10: Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase ITV1
- 4.50: Grand Annual Handicap Chase RTV
- 5.30: Champion Bumper RTV
Thursday – Thursday, March 16th: Cheltenham Day Three: St Patrick’s Day
- 1.30: Turners Novices’ Chase ITV1
- 2.10: Pertemps Network Final Handicap Hurdle ITV1
- 2.50: Ryanair Chase ITV1
- 3.30: Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle ITV1
- 4.10: Plate Handicap Chase ITV1
- 4.50: Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle RTV
- 5.30: Kim Muir Challenge Cup RTV
Friday, March 17th: Cheltenham Day Four: Gold Cup Day
- 1.30: JCB Triumph Hurdle ITV1
- 2.10: McCoy Contractors County Handicap Hurdle ITV1
- 2.50: Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle ITV1
- 3.30: Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup Chase ITV1
- 4.10: St. James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Chase ITV1
- 4.50: Mares’ Chase RTV
- 5.30: Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle RTV
How To Watch the Final Two 2023 Cheltenham Festival Races Each Day For FREE
You can also watch ANY 2023 Cheltenham Festival race – including the last two non-ITV races – by signing-up with our featured bookmakers below.
Not only are there some lovely Cheltenham Festival betting offers to claim, but after placing a bet on a horse race you can then stream it LIVE via their sites or mobile apps.
- BetUK: £30 free bet and existing customer offers & LIVE horse racing streaming
- Rhinobet: £20 Free Cheltenham Festival bet, best odds guaranteed prices and LIVE Cheltenham Festival streaming
- Boylesports: Leading Irish bookmaker with £20 free bet, free bets on 2nd’s to SP Fav & LIVE streaming
- LiveScorebet: Best odds guaranteed, £20 free horse racing bet and Watch LIVE 2023 Cheltenham
- Tote: Bet £5 to get a £20 Tote Credit for the Cheltenham Festival. Watch Cheltenham races LIVE
- BetGoodwin: 50% back on any 1st day losses (to £25), existing customers racing offers & LIVE horse racing streaming
- SpreadEx: Bet £10 to get a £30 free Cheltenham bet. Watch the 2023 Cheltenham Festival races
- Virgin Bet: £20 Free bet, best odds guaranteed prices, money back horse racing specials & LIVE streaming
- QuinnBet: 50% back on 1st day losses (to £35), BOG prices and money back specials & Cheltenham LIVE streaming
Ts&C’s apply to all bookmakers featured on this page
What Are the Best Horses To Bet On At Cheltenham 2023?
Many horse racing fans will have their own ideas on the best horses to bet on at Cheltenham – however, here are a few pointers.
The 2023 Cheltenham Festival banker is likely to be Constitution Hill, who run in the Champion Hurdle on the opening day. This Nicky Henderson horse is unbeaten and many feel it will be a huge shock if he loses. If he wins at Cheltenham odds of 4/11 or shorter will also become the lowest-priced Champion Hurdle winner – ever!
Trainer Willie Mullins is a good stable to follow too. The Irish yards won 10 of the 28 races at the 2022 Cheltenham Festival and will have runners in most events. You can see his best chances here. However, you can see the Cheltenham races the Irish DON’T do that well in here.
The Gordon Elliott and Nicky Henderson yards are others to respect and it will be a shock if they are not on the scoresheet too. The Irish-trained horses have done a lot better in general over the last 3-4 Cheltenham Festivals too. They are fully expected to dominate again.
You can also follow the best 2023 Cheltenham Festival tipsters over the four days – we’ve listed the very best pundits and horse racing tips here, including ex-jockey Ruby Walsh.
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