The Cheltenham Festival

The Cheltenham Festival is the Highlight of Every National Hunt Fans Year

The sense of anticipation that a horse racing fan feels before the infamous Cheltenham Roar is like no other. It starts as soon as the finishers pass the post in the Martin Pipe Conditionals Hurdle, the final of the 28 races, and it builds and builds until the tape rises for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle 361 days later. The ‘Roar’, which marks the start of four magical days, hits a whopping 119dB as the excitement, speculation, hope and expectation reach a remarkable peak.

Now, just five days out, the Greatest Show on Turf hangs in the balance as Coronavirus continues to spread. Racing fans are anxious. So much so, that the ‘Will Cheltenham go ahead’ market on Betfair is one of the most watched markets in the history of the exchange with over £2.3million matched on the two outcomes. Having been as big as 2.02 and as short as 1.14, ‘Yes’ is currently settled at 1.4 which implies a 71% probability that racing will go ahead. The market is a volatile one and the truth is that nobody betting into the market really ‘knows’. However, if racing does go ahead on Tuesday, the famous Cheltenham Roar will no doubt be preceded by the inaugural Cheltenham sigh of relief.

Still, the show must go on and it looks to be one of the most wide-open Festivals I can remember. No race is a forgone conclusion and this year’s renewals of the Queen Mother and the Gold Cup are the best we’ve seen in some time. It all kicks off with the Supreme which promises to be as testing as ever on the forecast soft (or even heavy ground). Is Shishkin priced up on hype? Probably. Is Asterion Forlonge the better value of the two? Probably. Will the winner come from one of the two of them? Maybe not.

I for one hope Cheltenham will go ahead as it has a huge influence on my yearly P/L. It’s hard to turnover the same levels at other meetings and it’s obviously much easier to get a bet on. It’s a Festival that I have typically done very well at, but that’s solely down to the amount of work that it requires. It’s great to be contributing to Superhero bets and I’m hoping I can kick off the venture in style next week.

Cheers,
The Judge