Betting.com preview the Cheltenham Festival

Cheltenham Festival, the showpiece event of the National Hunt season, is approaching. It is a major highlight in the horse racing calendar and as ever there are a number of high quality races, with each day’s main event stacked with quality.

Dates of the 2023 Cheltenham Festival

This year’s festival runs from Tuesday, March 14 to Friday, March 17. Plans to add a fifth day, on the Saturday, have, for now, been put on hold. This is because of concerns about damage to the racetrack and the uncertain economic situation in Britain.

The full schedule of races for Cheltenham 2023

Day One: Champion Day, Tuesday March 14

13:30 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle

14:10 Arkle Challenge Trophy

14:50 Handicap Steeple Chase

15:30 Champion Hurdle Challenge Trophy

16:10 Mares’ Hurdle

16:50 Juvenile Handicap Hurdle

17:30 National Hunt Steeple Chase Challenge Cup

Day Two: Ladies Day, Wednesday March 15

13:30 Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle

14:10 Brown Advisory Novices’ Steeple Chase

14:50 Coral Cup Hurdle

15:30 Queen Mother Champion Chase

16:10 Cross-Country Steeple Chase

16:50 Grand Annual Handicap Chase

17:30 Champion Bumper

Day Three: St Patrick’s Day, Thursday March 16

13:30 Turners Novices’ Chase

14:10 Pertemps Network Final Hurdle

14:50 Ryanair Chase

15:30 Stayers’ Hurdle

16:10 County Plate Chase

16:50 Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle

17:30 Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup

Day Four: Gold Cup Day, Friday March 17

13:30 Triumph Hurdle Jump

14:10 Country Handicap Hurdle

14:50 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle

15:30 Cheltenham Gold Cup Chase

16:10 Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Chase

16:50 Mares’ Chase

17:30 Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle

Cheltenham’s biggest races

Each day has seven races, all of a high standard. The headline race of each day is at 3.30pm.

Day One

3.30pm Champion Hurdle. This has been won for the past two years by Rachael Blackmore aboard Honeysuckle.

Latest odds:

Constitution Hill 4/11 BoyleSports/BetVictor

State Man 10/3 Betfair/Paddy Power/BetVictor

Vauban 16/1 BoyleSports/BetVictor

Odds correct as of 2023-03-13 15:25 Odds subject to change

Day Two

3.30pm Queen Mother Champion Chase. Won in 2022 by Willie Mullins’ Energumene.

Latest Odds:

Edwardstone 6/4 Betfair/Paddy Power /BetVictor/bet365

Energumene 7/4 Betfair/Paddy Power

Editeur Du Gite 5/1 BetVictor

Blue Lord 12/1 Betfair/Paddy Power

Odds correct as of 2023-03-13 14:00 Odds subject to change.

Day Three

Day three has two feature races.

2.50pm Ryanair Chase. Won in 2022 by Willie Mullins’ Allaho, for the second year in succession.

Latest odds:

Shishkin 5/4 Betfred/bet365

Conflated 5/1 BoyleSports/bet365/Betfred/William Hill /Betfair/Paddy Power

Blue Lord 5/1 BoyleSports/bet365/Betfred/William Hill /Betfair/Paddy Power

Janidil 7/1 William Hill/BetVictor

Fury Road 8/1 William Hill/Betfair/Paddy Power

Odds correct as of 2023-03-13 15:21 Odds subject to change.

3.30pm Stayers’ Hurdle. Won in 2022 by Flooring Porter.

Blazing Khal 3/1 BoyleSports/Betfred/William Hill /Betfair/Paddy Power

Teahupoo 4/1 William Hill

Flooring Porter 6/1 Betfred/William Hill

Home By The Lee 6/1 William Hill

Odds correct as of 2023-03-13 15:41 Odds subject to change.

Day Four

3.30pm Cheltenham Gold Cup Chase. Won in 2022 by A Plus Tard. Rachael Blackmore became the first female jockey to win the Gold Cup with this victory.

Latest Odds:

Galopin Des Champs 7/4 Betfred

Bravemansgame 13/2 bet365

A Plus Tard 15/2 Betfair/bet365/Paddy Power/BetVictor

Stattler 9/1 Paddy Power/Betfair

Odds correct as of 2023-03-13 15:13 Odds subject to change.

The Prestbury Cup

The Prestbury Cup is the competition between British and Irish trainers. Ireland dominated in 2022 with 18 victories to the UK’s 10. Britain has not won this event since 2015, though they managed to tie in 2019.

Latest Odds:

Ireland: 1/12 bet365

Britain: 16/1 Betway/Ladbrokes/Coral

Tie: 14/1 SkyBet/Coral/Ladbrokes/BoyleSports