Cheltenham Festival Trends

Day One

Fully updated for the 2010 Cheltenham Festival

The Cheltenham Festival takes place in the middle of March and is undoubtedly the biggest race meeting of the National Hunt season.

Betting on the festival races can often been made a whole lot easier and more successful, by using cheltenham festival trends to narrow down the selection process.

I have tried to compile of record of the most profitable ones here and hope you find them useful come March.

Race by Race Trends

Supreme Novices Hurdle

This is the first race of the meeting and normally attracts a large field. Experience of similar conditions is often important and flat bred runners have a good record when the ground is on the fast side of good.

No real conclusive evidence on the price of the winner here but a big priced winner is more of a possibility than in some of the other races, with horses winning at 40/1, 20/1, 14/1 and 12/1 in the last ten years.

Irish trained horses are worth taking note of. 7 of the last 10 winners hailed from Ireland.

Horses aged either 5 or 6 have won 31 of the last 35 renewals.

9 of the last 10 winners of the Supreme Novices Hurdle had won their previous race.

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The Arkle

The Arkle tends to go to form so look for horses no shorter than 10/1. Only one winner had an sp of 10/1 or bigger in the last ten years but on the other hand, only one favourite has been successful in that period.

Field sizes tend to be smaller here but there is a strong emphasis on jumping due to the pace of the race.

Moscow Flyer in 2002 was the only horse aged over 7 to have won the Arkle since 1990.

French bred runners have won 7 of the last 15 renewals.

Horses that had finished 1st or 2nd in all completed chase starts make up 21 of the last 23 winners.

The William Hill Trophy Handicap Chase

The first big handicap of the meeting and always attracts a big field. Although Wichita Lineman won as the 5/1f last year, prior to that Antonin in 1994 was the first winning favourite since 1977.

The last 10 winners carried less than 11 stone.

Runners aged 11 or older should be avoided with not one placed from the last 29 that lined up.

Champion Hurdle

Multiple winners are not uncommon here. Istabraq won three years in a row in 1998, 1999 and 2000 and Hardy Eustace won the race in both 2004 and 2005.

Only one five year old has been victorious since 1985 (Katchit in 2008).

Runners that finished 1st or 2nd previously at the Cheltenham Festival make up 14 of the last 18 winners.

22 of the last 26 winners won last time out.

Cross Country Chase

The Cross Country Steeple Chase was only added to the card in 2005. The best advice here is to look for a runner with form over this extreme course.

The Irish have won all five races so far with horses that have been in the first two in the market.

Four of the five winners were trained by Edna Bolger.

David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle

A race that was added in 2008 and named in honour of National Hunt legend David Nicholson

Last year's renewal was won by the Willie Mullins trained Quevega at 2/1f and the 2008 event was won by Whiteoak at 20/1.

Check out our best Ante Post Cheltenham Festival Tips and get more Cheltenham Festival Tips from our Cheltenham Festival Tips and Previews Blog as well as our Horse Racing Forum .

Cheltenham Festival Trends - Day Two