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Learning how to bet on Cheltenham Festival is important to make sure you get the most out of your free Cheltenham betting offers.
Andy’s Bet Club will be covering Cheltenham with daily Cheltenham Festival tips, predictions & best bets.
One thing to consider is that throughout the hunt season Cheltenham betting odds will change. Many different factors over time influence the odds for each racehorse as the Cheltenham Festival gets closer, but if you want to get in early our Cheltenham Festival ante post tips have you covered.
What Is Racing Ratings?
Racing Ratings is one of the jewels in the Andy’s Bet Club crown and it helps users bet smarter on horse racing.
The ABC Racing Ratings page on Andy’s Bet Club includes various features that can be invaluable to horse racing bettors. Racing Ratings considers every variable you would want to when formulating a horse racing betting angle, these variables include:
Weight – the weight of the jockey and the kit, like the saddle, that the horse will be carrying during the race.
Odds – the odds are clearly displayed, taken from Paddy Power and Betfair, and the bet can be loaded into your betslip in one click.
ABC rating – this is the racing rating between -33 and 33 that suggests how strongly the bet is rated by the racing ratings algorithm.
Jockey – the jockey’s name is clearly visible just under the horse’s name, so that you can check the jockey’s form as well as the horse that they are riding.
Trainer – the trainer’s name is in the same position just below the jockey’s name, and knowledge of the trainer’s recent performances can also be valuable when selecting a bet.
How Does The Racing Ratings Algorithm Work?
The ABC Rating is calculated using 11 variables ranging from -33 to +33. The variables include ground conditions, form, odds, trainer stats and more. The higher the rated horse, the better value based on the bookmaker price and algorithm’s expected price.
How to Use Racing Ratings for Cheltenham Festival 2024?
There are 28 races in the Cheltenham Festival, seven per day across four consecutive days. Very few bettors have the time to conduct the research required to select a value bet on all 28 of those races, and that is where ABC Racing Ratings comes in.
The algorithm does the research for you and recommends which horse is the smartest bet for every given race. You can still make your own decisions if there are certain horses you like at the festival, coupled with Racing Ratings as a guide for where the value bets are on the races that you are less informed about.
Why You Should Use Racing Ratings For Cheltenham Festival
Racing Ratings provides consistent and impartial coverage of every race throughout the Festival. Something that you can keep referring back to in order to ensure you are making smart betting decisions.
You may feel like you want to take on some bets at longer odds across certain races, and Racing Ratings will have a rating for every horse in every race so you can back the longshots that are most likely to land, even if their form lines are not wholly convincing.
ABC Racing Ratings offers an alternative insight, allowing bettors to select bets that are priced competitively with knowledge that goes beyond the prices set by bookmakers.
What’s The Difference Between Racing Ratings & Racecards?
Racing Ratings provides a value based on a range of data points but also offers insight into the value of backing a horse based on real time bookmaker odds. The main difference is that each horse will get a rating based on all the information, including odds.
How To Read Cheltenham Racecards
Learning how to read and understand a Cheltenham racecard is the first step to becoming someone who places more intelligent bets.
People will read a racecard and form differently to the next person, it’s all about perception of form. Understanding racing form is simply an indicator of what to expect, although it’s important and some may say enjoyable part of the Cheltenham betting experience.
Form Figures
The selection of numbers is the horse’s race form or finishing positions. For example, a race form of ‘2 33132’ would indicate this horse has finished in the top 3 positions in his last six races. If it did not finish in the first 9 it will be displayed as a 0.
You may also notice letters by the numbers that highlight why the horse did not finish. For example, F – Fell, P – Pulled Up (i.e. Did not finish), B – Brought Down, U – Unseated Rider
R – Refused To Race or Jump.
The main issue with reading form figures is there is no context as to who the horse is racing against. The quality of the race is not shown in this information.
What Can Be Found on A Racecard?
- Form
- Reasons for not finishing
- Was the horse wearing headgear
- Days since the last run
- Weight set to carry
- Jockey
- Trainer
- Winning time of previous race starts to distances
- In-running comments
- Expert analysis
Punters during Cheltenham Festival may study a racecard and rightly so, for those who prefer to scan it it’s worth picking a couple of main points you like to look for such as jockey or trainer, for example.
It can be a little scary when looking at a racecard but after a couple of practices it will become second nature.
Use Cheltenham Free Betting Offers & Boosts
There will be a dedicated Free Bets Page for Cheltenham Festival so you can keep an eye on the best free bet opportunities for all 28 races. Andy’s Bet Club will also be displaying the best bookmaker boosts via the site-wide banner and in a separate article so that you can plan your day of punting around where the best value lies.
How Does Racing Ratings Pick A Cheltenham Winner?
Ground conditions: ground conditions are essential when assessing the chance of a winning horse. Some horses have different running styles, which means the ground conditions can affect their speed. For example, some horses run in a compact way giving them a better chance in firmer conditions and others have a high knee and leg spring action meaning they run better on soft ground. Racing ratings analyses how the horse has run in different ground conditions in its previous races.
Recent form: racing ratings looks at the last 3 races of each horse instead of the last 30 days. This is because horses have different racing patterns. For example, a sprinter can race 3 times in a few weeks whereas a group class can only run 4 times per year. So racing ratings provides the most updated form, relevant to all horse types. There’s also another data point used, called ‘days since last run’ as some horses perform well after rest periods and some don’t.
Odds: the tool extracts bookmaker odds from our chosen sites, usually Paddy Power. The rating is created and a score is added. The score is determined on the value the algorithm believes the odds offer.
Trainer stats: trainer stats are based on the winners-to-runner ratio and a win rate is calculated. These stats cover the performance over the last 5 years. A value is then given by way of a win percentage.
Jockey stats: jockeys are given a value based on their win rate. This is decided by the algorithm as it analyses the type of jockey – apprentice, amateur, claimer and professional. Jockeys get weight allowances, depending on experience they can have weight taken off the horse’s back. This is all taken into account when the rating is given.
Course: this is a key metric to look at because all courses are different in the UK. There’s left and right handed courses, narrow courses and tough courses like Cheltenham. Horses perform good and bad on different courses. Racing Ratings looks at previous form by racecourse and also analyses similar courses too. This is invaluable information when backing a horse.
Distance: racehorses are bred for certain distances, and it’s up to the trainer to select the optimum distance for the horse. Racing Ratings provides a value based on how well a horse has performed over different distances.
The Racing Ratings algorithm will not change for Cheltenham Festival betting tips and predictions, the same formula that provides value horse racing betting tips all year round will be in operation for all 28 races in Gloucestershire.
Cheltenham Bet Types – How To Decide Using Racing Ratings
You can build accumulators and load singles straight into your betslip on Racing Ratings. Whether that be selecting favourites based on the algorithm or longer odds bets, also taking the rating into account, your options are clearly displayed on the page.
We recommend choosing the horse with the highest rating, but if other options look overpriced considering their rating too, you may be able to use your own initiative to locate the value on the card.
How Accurate Are The Racing Ratings?
Sport, and this sport in particular, by its very nature is unpredictable, but ABC Racing Ratings gives bettors the best possible chance of making informed and smart decisions on every race. The outcome is out of our control, but Racing Ratings leaves no stone unturned in the aim of landing winners at the Cheltenham Festival.
Placing Your Bets Step by Step
- Load up: https://andysbetclub.co.uk/racing-ratings/
- See the list of horses with the bar above that allows you to select which race you want to look at.
- Add to betslip by clicking on the odds button which has ‘Add’ at the bottom in a green box.
- Your bet will then be loaded into the black selections box at the bottom of the screen.
- Enlarge the selections box by tapping on it and select if you want to place the bet with Betfair or Paddy Power underneath ‘Choose Bookmaker’.
- Put your stake in the blank white field.
- Click ‘Load bet on Betfair’ (or ‘Load bet on PaddyPower’ if you chose them).
- That click will load your bet on the bookmakers’ site and you just have to click one final time to place the bet, as you normally would without going through Racing Ratings.
Bankroll Management During Cheltenham Festival
Your bankroll is the cash you’re prepared to spend during Cheltenham Festival. When deciding this you must secure an amount you are prepared to lose theoretically.
It’s a good idea to think ahead about your Cheltenham Festival bankroll each month so that you can build a nice sum for the event to supplement your free Cheltenham betting offers.
Supplement With Free Betting Offers: find the many free Cheltenham betting offers and use the deposit bonuses.
Don’t Over Spend: decide on your total budget and stick to it. If you exceed your original bankroll you may have nothing left for a particular race you were interested in.
Spot Value: use the many Cheltenham betting specials like ‘paying extra places’ or ‘acca insurance’ to limit your risk when looking at bigger odds.
Pick Your Races: it’s Cheltenham Festival which means 4 days of racing so if you want to bet on every race work out your bet sizes prior or pick the specific races you want to bet on and stick to them.
Live Betting & Streaming For Cheltenham
Every race will be live on ITV and most top bookmakers will stream the races. In-play betting is a less reliable tactic when it comes to horse racing.
FAQs
What does N/A mean in horse racing results?
This means not available, it means that the horse had not raced enough for a running style to be assessed and labelled for it.
What does evs mean?
This means evens or even money, a winning bet at odds of evs will double your stake.
Does Racing Ratings Offer Handicap Ratings?
Not at the moment.
