Cheltenham Festival 2015

[Caan Berry]

Not long to the start of the festival now. Apart from the potential exchange problems it looks to be pretty exciting....

Forum seems a little quiet of late so thought it would be good to have a bit of a debate about the festival all on one thread! New posters or old sweats... join in!!

Who are your fancies?
Any particular runners you're looking forward to trading?
Any newcomers that have taken the week off their normal job just to trade?

Sure it'll be a cracker. With it being McCoy's last festival im sure there will be some extra hype around his rides.

[lcredd]

It's gunna be a cracker alright, hopefully BF will be able to cope. I'm looking forward to the Champion Chase and maybe Sprinter Sacre can show his true colours. My only fancy last year was More of That who won the World Hurdle, I didn't trust my instincts though so didn't cash in. If I was forced to bet I'd gamble on Hurricane Fly in the Champion Hurdle, currently @ 12/12.5, I don't think you can ever rule him out.

[Caan Berry]

Sprinter Sacre will be a big point of focus this year I would have thought. No point gambling though although it can help from a trading perspective if its massively hyped!

[custard]

Queen Mother Champion Chase : Balder Succes E.W

Gold Cup : Many Clouds

[Emkayracing]

Queen Mother Champion Chase : Balder Succes E.W

If you think this is his target, take the 40+ on offer on the exchanges.

7/1 for the Ryanair

[custard]

My ante-post betting has been a disaster all my life. I have had the unfortunate knack of backing runners only for them to win the same race, golf tournament or football competition a year later. Part of the difficulty of betting at Cheltenham is the possibility of these horses being entered and even running in two races.

I think that this meeting is going to be very hard for punters because of the wet weather we have had this year and the likelihood of Cheltenham drying out in the next few days. Unfortunately, even the weather is going to be complex because rain is forecast for the last two days.

I think that short priced favourites should be avoided at all costs. The top trainers have all been comparatively quiet for the last six weeks but, as always, they will have the majority of the winners.

A friend of mine does a spread betting gamble on the starting prices of winners. This is 320 to buy ( 27 races ) at the time of writing this post and I think it is likely to be a winner this year.

[Caan Berry]

Sounds interesting nige, im getting a little too excited now.. this morning I got up early and everything. I'd agree the weather seems a bit different this time around. The trainers always like to keep their cards close to their chest on the lead up though don't you think? It's in their best interest with the connections you'd expect.

[custard]

The principal difficulty lies in the fact that the true form of the horses has not been revealed because of the weather. The trainers haven't been the least bit dishonest as they have acted with the best interests of the horses/owners. It is a fair bet to say that these trainers will have winners :

Mullins
Pipe
Henderson
Hobbs
Nicholls
Twiston Davies.

But, which races will these guys win ? I think you could almost stick a pin in card and hope for the best. It's going to be very difficult and I think that the only hope for success for the average punter is to avoid the favourites. Certainly, some of them will win but the prices will not be good enough to yield an overall profit for a Cheltenham fanatic like me who will almost certainly bet ( not trade) in every race.

[Temujin]

Something happening soon I assume?

[Thomson]

Tuesday bets for me

1.30 l'ami serge....2pt win

3.20 Jezki and The New One....1pt win each

2pt ew double on 3 selections........12pts staked

On with Sky bet...1st race offer

[custard]

My choices are heavily biased in the hope of Welsh success and I will "go ballistic " if other trainers like Rebecca Curtis have huge priced winners.

1.30 Qewy

2.05 Court Minstrel

2.40 Barrakilla

15.20 Hurricane Fly

16.00 No Bet

16.40 No Bet

17.15 Stellar Notion

All bets are each way.

Stakes £ 1 E.W Superyankee

£ 20 E.W. Each selection.

Total Stake = £ 252

[Caan Berry]

Hurricane Fly will be popular no doubt...

[custard]

Hurricane Fly will be popular no doubt...

If he wins this race we will see similar scenes to when Night Nurse won it. The crowd will go wild even though most will have lost their money.

[lcredd]

Betfair's stuttering live video better not ruin the day.

Lami Serge in the opener, or maybe Seedling e/w. Good luck all.

[custard]

My usual ill-discipline "caused" me to "throw a wobbly" with only Hurricane Fly placed. Miraculously, I backed"Cause of Causes". The last races were only being televised on Racing UK so I could not watch them and took the dogs out for a walk up the Beacons. Being silly, I also backed Stellar Notion again and also doubled it with Cause of Causes. If I had been able to see all the races I could have ensured a profit on the day but I suppose I was lucky to reduce my losses to just over £ 70. ( My lack of will power caused me to lose money on The Pirates Queen as I just had to have a bet because it was "on the telly" .)

I still think that the favourites will be turned over during the course of the week. Today's winners were brilliant horses who couldn't be beaten and I was a bit of a mug to bet against them but that's what Cheltenham does to me.