Best Cheltenham Betting offers and free bets 2023

The Cheltenham Festival in March is the pinnacle of National Hunt racing in the UK, generating massive interest amongst punters everywhere.

We’ll show you where to find the best places to bet on the Festival and tell you all you need to know about the wagering on the prestigious event.  

📣 "Find the best betting offers for Cheltenham Festival on MansionBet."

The Cheltenham Festival features 28 races staged across four days during March each year. The schedule includes 14 Grade One races. The daily line-up is as follows:

↪ Day 1 - Champion Day - 14th March 2023

The first day of the Cheltenham Festival is Champions Day, where the feature race is the Champion Hurdle over 2 miles. This race could see the unbeaten Supreme winner from last year, Constitution Hill, take on the two-time winner of this race, Honeysuckle. 

The card opens with the Supreme Novices' Hurdle, which the famous Cheltenham roar will greet. Look out for Cheltenham betting offers around this race, with many bookmakers offering a money-back special on the first race at Cheltenham. 

There are also another two Grade One races on Champions Day with the Arkle and Mares' Hurdle, as well as two competitive handicaps and the Grade Two National Hunt Chase. 

↪ Day 2 - Ladies Day - 15th March 2023

Moving on to Day Two and another four Grade One races. The card opens with two Grade One events, the Ballymore Novices' Hurdle, followed by the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase. These two races can produce stars of the future and is a great way to start Ladies Day. 

The Coral Cup is the first handicap on the card and can be an especially popular race on betting sites for Cheltenham Festival offers. Look out for extra places at many betting sites with a huge field likely to go to post.  
The feature race on the second day is the Grade One Queen Mother Champion Chase over 2 miles. In what is always an exhilarating spectacle, Energumene will be going for back-to-back victories in the race, having won impressively last year. 

Day Two also sees the unique Cross Country race, which the dual Grand National winner Tiger Roll has made his own in recent years. Delta Work beat his stablemate Tiger Roll in 2022 and looks set for another tilt at this prize. 

The day is rounded off with the Champion Bumper - a flat race for inexperienced horses, which an Irish-trained horse has won for the last six years.  

↪ 3 - St Patrick's Thursday - 16th March 2023

The third day of the Cheltenham Festival is an Irish celebration traditionally known as St Patrick's Thursday. There are another three Grade One's on offer, starting with the Turners Novices' Chase over 2 miles and 4 furlongs. 

The Stayers' Hurdle is Thursday's feature race, won by Big Buck's and Inglis Drever in recent years. This time, the Gavin Cromwell-trained Flooring Porter will be going for a hat-trick in the race, having been successful in 2021 and 2022. The other Grade One on the card is the Ryanair Chase, where Allaho is also going for a third successive Cheltenham victory. 

↪ Day 4 - Gold Cup Day - 17th March 2023

Cheltenham saves the best until last, with Gold Cup Day on the fourth and final day of the Festival. Three Grade One races, including the highlight of the week, The Cheltenham Gold Cup. 

The Cheltenham Gold Cup is the blue-ribbon event of the National Hunt season. Run over an extended 3 miles and 2 furlongs, it is the ultimate jumping test for any horse. As a result, most of the Cheltenham betting will revolve around this race, and betting sites will offer multiple promotions in the build-up to the Festival. 

The two other Grade One races on Friday's card are the Triumph Hurdle and Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle. The afternoon is rounded off with the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle, which has produced some standout performances from horses who have gone on to further Cheltenham Festival success.  

The meeting features the top National Hunt horses, jockeys, trainers and owners, and always attracts massive crowds to the Gloucestershire racecourse.

Betting activity goes through the roof when the Festival is on, with on-course bookmakers, betting shops and online sportsbooks all eager to grab a piece of the action.

Although the 2022 Festival is over, several horse racing Cheltenham ante-post markets for next year are already available online.

To steer you in the right direction, we’ve conducted in-depth reviews into all the top bookmakers. The question is, why should you trust what we say?

Our betting experts know the industry inside out, so they are well-placed to know exactly what punters are looking for.

They consider elements such as the sign-up process, bonuses, promotions, odds and depth of markets, before taking a closer look at other features.

This includes factors such as the wagering experience on mobile, payment methods, withdrawal times and customer support.

They make a point of only recommending fully licensed and regulated betting sites to ensure that you get the maximum enjoyment out of wagering online.

If sites are not cleared to operate in the UK, they do not make it onto our list. It’s that simple!

We’ve shown you the top betting sites for the Cheltenham Festival and what we check before recommending them. Now you need to know what betting features we look for.

Competitive Odds: Given there are so may betting sites to choose from, punters don’t have to settle for second best when it comes to odds. On that basis, we favour bookmakers that offer Best Odds Guaranteed on the Festival.

Variety of Markets: We love sites that go beyond win and each-bets on the Festival. Match bets, winning distance and top jockey are amongst the markets that take the betting experience to another level.

Live Streaming: This one is massively important to us. We much prefer using betting sites that offer live streaming of horse racing. In an ideal world, live streams of the Festival should be available via betting apps if sites are going to make it to the top of our list.

Cheltenham Festival Specials: The best Cheltenham Festival betting sites offer a wide range of special bets before and during the meeting. Enhanced odds and Acca Boosts are amongst the specials we like to see.

Check out our top Cheltenham Festival betting sites.

There are a vast array of Cheltenham Festival betting offers available online. Here are some of our favourites:

• Sign-up Bonus: Many bookmakers offer special rewards when you open a betting account during the Cheltenham Festival.
• Free Bets: These are packaged with sign-up bonuses or offered as ongoing promotions. ‘Receive a free bet if your selection is one of the most common offers.
• Price Boosts: Most races at the Festival have price boosts available. This is where the bookmaker offers better odds on selected horses in a race.
• Acca Boosts: Boosted accumulators are an excellent way to get extra value for placing multiples on the Festival.
• Daily Specials: Bookies generally come up with their own specials each day. This could be over/under on the total winning distances, jockey to ride the most winners and more.
• Extra Places: On many of the big handicap races at the Festival, bookies will pay out on extra places. Each-way betting is often on the first five or six in these events.

If you are planning on taking advantage of any betting offers, always read the terms and conditions to make sure they suit your needs.

The lead-up to the Cheltenham Festival is the best time to create new online betting accounts to make the most of the standout offers and free bets available. Most betting sites will offer enhanced welcome offers for new customers and provide further promotions throughout the week.  
Here we will look at some of the most popular Cheltenham betting offers and how you can use them.

Bet And Get

This offer is standard across all online betting sites but will likely be enhanced to give you more Cheltenham free bets. It requires you to bet a certain amount of your own money before receiving free bets for the Cheltenham Festival. Popular Bet and Get offers include. Bet £10, Get £30 in free bets and Bet £5, Get £20 in free bets

Enhanced Odds

These offers usually revolve around a horse viewed by many as the ‘banker’ of the week. The short odds are not likely to entice many new punters, which is where online betting sites come in. They will offer new customers much bigger odds around a particular horse to win, with any extra winnings paid out in free bets. These extra odds can be as big as 20/1 and even 50/1.

Money Back As A Free Bet

This can be a promotion for all customers when placing bets on the Cheltenham Festival. You can get your stake back as a free bet with online betting sites if certain things happen in a race. These are often outcomes such as being beaten by the favourite, falling at the last or finishing second. So it’s important to know which sites offer promotions on different races and place your bets accordingly. 

The Cheltenham Festival is a national institution in the UK and is undoubtedly one of the biggest betting events of the year.

Many punters target the meeting for their biggest bets, as it provides plenty of opportunities to get great value odds.

Single wagers are the most popular Festival bet, with the competitive nature of the races making accumulators difficult to land.

However, many punters love placing ante-post accas on the main races in the hope of landing a big return for a small stake.

One of the best features of the Festival is the competitive nature of the odds, especially in the big handicap races.

It is not unusual to see favourites priced at 8/1, which makes these events ideal for anyone searching for each-way value.

There is often value to be had in backing shorter-priced favourites in the Grade I events, as the quality of the opposition means it is rare for horses to be odds-on at the Festival.

With so much choice on offer during the week, punters can find it challenging to choose which bets to place at Cheltenham.  

Here is a list of some of the most popular bets that can be made throughout the week when using betting sites for Cheltenham Festival betting.  

• Win Single: Placing a bet on a horse to win a race.
• Each-Way Single: Placing a bet on a horse to win or place in a specific race.
• Accumulator: A bet which involves three or more horses to win or place in their races.
• Forecast: Picking two horses to finish 1st and 2nd in a race. A Reverse Forecast means they can finish 1st and 2nd in any order.
• Tricast: Picking three horses to finish 1st, 2nd and 3rd in a race. A Combination Tricast combines all of these selections in any order.
• Placepot: Selecting one horse from each of the first six races to place. This is a pool bet - if successful, the winnings will be decided by the number of winners.
• Jackpot: Selecting one horse from each of the first six races to win. This is another pool bet meaning the winnings are decided by the number of winners.

Cheltenham Festival betting is also a unique opportunity to take advantage of any special bets that betting sites offer. These could focus on some betting markets such as the following;

• Boosted Doubles: Odds are increased for two horses to win their races. These are usually short-priced favourites or have the same trainer or jockey.
• Head-to-Head Betting: These markets pit two horses in a race against each other. Your horse doesn’t have to win the race, but it does have to finish ahead of its opponent.
• Lengths Boost: Where a horse is strongly fancied to win a race, betting sites may decide to offer distance betting and boost the odds on how far the horse will win by.

You’ve now got most of the information you need about Cheltenham Festival betting sites – now it’s time to look at how to place a bet. The general format is as follows:

• Visit one of our recommended sites.
• Open a new account or login to an existing one.
• Make a deposit.
• Head to the Cheltenham Festival section and choose a race.
• Click on your selection(s).
• Enter your stake in the betting slip and place the bet.

Things to Consider Before Betting on the Cheltenham Festival

Much like horse racing in general, there are lots of things to consider before placing a bet. These include:

• Current form (horse, jockey and trainer).
• The weight the horse must carry.
• Ground conditions.
• Course and distance record.
• The opposition.
• The horse’s breeding.
• The odds.

Betting on the Festival is like tackling a puzzle. There are many strands to unravel before you get to the final outcome.

All of the races are hugely competitive – the meeting brings together the best horses, so there are no foregone conclusions.

The betting sites we recommend are fully licensed and regulated to offer their services to UK punters.

All of the sites we feature hold licences with the Gambling Commission (UKGC) or other respected organisations responsible for overseeing the betting industry.

These types of regulators keep a tight hold on the betting industry, giving punters peace of mind that their interests are being looked after.

By sticking to the Cheltenham betting sites we feature, you can deposit money and place bets safely and securely.

With 28 races over four days, there are plenty of opportunities to pick winners at the Cheltenham Festival. There will also be loads of content around with tipsters and analysts featuring on podcasts and preview evenings in the build-up to the Festival.  

It is always worth paying attention to horses with previous form at the Cheltenham Festival. Many horses return to win year after year, sometimes in the same race but also tackling different races. An example of this is Galopin Des Champs, who is the favourite for the Gold Cup this year. He won the final race in 2021 and would have won at the Festival once more but for a late blunder last year. He will likely run another big race back at a track he loves this year.

Trainers are also crucial when picking a horse to bet at the Cheltenham Festival. Some trainers have an excellent record at the Festival, and in recent years, it has been dominated by Irish runners. Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott are two high-profile trainers who have great chances throughout the week and have yards stacked with quality horses.  

Finally, keep an eye on the ground conditions. The ground at Cheltenham is usually good to soft, but different underfoot surfaces suit different horses. If it were to rain significantly in the build-up to the Festival, you would want to be betting on horses who have shown previous form in softer conditions. The betting markets can miss these factors and provide an opportunity for big-priced winners during the week.  

The meeting features the top National Hunt horses, jockeys, trainers and owners and always attracts massive crowds to the Gloucestershire racecourse. Betting activity goes through the roof when the Festival is on, with on-course bookmakers, betting shops and online sportsbooks all eager to grab a piece of the action.

The Cheltenham Festival has been held over four days since 2005, having originally been a three-day Festival. The Festival itself can be linked back to 1860, with the Stayers' Hurdle first being run in 1912. This was before the Gold Cup was introduced in 1924, the Champion Hurdle in 1927 and the Champion Chase in 1959.  

It continues to grow in popularity within the UK, where betting sites provide aggressive Cheltenham betting offers both in the build-up and during the Festival itself. The attendance for 2023 has been capped at 68,500 per day, meaning over 250,000 people will attend the Festival during the four days in March. Horse Racing continues to be one of the most popular spectator sports in the UK.

Although the racing is the show's star, the Cheltenham Festival is also a social occasion where fashion is important. This is most evident on Ladies Day, where best-dressed prizes are awarded to racegoers.  

Held at Prestbury Park in Cheltenham, the racecourse, overlooked by Cleeve Hill and has a unique, undulating track, provides the perfect venue for the best week of jump racing in the world. 

The Cheltenham Festival is just one of numerous big meetings held around the world each year. Here are some of the other top events.