Cheltenham Festival 2019 - What's in store this year?

Cheltenham is nearly upon us, and there’s so much excitement surrounding the festival this year and the Gold Cup in particular.

The Bulmers Gold Cup is the centrepiece of the four day Festival which begins on Tuesday 12th March with the big race taking place on the Friday. Paul Nicholls whose horses are flying this season has recently confirmed that his talented chaser Frodon will take part in the Gold Cup. A horse like Frodon sums up the appeal of Cheltenham. He has won 12 races but never at Grade 1 level or over a distance as far as the Gold Cup. Will the Cotswold Chase victor stay the trip? Will his rider Bryony Frost become the first lady to win the race? We’ll find out soon, and that’s what’s so great about the festival, there are so many twists, turns and surprises. It’s why it’s arguably the best horse racing festival in the world!

It’s worth noting here that Frodon is priced anywhere between 14/1 and 20/1 depending on who you choose to bet with to take the 2019 Bulmers Gold Cup honours if you fancy a flutter.

Before we get too excited about March’s showpiece, a lot has happened at previous festivals, which leads us nicely on

The History — What’s Happened in Past Years?

The early years until around 1911 were pretty uneventful, but Frederick Cathcart, a highly respected racecourse official, established Cheltenham as the HQ of National Hunt racing thereafter. Fast forward just over 100 years and the Festival is now generating over £50m for local businesses in the area each year.

In 2005, we enjoyed the very first four-day Festival with six races taking place on each day. On Tuesday you have the Arkle Novices Chase and the Champion Hurdle. Wednesday’s feature race is the Queen Mother Champion chase, whereas Thursday’s highlight is the Stayer’s Hurdle, followed by the big one on Friday, the Gold Cup.

Kauto Star, who can forget him. He became the first ever horse to regain the Gold Cup back in 2009. What a horse. The favourite for the Gold Cup this year is currently Presenting Percy, who’s available at around 3/1. Native River, Clan Des Obeaux and Kemboy are the others currently available in single digits. It’s 10/1 bar.

Each and every year, attendances at the Festival continue to rise, with numbers comfortably surpassing the 200,000 mark over the week. When you add that to the amount of people watching on TV and listening on the radio, it’s, without doubt, one of the most highly anticipated sporting spectacles of the year.

As the Festival continues to grow, so too does interest and horse involvement from across the globe. It’s a lot more common these days to see runners from Europe, German and France in particular, but can you guess which nation arguably creates the best atmosphere? The Irish.

Arkle, Dawn Run, Istabraq and more recently Faugheen, Quevega and Annie Power are just some of the equine star names that spring to mind when thinking of Irish legends of the Cheltenham Festival.

This year we can look forward to seeing more star names lining up over the four days including Altior, Buveur D’air, Apple’s Jade and Tiger Roll.

JP McManus is an Irish racehorse owner, owned both Istabraq and Buveur D’air, who loves having a few bob on his horses at Cheltenham and has pulled off many memorable gambles at the meeting dating back to Mister Donovan in the Sun Alliance Hurdle in 1982. If you also like having a flutter on Cheltenham you may like the next section -

Which Bookies Have the Best Cheltenham Offers?

We’re not here to tell you to choose one bookie over another at this year’s Festival. All bookies are unique, many offer free bet promotions throughout the festival, and it’s pretty hard to pick one over the other. At the end of the day, it’s your choice, and it might simply come down to who has the better user interface for mobile betting in your opinion.

All of the leading bookmakers are listed here at top Cheltenham betting sites and some will no doubt have an offer for you to snap up, so why not check them out? Responsibly, of course. You can have more than one account which may be something to consider as not only can you avail of more than one signing up bonus but it allows you to grab the best odds on offer for a particular horse.

One thing that is worth considering, though, is whether they go Best Odds Guaranteed (BOG) at Cheltenham this year. In all honesty, why back a horse at 4/1 with one bookie when another bookie has it priced up at the same 4/1 and is BOG? If the horse drifts in the betting before the off of the race you get the higher price if your bookmaker is BOG. It’s a no brainer really, so bear that in mind when choosing who to bet with.

We know if you’re reading this article that you’ve probably already got 12-15 March planned out and maybe even booked some time off work. Cheltenham never disappoints with thrills, spills and wonderful stories over all four days and 28 races, so bet wisely, seek out the best offers but most importantly enjoy every minute of it.