Cheltenham Betting Offers and Free Bets for 2026
Horse racing fans who are looking for the best Cheltenham betting offers and free bets can call off the search. On this page, we highlight all of the special festival promotions that you can take advantage of, from acca boosts to welcome offers. It will also tell you where to go for early prices, the best odds and live streaming of the races themselves. Let’s go racing!
Bet £10 Get £60 in Free Bets
Bet £10 Get £60 in Free Bets
- Offers both fixed odds and spread betting Cheltenham markets
- Ideal venue for Cheltenham live betting
- Numerous racing offers, including '2nd to a Rag' Insurance
Bet £10 Get £25 In Free Bets
Bet £10 Get £25 In Free Bets
- Cheltenham Festival Non-Runner No Bet
- Free bets for your Cheltenham Pot
- Extra Place Races and Acca Boosts
Bet £10 Get £20 in Free Bets
Bet £10 Get £20 in Free Bets
- Ante Post Betting on Cheltenham Festival races
- All Cheltenham races covered by Non-Runner Money Back offer
- Best Odds Guaranteed from 10 am
Bet £20 and get it back as cash if it loses
Bet £20 and get it back as cash if it loses
- £20 in Free Bets when you bet just £5
- Non-Runner Money Back on all Cheltenham 2024 races
- Ante Post betting on all races at the Cheltenham Festival
£50 in Free Bets When You Bet £10
£50 in Free Bets When You Bet £10
- Best Odds Guaranteed from 8 am
- Extra Places and Super Extra Places on specified races
- Up to x5 the odds on Lucky 15, 31 or 63 bets
Bet £10, Get £20 In Free Bets
Bet £10, Get £20 In Free Bets
- Cheltenham Extra Places for several key races
- Non-Runner Money Back on all Cheltenham 2024 races
- Money Back on selected races if your horse finishes 2nd or 3rd
£35 Free Bet + 10 Free Spins
£35 Free Bet + 10 Free Spins
- Cheltenham Festival 2024 Non-Runner No Bet
- Extra Places on selected races every day
- Money Back as a free bet on selected races if your horse finishes 2nd
50% of First Day Losses Back As a Free Bet Up To £25
50% of First Day Losses Back As a Free Bet Up To £25
- Best Odds Guaranteed from 10 am
- Ante Post markets for all Cheltenham 2024 races
- Non-Runner No Bet for many Cheltenham markets
Bet £10 Get £30 in Free Football Bet Builders
Bet £10 Get £30 in Free Football Bet Builders
- Free Bet on multiples every weekend until Cheltenham
- Non-Runner Money Back on all Cheltenham Festival races
- Bet at both the Betfair Sportsbook and Betfair Exchange
Bet £5, Get £20 in Free Bets
Bet £5, Get £20 in Free Bets
- Horse Racing specialist
- Home of the Placepot
- Bigger Pools, Better Value
Bet £10 Get £50 Free Bet
Bet £10 Get £50 Free Bet
- Non-Runner Money Back on all Cheltenham Festival races
- Copy the Best Tipsters or be a Tipster.
- Great place to go for Cheltenham Acca Boosts
Bet £10 Get £30 Free Bet
Bet £10 Get £30 Free Bet
- One of the best ProgressPlay-operated betting sites
- Betting markets for almost 50 different sports
- Great variety of payment methods to choose from
Table of contents
Cheltenham Festival 2025
National Hunt horse racing fans love the Cheltenham Festival almost as much as they love the Grand National. It takes place at Cheltenham Racecourse over four days every March and gives bettors the opportunity to enjoy a total of 28 races.
All of those races are of the highest quality, but there are a number of feature races that have become famous as standalone events. These include the Champion Hurdle, the Queen Mother Champion Chase, and the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
The Cheltenham Festival 2025 will run from Tuesday, 11 March, until Friday, 14 March. That means it’s almost upon us, and the best betting sites in the UK already have plenty of great Cheltenham betting offers lined up.
Popular Cheltenham Festival Betting Offers
Cheltenham Festival offers come in all shapes and sizes. There are Cheltenham free bets, Cheltenham new customer offers, enhanced Cheltenham race odds and more. In this section, we’ll take you through the best betting offers for Cheltenham that are most common. That will enable you to see what they’re all about and grab those that you will find most useful when betting on horse racing at the festival.
Cheltenham Free Bets
The idea of getting Cheltenham Festival free bets might sound too good to be true, but they’re offered by plenty of bookmakers to attract more business. Of course, they don’t come without a few conditions attached. In most cases, you will need to place a bet of your own at certain odds to get the free bet being advertised. The free bet will be for a fixed or maximum value, and it must be used on events or types of events that the bookmaker stipulates.
You won’t usually see bookmakers advertising ‘Cheltenham Free Bets!’ until the festival has actually started, but there are exceptions. For example, in each week leading up to the festival, BoyleSports will give you a £5 free bet for your Cheltenham pot if you wager £25 on horse racing multiples. If you bet regularly, that could give you quite a few free Cheltenham bets.
Cheltenham Enhanced Odds
You might not worry too much about the odds you get with free bets for Cheltenham. But when you’re betting with your own hard-earned cash, you’ll want the best odds around. Bookmakers know this, and that’s why many of them will offer enhanced odds throughout the festival.
As their name suggests, enhanced odds are more generous than you would normally expect to get in a race of the same type elsewhere. These are offered to attract your attention and encourage you to consider betting in certain races. Typically, the races will be some of the most competitive, but if you’re planning to bet on them anyway, enhanced odds are always welcome.
Cheltenham Ante Post Betting
We said earlier that the Cheltenham Festival is a big deal for horse racing fans. So much so that there are many who enjoy betting on some of the most popular feature races weeks or even months in advance in ante-post markets.
You can find detailed information about these markets in our dedicated Ante Post Betting guide. But for now, you simply need to know that the odds available in ante-post markets tend to be more generous than the ones you’ll get on the day of the race itself. That’s because anything can happen between you placing a bet and the race taking place in the future. Your horse might lose an intervening race or two or suffer an injury. It isn’t even guaranteed to participate in the race you’re betting on. Fortunately, there are Cheltenham races betting offers for that, too, as we’ll explain in a moment.
You’ll find ante post betting markets for Cheltenham at most sites. At Virgin Bet, you can bet ante-post on pretty much every race that’s scheduled to be run.
Cheltenham Non-Runner No Bet (NRNB)
The idea of betting on a horse that might not even take part in its race isn’t particularly appealing. And that’s why bookmakers invented the Non-Runner No Bet offer. Also known as a Non-Runner Money Back offer, this will refund your stake – as cash – if you bet in a qualifying market and your selection fails to run. In other words, if your horse gets injured or withdrawn for any other reason, you’ll get your money back.
Most bookmakers that have Cheltenham ante post markets will state that you are protected by a Non-Runner No Bet clause. However, you should always check. One bookmaker that certainly does is Paddy Power, so head that way if you’d like to take advantage of this type of offer.
Cheltenham Extra Places for Each Way
The racing at the Cheltenham Festival is of the highest quality, and there are plenty of Grade 1 events to bet on. Unfortunately, that can make picking winners a bit trickier than usual, and even landing a successful place bet can be quite a challenge.
To make life easier for you – and obviously to make themselves more popular – a lot of the best bookmakers will offer Cheltenham Extra Places for each-way bets. These are exactly what you’d imagine. If you bet on a race that would normally pay for the first four places, this offer would give you a return for the first five places.
You should always check every betting market that you wager in to see how many places will be paid. Over at LiveScore Bet, extra places are available for the Ultima Handicap Chase, the Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle, and more.
Cheltenham Best Odds Guaranteed (BOG)
Most of us can’t take time off work to bet on Cheltenham, so we prefer to bet earlier in the day rather than wait until the race is due to be run. But when we bet early, there’s a good chance that the odds will change between the wager being placed and the race getting underway. If the odds contract, no problem. We’ll be glad that we bet early. But if they drift and our horse wins, we’ll regret missing out on a bigger payout.
Once again, our favourite bookmakers have found a way to save the day, and it’s called Best Odds Guaranteed. This is where you’re allowed to place a bet on the day of the race and take the price available. But, if your horse wins and the Starting Price is bigger than the odds you took earlier, the bookie will settle your bet at that higher price.
This is one of the most popular bookies Cheltenham offers, so you’ll find it in plenty of places. Betfred loves to give horse racing bettors a variety of deals, and Best Odds Guaranteed is one that is always available. Head there, and you’ll get the best odds for bets placed after 8 am.
Cheltenham Faller Insurance
The races at Cheltenham are just as challenging for the horses as they are for those of us who bet on them. While most runners will get around the racecourse just fine, a few will fall at a hurdle. And if you’ve got money on a faller, your bet has fallen with it.
Unless you take advantage of a Cheltenham Faller Insurance offer, that is. This isn’t the most common Cheltenham offer, but it’s one that’s catching on fast. It will let you bet on a horse in a featured race and get your stake back if that horse falls. You won’t get your cash returned, but you’ll get a free bet to the same value, which is almost as good. Of course, there’ll be a maximum value to the Cheltenham free bet, but that will be clearly stated.
QuinnBet is probably one of the best places to find Cheltenham Faller Insurance offers. This bookie will also have plenty of other Cheltenham offers betting fans can take advantage of, so be sure to check those out while you’re there.
Cheltenham Acca Boosts
An Acca Boost offer is one that will give you an increased payout if you manage to land a winning accumulator bet. This is a promotion that you’ll find running all year long at many betting sites, but it really comes into its own when betting on Cheltenham races. And several bookies will boost Cheltenham accas by even more than they would normally, which is nice.
Cheltenham Acca Boost offers will tell you how many legs your bet needs to qualify. They will also tell you what the maximum payout is for a winning acca. For example, Copybet has an Acca Bonus offer that runs all year round. It will boost payouts by up to 20% when you have five or more selections at odds of 1/2 or greater, and the maximum payout is £1,000. We’d recommend checking these terms at the site during the festival itself in case they change.
Cheltenham Welcome Offers
Last but certainly not least, we come to Cheltenham welcome offers. These are specifically designed for new customers, so they tend to be quite generous. They can usually be split into two different categories: one will refund a percentage of your first-day losses up to a certain maximum, and the other will give you free bets when you make your own qualifying bet.
We think that the latter are the best Cheltenham sign up offers because they will benefit you even when you get off to a winning start. The normal way to qualify is to sign up for a new account, make a deposit and then place a wager for a stated minimum sum at stated minimum odds. When that wager has been settled, you will receive whatever free bets have been promised.
Bookmakers have welcome offers running all the time, and they really go to town during the Cheltenham Festival. Even now, before the festival, there are some fantastic deals available. For example, Spreadex is giving all new customers £40 in free bets, and all you have to do to get them is sign up and make a £10 bet at minimum odds of 1/2.
Cheltenham Festival 2025 Key Races
We said earlier that there are 28 races in total at the Cheltenham Festival. All of them are as exciting as you could want, but among them are a handful of standout feature races. These attract significant action from bettors, so here we’ll highlight six that you won’t want to miss.
Unibet Champion Hurdle
The Unibet Champion Hurdle takes place on the first day of the festival. This is a Grade 1 race that was first held in 1927. It is run over 2 miles 1/2 furlong and has eight hurdles to be jumped. Previous winners include Constitution Hill in 2023, Honeysuckle in 2022 and 2021, and Epatante in 2020.Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase
The highlight of Day 2 is the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase. This was first run in 1959 and has a distance of 1 mile 7 furlongs, with 13 hurdles. The winners of the last few runnings include Energumene in 2023 and 2022, Put The Kettle On in 2021 and Politologue in 2020.Ryanair Chase
On Day 3, you can enjoy the Ryanair Chase. This is a Grade 1 race over 2 miles 5 furlongs with 17 hurdles. First run in 2005, previous winners include Envoi Allen in 2023, Allaho in 2022 and 2021, and Min in 2020.Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle
This is another big race on the Day 3 card. It’s a Grade race that was first run in 1912, albeit without the Paddy Power sponsorship. The distance is 3 miles, and there are 12 hurdles to jump. Past winners include Sire Du Berlais in 2023, Flooring Porter in 2022 and 2021, and Lisnagar Oscar in 2020.JCB Triumph Hurdle
We’re now onto Day 4, and the first race of the day is the JCB Triumph Hurdle. The distance here is 2 furlongs, and the runners will have to jump eight hurdles to get to the winning post. First run in 1939, some of the most recent winners include Lossiemouth in 2023, Vauban in 2022, Quilixios in 2021 and Burning Victory in 2020.Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup
The main highlight of Day 4, and of the Cheltenham Festival itself, is the Cheltenham Gold Cup. For that reason, you can expect bookmakers to run plenty of Cheltenham Gold Cup betting offers. This Grade 1 race was first run in 1924, and it covers a distance of 3 miles 2 furlongs. Recent winners include Galopin Des Champs in 2023, A Plus Tard in 2022, Minella Indo in 2021 and Al Boum Photo in 2020 and 2019.
Cheltenham Gold Cup Betting Odds
Given that the Cheltenham Gold Cup is the biggest race at the festival, it makes sense to keep a close eye on the odds available for entered runners. The odds you can get in the ante-post market at Paddy Power right now are as follows:
| Cheltenham Gold Cup Odds at Paddy Power – 1/5 Odds, 4 Places | |
| Runner | Odds |
| Galopin Des Champs | 7/2 |
| Fact to File | 4/1 |
| Fastorslow | 7/1 |
| Inothewayurthinking | 10/1 |
| Gerri Colombe | 12/1 |
| Grey Dawning | 14/1 |
| Spillane’s Tower | 16/1 |
| I Am Maximus | 16/1 |
| Il Est Francais | 20/1 |
| Corbetts Cross | 20/1 |
| Montys Star | 33/1 |
| Grangeclare West | 33/1 |
Odds quoted correctly as of 12:00 GMT, 02/07/24
Popular Betting Markets at the Cheltenham Festival
The betting markets that you’ll find available at the Cheltenham Festival are much the same as those offered for other horse racing meetings. For those of you who are relatively new to betting on horse racing, we’ll now highlight the main markets and how they work.
Race Winner
This market requires you to select a horse to win the race, and if your selection is successful, your bet will win. It’s the simplest and most popular horse racing betting market of all, and so it’s also one that you will often need to bet in to qualify for the best Cheltenham betting offers.
The amount that you get back from a winning bet in this market will be determined by the odds offered by the bookmaker and the size of your stake. Use our Single Bet Calculator to work out your returns in a matter of seconds.
Each Way
Picking the winner of a highly competitive race at Cheltenham isn’t always easy. The each-way betting market makes life easier by letting you bet on a horse to win or get a place.
An each-way bet comprises one bet on the win and one bet on the place. A win also counts as a place, so if your horse wins, both parts of the bet will also succeed. If your horse only manages to get a place, only the place part of the bet will win.
The win part of an each-way bet is settled at the published odds. The place part is settled at a fraction of those odds – usually 1/4 or 1/5. If you want an easy way to calculate your returns from any each-way bet, you can use our free Each Way Bet Calculator.
Forecasts and Tricasts
Those of you who fancy an even bigger challenge than simply picking a horse to win or get a place can consider Forecasts and Tricasts.
A Straight Forecast requires you to select the two horses that will finish in first and second place in a particular order. A Reverse Forecast is two bets that cover both of your horses so that they can finish in either order.
Similarly, a Straight Tricast bet involves selecting three horses to finish in first, second and third place in a particular order. A Combination Forecast costs six bets and will cover all three of your selections to occupy the first three places in any order.
Accumulators
An accumulator is one bet on the outcome of several different races. You can place an accumulator to win, in which case all of your horses must win their races for the bet to succeed. Or, you can place an each-way accumulator (costing two bets) which only requires all of your horses to win or get a place. In both cases, if one or more of your selections loses, the accumulator will also lose.
Accumulator bets are notoriously difficult to succeed with, but when you do land a winning bet, you can expect a suitably large payout. That’s because the odds for each runner are multiplied together and not simply added. To work out your returns without having to crunch any numbers yourself, use our Accumulator Bet Calculator.
Multiples
As their name implies, multiple bets also let you bet on the outcome of several races. The big difference here is that they will cover your selections for a variety of accumulators, so it’s possible to get a return even if one or two of your horses let you down.
One of the most popular multiple bets at Cheltenham, and in horse racing in general, is the Lucky 15. This requires you to pick a horse in each of four different races. It then covers those selections for four single bets, six doubles, four trebles and one fourfold accumulator. That costs 15 bets in total, which is how this multiple wager got its name. There are often some Cheltenham betting offers specifically for Lucky 15 bets, so look out for those.
Working out your winnings from a Lucky 15 bet can be complicated, so we’ve provided you with a free Lucky 15 Bet Calculator to help make your life easier.
Cheltenham Festival Betting Tips
There are no sure-fire ways of landing winning Cheltenham bets. But there are several ways of improving your chances. Here are some of our favourite Cheltenham Festival betting tips for you to consider following at this year’s meeting.
Look at the Market
Assessing past form is usually our first tip for successful horse racing betting, and you should, of course, do that. The problem you’ll have at the Cheltenham Festival, however, is that the majority of runners will have fantastic form. And picking the winner from a dozen horses, all of which have won their last few races, isn’t easy.
That’s why we suggest that you also look to the betting market for guidance. While we’d all like to back big-priced winners, it’s generally those at the front end of the market that win most often. For example, in the last 20 runnings of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the market favourite has won 10 times. That’s an impressive 50% strike rate in one of the most competitive races of the year.
We don’t recommend following favourites blindly, even when using Cheltenham betting offers. But they’re much more likely to win than 66/1 outsiders, so be sure to look at the market before betting.
Be Selective
You don’t have to bet on every race at the Cheltenham Festival. And you probably shouldn’t. One of the key advantages that bettors have over the bookies is the ability to be selective. The fact is that it’s easier to pick winners in some races than it is in others. And it makes sense to focus on those races where you have the best chance of success.
This means giving priority to races with smaller fields, to non-handicaps, and to races where just one or two of the runners seem to be favoured by the betting market. That won’t guarantee you any winners, of course, but it could definitely help. And, if you want to bet in more challenging races, consider betting each way so that you get a return even if your selection only manages to get a place.
Have a Daily Budget
If you want to bet on each day of the festival, it’s wise to set yourself a daily budget. That will prevent you from getting carried away on the first day and blowing your bankroll all at once. For example, if you have £160 available for betting at the festival and you want to bet each day, you could budget £40 per day.
When you have a daily budget, also consider splitting it into the number of races that you want to bet on. For example, if your daily budget is £40 and you want to bet on four races on a particular day, you could allocate £10 to each race. That would prevent you from getting too heavily involved in the first race or two and ending up with nothing to bet on the rest.
Use Cheltenham Festival Offers
Finally, if you take full advantage of the best betting offers Cheltenham provides, you could win cash and/or reduce your losses at the bookies’ expense. There isn’t any limit to the number of bookmakers that you can sign up and bet with, so spread your activity around. That will enable you to grab all of the best Cheltenham free bet offers, money-back deals, acca boosts and more.
Cheltenham Festival 2025 Preview
Planning out your betting activity ahead of time is always a good idea. To help you do that, here is the full schedule of the 28 races that will be held at the Cheltenham Festival in 2025. Note though that the schedule may change.
Day 1: Champion Day – Tuesday 11 March |
|
| 13:30 | Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle |
| 14:10 | Arkle Challenge Trophy |
| 14:50 | Ultima Handicap Steeple Chase |
| 15:30 | Unibet Champion Hurdle Challenge Trophy |
| 16:10 | Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle |
| 16:50 | Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle |
| 17:30 | National Hunt Steeple Chase Challenge Cup |
Day 2: Style Wednesday – Wednesday 12 March |
|
| 13:30 | Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle |
| 14:10 | Brown Advisory Novices’ Steeple Chase |
| 14:50 | Coral Cup Hurdle |
| 15:30 | Betway Queen Mother Champion Steeple Chase |
| 16:10 | Glenfarclas Cross Country Steeple Chase |
| 16:50 | Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Steeple Chase Challenge Cup |
| 17:30 | Weatherbys Champion Bumper |
Day 3: St. Patrick’s Thursday – Thursday 13 March |
|
| 13:30 | Turners Novices’ Chase |
| 14:10 | Pertemps Network Final |
| 14:50 | Ryanair Steeple Chase |
| 15:30 | Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle |
| 16:10 | TrustATrader Plate |
| 16:50 | Ryanair Mares Novices’ Hurdle |
| 17:30 | Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup |
Day 4: Gold Cup Day – Friday 14 March |
|
| 13:30 | JCB Triumph Hurdle |
| 14:10 | County Handicap Hurdle |
| 14:50 | Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle |
| 15:30 | Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup |
| 16:10 | St. James’s Palace Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Steeple Chase |
| 16:50 | Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Steeple Chase |
| 17:30 | Martin Pipe Conditional Jockey’s Handicap Hurdle |
Cheltenham Festival Live Streaming and TV Coverage
Horse racing is one of the few sports that betting sites stream more often than not. In some cases, you will need to have placed a bet on a race in order to be able to watch it. But, even then, the value of a bet needed to access live streaming is minimal. That means you can watch the action unfold as you bet, and you won’t even need to look up from your computer or mobile.
Of course, the Cheltenham Festival also gets plenty of TV coverage. In fact, the first five races of each day will be broadcast live on ITV. If you want to watch the others, you’ll need to have a subscription to Racing TV. Or you can simply live-stream them at your favourite betting site. And maybe pick up one or two extra Cheltenham betting offers at the same time!
Previous Cheltenham Gold Cup Winners
The Cheltenham Gold Cup has been won by some of the most famous horses in racing history, including Arkle, L’Escargot, Desert Orchid, Garrison Savannah, Master Oats, Best Mate and more. Here are the horses that have won the race in more recent years:
| Year | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | Odds |
| 2024 | Galopin Des Champs | Paul Townend | Willie Mullins | 10/11F |
| 2023 | Galopin Des Champs | Paul Townend | Willie Mullins | 7/5F |
| 2022 | A Plus Tard | Rachael Blackmore | Henry De Bromhead | 3/1F |
| 2021 | Minella Indo | Jack Kennedy | Henry De Bromhead | 9/1 |
| 2020 | Al Boum Photo | Paul Townend | Willie Mullins | 100/30F |
| 2019 | Al Boum Photo | Paul Townend | Willie Mullins | 12/1 |
| 2018 | Native River | Richard Johnson | Colin Tizzard | 5/1 |
| 2017 | Sizing John | Robbie Power | Jessica Harrington | 7/1 |
| 2016 | Don Cossack | B.J. Cooper | Gordon Elliott | 9/4F |
| 2015 | Coneygree | Nico de Boinville | Mark Bradstock | 7/1 |
| 2014 | Lord Windermere | Davy Russell | Jim Culloty | 20/1 |
| 2013 | Bobs Worth | Barry Geraghty | Nicky Henderson | 11/4F |
| 2012 | Synchronised | A.P. McCoy | Jonjo O’Neill | 8/1 |
| 2011 | Long Run | Sam Waley-Cohen | Nicky Henderson | 7/2F |
| 2010 | Imperial Commander | Paddy Brennan | Nigel Twiston-Davies | 7/1 |
The Winner’s Circle
As you might have guessed, we’re big fans of the Cheltenham Festival, and we can’t wait for it to get started. We love the free bets Cheltenham brings, and the many other Cheltenham bet offers that we’ve described. Most of all, we love the action itself, and we’re looking forward to seeing which horses manage to put their names in the history books for 2024. Enjoy the festival, and good luck with your Cheltenham betting!
FAQ
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