The Cheltenham Festival is the highlight of the National Hunt jumps season — four days of elite racing that draws enormous betting interest across dozens of races. With ante-post markets opening months ahead and fresh bets forming every day of the meeting, it’s a betting event unlike any other. This guide explains how Festival betting works, without ever telling you which horse to back.

What the Cheltenham Festival Is

The Cheltenham Festival is a four-day National Hunt meeting held each March, featuring a packed card of championship races and competitive handicaps over hurdles and fences. It’s regarded as the pinnacle of jumps racing, drawing the best horses, trainers and jockeys from Britain and Ireland. Because so many high-quality races run across four days, the Festival generates a huge range of betting markets — from individual races to festival-wide specials.

Cheltenham offers far more than single-race win bets. Common markets include:

  • Win — a straight bet on a horse to win its race.
  • Each-way — splitting your stake between winning and placing, hugely popular in big handicap fields.
  • Ante-post — betting weeks or months ahead, often at bigger prices but with more risk.
  • Festival-wide specials — markets like top trainer, top jockey, or number of favourites to win across the meeting.
  • Without the favourite — betting on the field excluding the market leader.

For the fundamentals behind these, our horse racing betting guide is a good starting point.

Understanding Each-Way, Ante-Post and Place Terms

Two concepts define Festival betting. First, each-way: this is two bets in one — half your stake on the win, half on a place (a top-few finish). If you stake £5 each-way, you stake £10 total. The place part pays at a fraction of the win odds if your horse finishes in the paid positions. Place terms — how many places pay and at what fraction — vary by race and field size, and Cheltenham’s big handicaps often pay extra places.

Second, ante-post: betting well in advance of a race. The appeal is bigger odds; the catch is that if your horse becomes a non-runner, you usually lose your stake — unlike a bet placed on the day. Some bookmakers offer non-runner-no-bet terms as the Festival approaches, which reduce that risk. Comparing these terms across our reviews and best betting sites is worthwhile.

How the Format and Going Affect Betting

The Festival’s structure shapes betting in several ways. Multiple races per day across four days means constant new markets and the temptation to bet every race — which spreads your money thin. Championship races bring small, elite fields where favourites are often short, while big handicaps bring large fields where each-way and extra places come into play.

The going — the state of the ground, from heavy to good — is a genuine factor at Cheltenham, as different horses handle different conditions. Ground can change across the four days with weather. This is context that experienced followers weigh up, but it’s never a prediction, and it never guarantees an outcome.

Common Mistakes

  • Betting every race. Four days and dozens of races make over-betting easy — and expensive.
  • Chasing ante-post value without reading the terms. Non-runners can cost you your stake.
  • Ignoring place terms. They differ race to race and change your potential return.
  • Backing favourites blindly. Strong fields mean even short-priced horses lose regularly.
  • Sticking to one bookmaker. Prices and place terms vary; compare them.

We Don’t Tip

Our honest promise: we’ll explain how to bet the Cheltenham Festival, but we will never tell you which horse to back. We don’t sell tips, we don’t predict winners, and we don’t take payment to rank a bookmaker higher. Jumps racing is unpredictable by nature, and across four days of elite competition, anyone claiming certainty is selling confidence they can’t back up.

Enjoy the Festival for the spectacle it is. Set a budget before it starts, keep your stakes sensible, and don’t let a full card of races pull you into betting more than you meant to. If you want help staying in control, our responsible gambling page is there for you.

18+. Gambling involves real financial risk. If it stops being fun, take a break — play responsibly.