Cleeve Hurdle betting

Events / Editor / 20 October 2007 / Leave a Comment

This Grade 2 three-mile contest run at Cheltenham's late-January fixture attracts horses bidding to place themselves in the line-up for the World Hurdle at the Festival meeting and is often a hot betting contest. The outcome will have some bearing on the ante-post odds betting lists for the main event some six or seven weeks later.

Normally won by a classy performer, the race winner has however failed to prove a consistent indicator for the betting public as to where their bets should go, with no recent winner going on to Festival glory.

The 2007 renewal saw Blazing Bailey (returned at odds of 14/1) shock former champion stayer Inglis Drever, while odds-on Black Jack Ketchum flopped some way down the field. In the World Hurdle in March, Inglis Drever got his revenge and regained his title (Blazing Bailey only third), suggesting that it could pay to consider placed horses in the Cleeve Hurdle just as much as the winner when assessing your bets on the ante-post odds lists and from the betting on the day of the big race.