Preparing for the NH season and 10 bettingexpert hints for more successful punting

Here at bettingexpert, we have compiled ten hints for punters betting on the 2025 Cheltenham festival, that will hopefully ensure a profitable four days of betting strategically at Prestbury Park…..

1- Follow the up and coming stables and avoid the “priced in” top name yards…..

The top yards runners are rarely missed by the market, with the sheer scale of their businesses meaning there are very few secrets. Indeed, very
often the runners of Willie Mullins, Paul Nicholls, Dan Skelton and Nicky Henderson will be overbet in relation to their apparent chance on form. Clearly, all these
yards have a fantastic track record of success over the years, with all now having over 150+ horses, but
from a punting point of view it can pay to look elsewhere. Try to latch onto lesser known stables that are not so much in the public eye….yards like
James Owen, Emmet Mullins and Harry Derham have some very interesting young improving horses that could well be overpriced in the handicaps.

2- Watch the racing and watch the replays throughout the season, making notes and keeping tracker horses on side……

“Keep your eyes open and your ears shut” has always been excellent advice when it comes to betting, and it is no less true today in the modern exchange-driven age.
There is simply no substitute for the hard grind of watching the racing, making notes, watching the replays again, using your tracker to keep an
eye on horses to “be with” next time out. It remains amazing how much is missed away from the obvious by the main providers of racing form data, with their work
often done by people who would not be successful punters themselves.

3- Only play when the price is right and/or the each-way terms are favourable (with bookmakers very keen to attract turnover during Cheltenham)

The price in betting is absolutely everything…any punter can fancy a winner, or stay loyal to a certain horse that he follows over a cliff, but the true skill in
profitable betting comes from determining actual true prices and playing accordingly. Try to price up the Cheltenham races you feel has a good shape to be a punter, without
“cheating” by looking at the exchanges first, and get to exactly 100pc with your own set of tissue prices. It serves a terrific purpose because you very rarely make
anything especially short, and these days the value almost always lies away from the well found front of the market. Obviously unknown factors, like fitness or
physical issues, can change the prices late on as the sharp money enters the picture, but it is still a very good idea to have a basic framework of how you envisage the
true chances of the contenders each time you place a bet.

4- Latch onto the young claiming jockeys, do not be shy of seeming “second string horses” from the bigger yards….they are all doing their best for the biggest of days in the year

Rather like the top trainers, the mounts of the very best jockeys always attract a huge following and can compress the price. The days of McCoy and Walsh maybe long gone, but
there is still always a big market for Paul Townend or Harry Skelton regardless of the form claims of their rides. Try to note down young claiming riders who seem to be well
balanced over a fence, have a good judgement of pace and are tidy in a finish. At the moment, Jack Tudor is very much a rider to follow, while Danny Mullins is vastly improved and particularly adept from the front.

5- Keep on track of stable form in the lead up to the festival

One of the most important factors in betting is the form of the individual stable, something that is still not always noted by the market. Dead yards in particular tend to still be bet as though in
top form, and realising that something may not be quite 100pc is a big edge in the punters armoury. This season at Perth for example, the usual success of the Nigel Twiston-Davies stable
was notably missing, with all of their first time out runners clearly just needing the run. The market however sent nearly all of them off as short priced favourites, such is his record there
over the last decade or more. Alan King has barely had a runner since the turn of the year, with many of his horses not right since the flu-jab vaccinations, while conversely Henry de Bromhead
seems to have returned to form with a band after a very quiet January.

6- Check the weather and ground conditions each morning

Twitter or X has been one of the great aids to a punters armoury in recent years, with the amount of information available absolute brilliant for finding edges. In particular, real time weather and
going updates from the tracks is a real positive in assessing the likely conditions on the day (and any changes that may have happened). Watering updates are also well worth keeping an
eye on (with all clerks trying to avoid ground faster than good over jumps), while any NRs also come through instantly and are important as the each-way terms often change the shape of betting on a race altogether.

7- Know the tracks and their different characteristics…how will your selection handle the Cheltenham undulations?

NH tracks in the UK and Ireland are all completely unique, with characteristics that suit certain horses run styles and not others (particularly when the ground turns soft). Form from stiff tracks like Hexham for example, will have little bearing on what is likely to happen
at somewhere like Market Rasen (where speed is usually of the essence in the summer especially). Even top tracks like Cheltenham and Newbury place totally different demands on runners, with the undulations and stiff fences at
Prestbury Park often producing real course specialists who reserve their best form for that venue….watch replays of the last two festivals to watch for horses who clearly are well suited by the unique nature of the competitive big fields that prevail here, and
also study the 2024/25 Cheltenham meetings to rewatch all the trials and handicaps on the lead up to March.

8- Race tactics are crucial…how will the race be run?

Working out how a race will be run is another key weapon that the astute punter needs to develop…..will there be a fast pace, who is going to lead, will the frontrunners duel and set things up for a hold up ride, is there
a part of the track where the ground is better….which jockeys are aware of this bias? are all questions that should be asked before trying to price up the race on the day to 100pc. Playing hold up horses each-way in races where
there are three or four confirmed frontrunners is a very profitable edge that can still be exploited…and is particular effective in some of the 16+ runner handicaps on a Saturday when the prize money attracts big fields
and the place terms (1/4 the odds 1,2,3,4+) are suddenly very much tilted in the punters favour. Track bias is another edge worth exploring, with some of the top tracks often having a big bias in terms of the best ground
conditions on the day i.e Cheltenham on the hurdle track often is a lot better out wider on the stands rail when the ground turns soft (or overwatered).

9- Look for angles and edges that the market may miss…use the betting exchange to lock in profits….it is much easier to get on in decent size over these four days

The modern betting market is a very different place to even ten years ago, with exchanges completely dominant both in terms of where most of the betting action takes place, but
also in terms of setting the prices for all of the bookmakers on and off-course to follow religiously. In recent years the liquidity has begun to fall very dramatically on horse racing markets, and this
has undoubtedly led to some wildly inaccurate prices being available in the early markets (with around 20 established UK bookmakers all pricing up every race every day from a few hundred
pounds matched on the leading betting exchange).

10 – Keep a cool head and never chase your losses at Cheltenham….there is no need to play in every race

One of the main reason that some of the best NH punters do not win betting (despite being a good judge of the form book), is that they deal badly with adverse circumstances or a losing run. Keeping a cool head
in betting is absolutely vital, never chase your losses, have a plan of attack each day and stay in second gear rather than get hotted up worrying about trying to win on the day. Take a long run view of all your
betting, keep a separate betting bank away from everyday expenses, and treat your punting as you would any serious business venture (rather than a recreational bit of fun).

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