Cheltenham Festival – Are You Ready For The Off?

Tweet Special report from EquiSpace:

Have you noticed yet? Spring is in the air, the lambs are frolicking in the fields, the daffodils are in bloom and as any horseracing fan knows, the arrival of the brighter weather means that a landmark event in the National Hunt calendar across the pond is almost upon us. The four day Cheltenham Festival begins on the 16th of March and the 26 eagerly anticipated races are sure to provide a thrills and excitement bonanza not just for the eager crowds of race goers at the Gloucestershire racecourse but also for betting fans around the country.

The Festival always generates a great deal of excitement and this year promises to be no different. Much of the talk has been about whether Ruby Walsh will outdo his exploits of last year when he won seven races over the four days of the Festival. Many will remember his guiding Kauto Star to victory in the Totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup as the highlight of last year’s Festival. Walsh will again be riding the same winning horse this year. Everyone is keen to see if Walsh will once again be the top jockey at Cheltenham. Certainly the online betting sites think that he can repeat the feat with odds of 1/2 being offered that he will again end the Festival with more winners than anyone else.

The Kildare man has now ridden 24 winners at the Festival and he is still only 31! In fact the odds must be that he will smash the all-time record for Festival wins that is currently held by the legendary Pat Taaffe. At present he is only one win behind Taaffe and it looks certain that he will become the top Festival jockey before the Festival draws to a close. He still has things to aim for though – he came very close to winning all four of the Championship races last year, just missing out in the Champion Hurdle when Punjabi won.

How will Walsh do in the Big Four this year? Here is a quick roundup:

Firstly, the Champion Hurdle on Tuesday pits Celestial Halo up against some really tough opposition in the shape of the strongly fancied, Go Native. If he can come up trumps in this race he will be off to a flying start.

On Wednesday, he will be riding Master Minded in the twelve fence Queen Mothers Champion Chase. He is an odds on favourite to win this race - it seems to be his for the taking with Kalahari King posing the only significant threat.

Thursday will see the Irishman bidding to win the three mile World Hurdle on Big Bucks. He won last year and is being strongly tipped to do the same thing this year. Could we see close rival Tidal Bay cause an upset?

Then there is Friday. Of all the races that Walsh will be participating in the one that is attracting the most attention is, of course, the Totesport Gold Cup. Run on the final day of the Festival each year, this race is viewed by many horse racing betting fans as the one of the most prestigious in the world.

The major threat to Kauto Star will be Denman who won the race in 2008. Both the horses are trained by Paul Nicholls, so there will be a huge amount of interest in who will win this clash of the titans. Kauto Star is the odds-on favorite with some online betting sites offering 4/1 on Denman.

It is the partnership of Somerset-based trainer Paul Nicholls and Walsh that has dominated the Festival scene in recent years. In total, Nicholls has 25 Cheltenham winners and horses that he has trained have won the Gold Cup in 2007, 2008 and 2009. The 2010 Festival could prove to be an even more successful one for Ruby Walsh and Paul Nicholls. Possibly expect some new records to be set by this dynamic duo!

Jump to it mate...

Tweet With the Cheltenham Festival taking place next week in Gloucestershire in the UK, I thought I’d take a break from the Derby trail to take a look at the phenomenon that takes place annually over a four day period across the pond. An interesting twist to the Festival this year is that the newly appointed track announcer at Churchill Downs, Mark Johnson, who will call his first Kentucky Derby this May, will be calling the Festival’s 26 races. After the Festival, he will stay abroad to call “the inaugural $150,000 Kentucky Derby Challenge Stakes at Kempton Park Racecourse on March 18th. The winner of the 1 1/8-mile clockwise race over Polytrack will earn a guaranteed spot in the starting gate for Kentucky Derby 135 and a $100,000 bonus should the winner start in the May 2 race.” OK, so I couldn’t get away from the Derby altogether when composing this post!

The Festival races take place starting next Tuesday the 10th and carry through Friday the 13th (feeling lucky?) culminating with the feature race, the Cheltenham Gold Cup Steeple Chase, the fourth race on day four of the meeting. Of course, if you are looking to wager on the Festival’s excellent betting races, the best place to look for the current odds and wagering opportunities is at Betfair. Betfair, is the organization that signed an agreement to purchase TVG for $50 million in January. This organization will definitely factor into a changing betting landscape over the next few years.

The steeplechase has a special part in my racing heart, as the first race I ever attended at Saratoga Race Course was a steeplechase in 2004. The Saratoga Resident explained racing and betting to me that day and I’ve been forever hooked (see junky). I still enjoy the steeplechase races at the Spa, and someday I hope to attend my first Cheltenham Festival, after checking out all of the blogs and stories surrounding next week’s races.

One of the best parts that the Festival offers is great betting opportunities. Only 22% of the favorites have won since 2003, during the Festival races, as Betfair blogger Wayne Bailey points out here. So grab a pint, check out the Festival, bet a few races and enjoy!