Cheltenham Odds

Cheltenham 2021 Festival Odds from Betfair™ Exchange & Sportsbook

Welcome to our Cheltenham Hub. Here, you will find all the latest Cheltenham Festival odds from the Betfair Exchange and Betfair Sportsbook, together in one place. The days of hunting down the best Cheltenham odds are over. You can view our regular fixed odds Sportsbook markets and the Exchanges side by side for the first time, so you have the complete picture of the prices of horses at your fingertips.

Besides up to date Cheltenham betting, there are Festival tips from all of Betfair’s expert tipsters. These can point you in the direction of value horse racing odds for the biggest meeting of the National Hunt calendar. With industry insiders like Tony Calvin producing regular tipping columns on the Festival, these are well worth a read. Shortlists for every race come from horse rating experts Timeform too. Our tipsters have great reputations and been picking out winners from Cheltenham races odds for many years.

There are also Cheltenham Festival betting offers for both new and existing customers housed in the Hub. With these, there is a range of promotions for every type of bettor. We know how important the Festival is, so our Cheltenham odds and offers reflect that. The Hub really has it all when it comes to the Festival.

Cheltenham Festival Ante-Post

Long before the Festival races declare, the Cheltenham ante post betting is already in full swing. There is a full range of markets on both the Betfair Sportsbook and Betfair Exchange to match. We understand how lively Cheltenham ante post betting odds can be as horses run in Festival trials across the British Isles - and you can track it all with the Hub. Head over to the Betting.Betfair blog, meanwhile, for the latest Cheltenham ante post tips as our experts reveal their Festival fancies.

Cheltenham Festival Betting

At Betfair, Cheltenham betting has always been at the heart of our horse racing coverage. After all, the Festival attracts the best National Hunt racehorses from the UK, Ireland, and beyond for four days of fabulous sporting drama and competition. Besides seeing all the Sportsbook and Exchange markets together in our Hub, there are Cheltenham races betting tips over on Betting.Betfair for all the action too. Discover which horses our expert tipsters fancy for the Festival this year.

2021 Cheltenham Festival

The Cheltenham Festival is the premier meeting for National Hunt horse racing anywhere in the world. Held over four days in March at Cheltenham Racecourse at Prestbury Park in the Cotswolds, the eyes of the sporting world are on the Gloucestershire track in early spring. Cheltenham race dates this year are a little later than the Cheltenham 2020 dates. The 2021 Festival starts on Tuesday, 16 March and ends on Friday, 18 March.

There are seven Cheltenham races per day at the meeting. These cover a variety of different distances and disciplines. Cheltenham horse racing events at the Festival include mainly hurdle races and steeplechases, but there is also a Cross Country event and a National Hunt Flat race, colloquially known as a bumper. You can see the Cheltenham schedule in full right here on our Hub.

Day 1 (Tuesday, 16 March) Races: Champion Day

The opening day of the Cheltenham Festival has four Grade 1 races headlined by the Champion Hurdle. Last year’s heroine Epatante and stable companion Buveur D’Air are past Champion Hurdle winners set to do battle in the feature race this time around. There should be a typically strong Irish challenge in the main event. That is reflected in both the Champion Hurdle odds and entries. Here is the full schedule for day 1:

Away from Champion Hurdle betting, the Festival kicks off with the Grade 1 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, accompanied by the famous Cheltenham roar. Supreme Novice Hurdle winners can go on to even bigger things. This is followed by another Grade 1, the Arkle Challenge Trophy for novice chasers. Arkle winners also often return to the Festival in future years for other races. There is also the Mares’ Hurdle later in the day 1 card, a couple of handicaps in the Ultima Handicap Chase and Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle, and the historic National Hunt Chase.

Day 2 (Wednesday, 17 March) Races: Ladies Day

Cheltenham Ladies Day is the second of the four days at this meeting. Again, there are four Grade 1 races on the card with the Queen Mother Champion Chase headlining the action. Altior and 2020 scorer Politologue, now both beloved veterans, are previous Queen Mother Champion Chase winners entered in the race once again this year. Check out the day 2 schedule below:

Ladies Day begins with the Grade 1 Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle, with the same course and distance used for the Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle later on. There is also the Festival Novices’ Chase, over an extended three miles, before the Champion Chase. The Cross Country course located in the middle of the track is also in use on this day with some Grand National hopefuls set to run over the unique obstacles. The historic Grand Annual Chase now takes place on this card and Cheltenham Ladies Day finishes with the Grade 1 Champion Bumper.

Day 3 (Thursday, 18 March) Races: St Patrick’s Day

St Patrick’s Day is the penultimate day of the Cheltenham Festival, where there is not one but two feature races. The Grade 1 Ryanair Chase and Stayers’ Hurdle sit joint-top of the bill on another big day of action. Ryanair Chase odds have been very competitive in recent years. There have also been some shocks and upsets with big-priced winners in the Stayers’ Hurdle odds of late. Paisley Park is out to regain his crown in that race this year. Here is the day 3 schedule in full:

There is another Grade 1 race that opens St Patrick’s Day at Cheltenham in the Marsh Novices’ Chase. The unbeaten and exciting Envoi Allen is set to run in that event this year. Supporting these are the Grade 2 Daylesford Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle and three handicaps; the Pertemps Final over hurdles, a Grade 3 chase, and an amateur riders’ event; the Kim Muir Challenge Cup.

Day 4 (Friday, 19 March) Races: Gold Cup Day

Last but not least at the Festival, is Cheltenham Gold Cup day. This card contains the blue riband event for steeplechasers. Al Boum Photo has won the race in each of the last two years, and his Cheltenham Gold Cup odds reflect that. Besides the feature contest, there are two other Grade 1s on the final day. They are the Triumph Hurdle for National Hunt juveniles and Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle. View the complete day 4 schedule below:

Away from the Grade 1s on Gold Cup day, there is the newest addition to the Cheltenham Festival in the Mares’ Chase. The County Hurdle and Martin Pipe for conditional jockeys, meanwhile, are big field handicaps with wide-open betting. Amateur jockeys also get in on the action thanks to the St James’s Place Challenge Cup Hunter Chase over the Gold Cup trip.

Cheltenham Gold Cup 2021

The Cheltenham Gold Cup is the highlight of the entire Festival. To be considered a great steeplechaser, racehorses have to win it. Many equine legends wrote their names into sporting history by becoming a Gold Cup winner. In 2020, Al Boum Photo became the first racehorse to make a successful defence since Best Mate, beating Santini by a neck. Just eight horses have won the Gold Cup more than once in its long and storied history.

Debate rages as to which Gold Cup winner is the greatest of all-time? You can argue Kauto Star regaining the crown from stable companion Denman in 2009 was the most remarkable feat. Best Mate, Cottage Rake, and Arkle all hit hat-tricks, defying the Gold Cup odds in the process. Golden Miller won the race five times consecutively in the 1930s. Whatever your view, the Gold Cup betting this year makes Al Boum Photo the favourite.

Cheltenham Festival Winners of the Last Years

The five tables below include recent Cheltenham Festival winners of the open championship races at the meeting. These are the Gold Cup, Stayers’ Hurdle, Ryanair Chase, Queen Mother Champion Chase, and Champion Hurdle:

Gold Cup winners

Stayers’ Hurdle winners

Ryanair Chase winners

Queen Mother Champion Chase winners

Champion Hurdle winners

At the 2020 Cheltenham Festival, Shishkin avoided trouble in-running to get up and win the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. Put The Kettle On became a rare mare to land the Arkle Challenge Trophy. Epatante justified favouritism in the Champion Hurdle and Honeysuckle extended her unbeaten run with victory in the Mares’ Hurdle.

Envoi Allen did likewise in the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle, while Champ surged up the Cheltenham hill for a remarkable Festival Novices’ Chase success. Poltiologue profited from high-profile absentees by capturing the Queen Mother Champion Chase, but Tiger Roll got turned over by Easysland in the Cross Country Chase.

Samcro just edged Melon out in a photo finish to the Marsh Novices’ Chase, with Min finally getting a Cheltenham win in the Ryanair Chase. Lisnagar Oscar led home three outsiders in a shock Stayers’ Hurdle result, while the Triumph Hurdle was all about Goshen’s final flight unseating of his rider. Burning Victory was the beneficiary of that. Monkfish took the Albert Bartlett and Al Boum Photo retained the Gold Cup.

Cheltenham’s Top Jockeys

Sadly, many who can lay claim to being Cheltenham top jockey are no longer active riders. Weighing room greats Ruby Walsh, Tony McCoy, and Barry Geraghty always used to turn on the style at the Festival, but have all retired from the saddle in recent years. With those riding legends gone but not forgotten, the torch is passed to others who would be Cheltenham top jockey.

Paul Townend, the successor to Walsh as the stable jockey to Willie Mullins, was the leading rider on countback at the Festival last year. The same tiebreak of most placed horses after winners was used to crown Nicky Henderson’s stable jockey Nico de Boinville in 2019. Davy Russell has also been Cheltenham top jockey in the past but faces a race against time to be fit for this year’s Festival after spending much of the season injured..

Cheltenham’s Top Trainers

The Irish have dominated Cheltenham top trainer honours for most of the last decade. After 2010, only Nicky Henderson has stopped this being a battle between Emerald Isle rivals Gordon Elliott and Willie Mullins. The latter is a heavy odds-on shot to be named top trainer at this year’s Festival.

Nicky Henderson is the Cheltenham top trainer among British handlers with 62. A record eight of those have come in the Champion Hurdle. Henderson also shares the record for most Queen Mother Champion Chase victories with Paul Nicholls, as both have six apiece. He is some way behind in total Festival winners, however, with 45 heading into 2021.