Looking Ahead To The Cheltenham Festival

With less than three weeks to go until the Cheltenham Festival, it’s that time of the year where we need to look at how we’re going to tackle the big event. Some will have their ante-post selections already in the bag, some will have an idea of what they’re going to be backing and some will wait for the first day, before parting with their hard earned. Whatever camp you fall into, it’s important to make sure you’ve got a separate pot of funds to cover the major showpiece.

I always say this around the festivals, make sure you’re betting with a separate betting bank. Whereas with our day to day betting, we need to be looking for value, at the festivals, we need to be looking for the winners. It’s a very small window of opportunity to profit when we have only 30 or so races to tackle.

So, what do we need to do?

First up, decide how much you’re prepared to lose. Then, look through the cards and decide what races you’ll be betting on. Finally, take your separate bank and divide it by the number of races you’ll be betting on.

Here’s what my plans look like –

Tuesday – 

Supreme Novices

Arkle Challenge Novices

Champion Hurdle

Mares Hurdle

Wednesday – 

Coral Cup

Queen Mother

Glenfarcles

Thursday – 

JLT Novices’ Chase

Pertemps

Ryanair Chase

Fulke Kim Muir Challange

Friday – 

JCB Triumph Hurdle

Albert Bartlett

Gold Cup

Martin Pipe

Grand Annual

So, that’s 16 races in total. I feel that I can find an angle in all of those races.

Let’s say that I have £1,000 set aside for the festival. I simply divide these races into my bank, which gives me just over £60 per race, to try and make a profit.

I will now spend the next few weeks, going through the form, analysing trends, stats and data. Working through all of those, I will look at backing, forecasts, placepots, laying and some multiples. All, in the hope that I will come through the other side, victorious!

Next week, I will be looking at some of the key trends for some of the races I will be betting in and let’s see if we can find some early angles before we head into the glory that is the Cheltenham Festival!