The Cheltenham Festival is one of the highlights of the British horse racing calendar. In this guide to the best Cheltenham betting offers, we’ll show you where you can get free bets, the best odds, extra each-way places and a whole lot more. We’ll even give you some betting tips to help you get the most from the various available offers.
Bet £10, Get £40
Bet £10, Get £40
Bet £10, Get £30 in Free Bets
Bet £10, Get £30 in Free Bets
Bet £20 and Get it Back if it Loses
Bet £20 and Get it Back if it Loses
Bet £10 Get £50 in Bonuses
Bet £10 Get £50 in Bonuses
Bet £10, Get £20 In Free Bets
Bet £10, Get £20 In Free Bets
Bet £10 Get £30 Free Bet
Bet £10 Get £30 Free Bet
Bet £10 Get £20 in Free Bets
Bet £10 Get £20 in Free Bets
Bet £10 Get £20 In Free Bets
Bet £10 Get £20 In Free Bets
£35 Free Bet + 10 Free Spins
£35 Free Bet + 10 Free Spins
Bet £10 Get £30 in Free Football Bet Builders
Bet £10 Get £30 in Free Football Bet Builders
Bet £5, Get £20 in Free Bets
Bet £5, Get £20 in Free Bets
Bet £10 Get £40 In Free Bets
Bet £10 Get £40 In Free Bets
50% of First Day Losses Back As a Free Bet Up To £25
50% of First Day Losses Back As a Free Bet Up To £25
Get 50% Of Your Money Back As A Free Bet If Your Horse Finishes 2nd In Any Live ITV Race
Get 50% Of Your Money Back As A Free Bet If Your Horse Finishes 2nd In Any Live ITV Race
Bet £10 Get £50 Free Bet
Bet £10 Get £50 Free Bet
Every horse racing betting site worth its salt will pull out all the stops for the Cheltenham Festival. That means you can expect to find Cheltenham betting offers and promotions galore. Here are some of the most popular deals around at the time of writing. As you’ll see, there’s something for everyone.
With free bets Cheltenham fans can enjoy a wager or two at the festival without risking a penny of their own cash. Bookmakers like to make free bet offers to attract new customers and to encourage existing customers to participate in Cheltenham races betting. To qualify for these offers, you will normally need to make a bet using your own cash first. You’ll then receive one or more free bets for Cheltenham or whatever else you want to bet on.
New customer offers are available all year round. For example, right now at Spreadex, you can get a bundle of free bets worth £40 when you sign up and make a £10 fixed odds bet at minimum odds of 1/2. Free bets are valid for 28 days, so take advantage of this offer a few weeks before the start of the festival and you’ll be sorted.
Another welcome offer that you’ll see being made by many bookmakers will let you place your first bet risk-free. If your bet loses, your stake will be refunded, up to a certain maximum, in the form of a free bet. Make your first bet at the festival and you effectively get a Cheltenham no-lose bet.
As we said a few moments ago, other bookmakers will give you one or more free bets when you sign up as a new customer and make a qualifying first bet of your own. Since you can’t lose money when using these free bets, you can view them as Cheltenham no-lose bets even when they aren’t advertised as such.
You can expect to see plenty of Cheltenham new customer offers during the festival. But you don’t have to wait until the festival has started. LiveScore Bet is currently offering £20 in free bets when you open an account and bet £10 at odds of 1/2 or bigger. The free bets here are only valid for 7 days and must be settled within 14 days of your account being opened, so bear that in mind if you want to use them as Cheltenham no-lose bets.
One of the most famous horse racing offers is Best Odds Guaranteed, or BOG for short. This really comes into its own during the Cheltenham festival. It allows you to bet with a bookmaker early in the day and take the odds that are available at the time. Then, if your horse wins and the SP is bigger, your bet is settled at the larger odds. You therefore get the best Cheltenham race odds regardless of whether they drift or contract.
For example, Paddy Power gives Best Odds Guaranteed on all bets placed after 8 am on the day of the race. This only applies to singles and multiples on win or each-way markets, but being able to bet early without missing out on a bigger price can be worth its weight in gold at Cheltenham.
This is one of the most popular Cheltenham Festival offers out there. As the name suggests, it applies to each-way bets only, and it will increase the number of places in a race that will give you a return.
A ‘standard’ extra place offer will normally pay out for just one extra place. Some bookmakers, however, go above and beyond. For example, Betfred have been known to offer a hefty five places with this deal in place, instead of the regular four. Ahead of the 2024 festival, they are offering ante post betting odds with extra places on over half a dozen of the scheduled races.
The popularity of this promo among Cheltenham betting sites has grown significantly in recent years. Now, it’s pretty much commonplace. Non-Runner No Bet (NRNB) terms mean you are guaranteed a run for your money. If you back a horse to win a particular race, and it doesn’t even run (usually through injury), the bookmaker will refund your entire stake. No questions asked.
This offer might not help you make money, but it can certainly help you to avoid losing it. BetUK is a great option here because it provides Non-Runner No Bet protection on all of its Ante Post betting markets for Cheltenham.
A money-back special is a deal that will give you your money back if you bet on a certain race and it loses. There is always a maximum value to the bet that you can place under this offer, and the free bet must be used within a certain period of time. You can expect to see several of these Cheltenham bet offers being made available, but they are normally advertised on the day of the race itself, so keep your eyes peeled.
Virgin Bet has this offer available throughout the year on horse racing, so you should certainly find it there for the Cheltenham Festival.
Most major bookmakers will offer Cheltenham ante post betting markets. These allow you to bet on races days, weeks, or even months before they happen. The main advantage of this is that you’ll typically get better prices compared to the Cheltenham betting odds offered right before a race. The major drawback, of course, is the risk involved. Betting on a particular horse months in advance might feel like a good idea at the time, but you could feel a lot different by the time the festival comes around. And the horse mightn’t even end up running.
If betting on Cheltenham races ante-post tickles your fancy, we’d recommend using the Betfair sportsbook. They open their markets nice and early, and a Non-Runner Money Back offer in each means that you won’t lose out if any of your selections fail to participate.
Betting on several races in an accumulator can lead to big wins. Just ask Darren Yates, who bet on Frankie Dettori to win all seven races at Ascot in 1996. But it’s far more common for an accumulator bet to fail due to one or more runners losing. Acca Insurance is one of our favourite bookies Cheltenham offers that will give you your stake money back – in the form of free bets – if just one leg of your accumulator lets you down.
Each bookmaker that makes this offer will set their own terms and conditions. Your acca bet will normally need a minimum number of legs and/or minimum combined odds to qualify. There will also be a cap on the value of the refund. But if you like the idea of placing an acca at Cheltenham and getting your money back if one horse loses, this is the offer for you.
The bigger the odds you get when you strike a bet, the more you’ll win if your bet succeeds. During the Cheltenham Festival, many bookmakers will have Price Boost offers running. These will give you bigger odds than you would normally expect in certain races, which makes betting on them even more appealing.
You’ll be spoiled for choice when it comes to bookies offering Price Boosts. More than a few of them will even offer to boost the odds on Cheltenham acca payouts or give you a free bet when your acca wins. QuinnBet is a great example, so be sure to check out the offers there.
These offers usually require you to make a qualifying bet on the first race of the day. You will then get Cheltenham free bets for the remaining races so that you can bet ‘through the card’. The free Cheltenham bets that you receive won’t be worth a fortune, but they will certainly keep you interested in the racing until the day’s meeting is over.
You’ll have to wait and see which bookmakers decide to make a Bet Through the Card offer for this year’s festival. That said, BetGoodwin is always good for horse racing promotions, so be sure to visit them to check out their best Cheltenham bet offers.
Betting odds are already available for most if not all of the races scheduled to take place at this year’s Cheltenham Festival. If you already know what you want to bet on, you can help yourself to an early price in the Cheltenham antepost markets. And if you bet in a market that states Non-Runner No Bet, you’ll get your stake back in the disappointing event that your horse doesn’t run.
The most famous race at the festival – and one of the most popular among bettors – is the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Odds for this race have been available in ante post markets for months, so you can bet right now if you want to. Here are how the Cheltenham Gold Cup odds currently stand at Spreadex:
Cheltenham Gold Cup Odds at Spreadex – Non-Runner Money Back | |
Runner | Odds |
Galopin Des Champs | 5/6 |
Fastorslow | 4/1 |
Shishkin | 7/1 |
Gerri Colombe | 9/1 |
L’homme Presse | 12/1 |
Corach Rambler | 14/1 |
Bravemansgame | 14/1 |
Hewick | 14/1 |
Gentlemansgame | 16/1 |
Monkfish | 20/1 |
The Real Whacker | 25/1 |
Nassalam | 33/1 |
Jungle Boogie | 40/1 |
Conflated | 50/1 |
Ahoy Senor | 50/1 |
Protektorat | 66/1 |
All prices quoted correct as of 11:00 GMT, 21/02/24
As mentioned, while there are some more exotic markets out there, the bulk of your Cheltenham betting should revolve around tried-and-tested bet types. Let’s look at each of the four main ones in turn.
This is the most straightforward horse racing wager there is. Quite simply, you’re betting on which horse is going to win a given race. That sounds simple in theory. In reality, though, it’s anything but.
For the very first race of the Cheltenham Festival each year, the Supreme Novices Hurdle (which features the famous ‘Cheltenham Roar’), up to 22 horses can take part. With that many competitors, your chances of picking a winner are pretty slim. That’s why even the highest-rated horses will typically only have odds of 6/1 or 7/1, and these can grow to a massive 150/1 for the biggest underdogs.
In large and highly competitive fields – like the many handicap hurdles and chases at Cheltenham – each way bets are the most sensible wagers you can place. Each ways actually consist of two individual bets.
The first is the ‘win’ part, which works the same as a regular race winner bet. The second is called the ‘place’. This means that – if your horse doesn’t win but finishes within a certain range – you’ll still get paid. The return will usually be small, with place odds usually being 1/4 or 1/5 of the outright win, but it’s better than making a loss.
As in other sports, multiple bets on Cheltenham are high-risk, high-reward wagers. You’ll usually take them here by placing race winner bets on a succession of different races.
Trying to predict the winner of each race across a single day, with a small stake, is one popular route to take with Cheltenham free bets and betting in general. Given the sheer number of runners involved, however, do be aware that your chances of winning these wagers are smaller than just finding one winner.
We’ve generally focused on sportsbooks here, but there is an alternative. Betting exchanges are peer-to-peer, and allow you to back a horse you like to win or lay one you don’t fancy to lose, as long as someone is willing to match your bet. The drawback to this extra freedom is that you’ll pay a commission on your winnings to the exchange.
Betfair is the most famous betting exchange, and provides excellent coverage of the Festival. They also charge relatively high commissions, however, and there are several impressive competitors out there. They also run some of the best Cheltenham offers for both the Exchange and Sportsbook in the weeks leading up to the big meeting.
Most bets are obviously made on an individual basis. You place your own bets, then either keep the winnings or accept the losses.
Tote betting is a completely different way to gamble, and involves pool betting or parimutuel wagers. Punters combine their stakes together into one big pot for a particular market, then dividends are paid out on winning wagers based on how popular that horse was among the total money wagered.
If you’re looking for a fresh approach to your Cheltenham betting, this is an interesting – and potentially lucrative – route you can take. There’s a decent amount of variety in how you do so too. Simple winner bets are the most straightforward, of course, but you can also join pools for trifectas or a horse to place. There are also multi-race pools, such as Placepot bets and jackpots, which are even harder to win.
While a few different bookmakers offer pool betting, like William Hill and Unibet, the best one remains The Tote. It’s popular, covers plenty of bet types, and has a reasonable £2 minimum stake limit.
Cheltenham betting can be a whole lot of fun, assume you gamble responsibly. While there’s no guarantee you’ll turn a profit from it, there are certainly measures you can put in place to boost your chances. These are our five top Cheltenham tips for making money from your betting on the Festival.
Creating a staking plan is one of the biggest keys to betting responsibly, and you should definitely do it before Cheltenham kicks off. Begin by identifying an overall amount you’re comfortable betting, and – potentially – losing.
Then, try to create a staking plan. Work out roughly how many wagers you want to place, and allocate your stakes accordingly. Remember to drop those stakes for riskier bets, and ramp them up a little for safer picks.
As noted above, there are several different ways you can bet on Cheltenham and the Festival. Don’t limit yourself to just one. In addition to safer each way picks, for example, look to mix some more high-risk, high-reward wagers onto your betslip.
Whether it’s joining a Tote pool, or sticking down a multiples wager, hitting just one ambitious bet – even with a small stake – can transform your profits on Cheltenham betting like that.
As the first major event of the calendar year, the Cheltenham Festival receives a huge amount of attention from the experts. A huge number of betting tips are released in the weeks leading up to it, via social media and websites like the Racing Post.
The vast majority will be completely free, and you should gather as many as you can get your hands on to help inform your betting. Also, study the form of runners in any races you’re interested in – not just their recent races, but their past performances at Cheltenham too.
The Gold Cup is the most prestigious event at Cheltenham, and draws the most betting attention. It’s also used to highlight the best Cheltenham sign up offers. However, if you limit yourself to just wagering on this race, you’ll miss out on a variety of other excellent opportunities.
There are 27 other races taking place during the Festival. All of these will be covered by the experts, and all of them represent chances to make money.
There’s no rule that says you must stick to one account for your Cheltenham betting. As there are so many great new customer offers Cheltenham fans can take advantage of several of them. Naturally, check the full terms and conditions for stipulations on payment methods, minimum odds and so on before doing so.
This will also allow you to snatch up the best odds for a horse on any individual race, rather than being stuck with whatever your specific sportsbook is offering you.
The Cheltenham Festival is one of the three biggest horse racing events in the UK each year. Along with the Grand National and Royal Ascot, this prestigious and popular event is one of the pillars of the British racing calendar. While not quite as long-running as the Grand National or Royal Ascot, Cheltenham still has an impressive history. It dates back to the early 20th Century, although the National Hunt Chase goes even further back, and it has only been cancelled a handful times in over 120 years since.
One of the main reasons for its popularity is its timing. Cheltenham is always held in the middle of March, meaning spring is on the way in the UK and there is usually same jumping ground for all National Hunt racehorses.
The Cheltenham Festival runs for four days, starting on a Tuesday and ending the same week on the Friday with 28 different races held in that time. This includes 13 Grade 1 events for hurdles and steeplechasers of different ages, abilities and genders. There is also a Grade 1 National Hunt Flat race where no obstacles are jumped. This is called the Champion Bumper.
These not only draw the most attention from racing fans, but also the best Cheltenham free bet offers and action. While the likes of the Champion Hurdle and Queen Mother Champion Chase are important, the action culminates in the Cheltenham Gold Cup on the final day.
Whether you’re using Cheltenham Festival free bets or your own cash, you’ll need to know what you can bet on and when. Here, then, is how the 28 races are scheduled across the four days of the festival:
Day 1: Tuesday 12 March – Champion Day |
|
13:30 | Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle |
14:10 | Arkle Challenge Trophy |
14:50 | Ultima Handicap Steeple Chase |
15:30 | Unibet Champion Hurdle Challenge Trophy |
16:10 | Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle |
16:50 | Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle |
17:30 | National Hunt Steeple Chase Challenge Cup |
Day 2: Wednesday 13 March – Style Wednesday |
|
13:30 | Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle |
14:10 | Brown Advisory Novices’ Steeple Chase |
14:50 | Coral Cup Hurdle |
15:30 | Betway Queen Mother Champion Steeple Chase |
16:10 | Glenfarclas Cross Country Steeple Chase |
16:50 | Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Steeple Chase Challenge Cup |
17:30 | Weatherbys Champion Bumper |
Day 3: Thursday 14 March – St. Patrick’s Thursday |
|
13:30 | Turners Novices’ Chase |
14:10 | Pertemps Network Final |
14:50 | Ryanair Steeple Chase |
15:30 | Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle |
16:10 | TrustATrader Plate |
16:50 | Ryanair Mares Novices’ Hurdle |
17:30 | Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup |
Day 4: Friday 15 March – Gold Cup Day |
|
13:30 | JCB Triumph Hurdle |
14:10 | County Handicap Hurdle |
14:50 | Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle |
15:30 | Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup |
16:10 | St. James’s Palace Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Steeple Chase |
16:50 | Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Steeple Chase |
17:30 | Martin Pipe Conditional Jockey’s Handicap Hurdle |
Below, you can see a rundown of the winners of this all-important event over the past decade.
Year | Horse | Jockey | Trainer |
2023 | Galopin Des Champs | Paul Townend | Willie Mullins |
2022 | A Plus Tard | Rachael Blackmore | Henry De Bromhead |
2021 | Minella Indo | Jack Kennedy | Henry De Bromhead |
2020 | Al Boum Photo | Paul Townend | Willie Mullins |
2019 | Al Boum Photo | Paul Townend | Willie Mullins |
2018 | Native River | Richard Johnson | Colin Tizzard |
2017 | Sizing John | Robbie Power | Jessica Harrington |
2016 | Don Cossack | B.J. Cooper | Gordon Elliott |
2015 | Coneygree | Nico de Boinville | Mark Bradstock |
2014 | Lord Windermere | Davy Russell | Jim Culloty |
2013 | Bobs Worth | Barry Geraghty | Nicky Henderson |
2012 | Synchronised | A.P. McCoy | Jonjo O’Neill |
2011 | Long Run | Sam Waley-Cohen | Nicky Henderson |
There are many eyes keeping a close watch on Cheltenham live throughout not just the Festival but the entire season. Many trials for the big meeting are run in the autumn and winter with a good example being the Cleeve Hurdle for horses hoping to go to the Stayers Hurdle. All leading bookmakers now offer a Cheltenham live stream for those who place a qualifying Cheltenham bet on that particular race.
However, the very best let punters watch Cheltenham live for free. That way you don’t miss any of the Festival action. Many live-streaming bookies just require you to have a funded account, that is a positive bank balance, and you’re off to the races with the best seat in the house – your own.
Cheltenham betting offers are always a welcome prospect each March. If you’ve been lying low with your racing betting over the winter too since the busy Christmas and New Year period, this is the perfect time to come out of hibernation.
When practiced responsibly, few gambling experiences are more fun than Cheltenham betting. There are simply so many events to wager on – many of which are of the highest quality – with hundreds of different horses involved.
To give yourself the best chance of making money from Cheltenham free bets and offers, we’d highly recommend following the tips in this article. Be sure to use as many special offers as possible too, in order to both avoid losses, and maximise your profits on wins.
You have a lot of great options, but Spreadex, Betfred, Paddy Power, and BetUK are among the best of the best. If you prefer pool betting however, you can use a specialist like The Tote.
The first way is via welcome offers. You’ll usually need to place a qualifying bet, and will be given free bets in return - e.g. ‘Bet £10, Get £30’. The second is via ongoing promotions. BoyleSports, for example, gives you free bets in return for meeting wagering requirements in the buildup to Cheltenham.
Aside from free bet offers, there are plenty of other Cheltenham promotions available. Some reduce your chances of making a loss, such as Non Runner No Bet. Others help maximise your returns, like Extra Places, Best Odds Guaranteed, and certain welcome offers.
It works in the same way as pool betting. A group of punters pool their stakes together into one big fund, which is placed on a certain market. If that big bet wins, profits are divided between the tote’s backers.
ITV Racing and Racing TV each provide live coverage of Cheltenham, via both television and online streaming. Several bookmakers also provide live streaming of the event, including Betfred, Paddy Power, and Betfair.